Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Poe Cottage
I sighed when I came down the stairs. "Okay, let's get the daily taunting over with," I groaned to Rosalyn, who was waiting to escort me to my morning classes.
"Taunting?" Rosalyn feigned a pout. "I'm hurt that you'd think so ill of me."
"Okay," I conceded as we walked out of Poe. "So what would _you_ call it?"
Rosalyn lightly and slowly brushed her upper lip with the tip of her tongue, a blatantly sexy gesture. "I'm working on seducing you," she said in a husky, breathy, sexy voice. "And I'm succeeding, I think."
I recoiled a bit. "What makes you think that?" I demanded, astounded.
"Your protests are getting weaker every day." She laughed. "Admit it - you like the attention don't you?"
My jaw almost hit the ground. "What?"
"You like knowing that someone finds you sexy and attractive. More than a little, too, I think," she said confidently.
I was a little rattled, because I'd lost a little sleep the past couple of nights wondering the same thing. "Do I need to introduce you to my tomahawks?" I asked sternly, scowling at her.
"Oooohh," she purred. "Kinky!" She chuckled when I blushed.
"Aaaarrrghhhh!" I turned and stalked toward Schuster, ignoring her and her annoying, frustrating banter. We walked in silence for a few seconds, which was bliss to me. And yet ....
"Aren't you going to say something about the hot-tub party?" I asked softly when we were far enough from other students that none would hear.
"You _are_ getting excited about it, aren't you?" Rosalyn chuckled. "I knew it!"
"I'm looking forward ...," I began, watching her expression. She looked hopeful for a moment, "... to getting it over with so you stop flirting."
She didn't bat an eye. "And what makes you think that I'm going to stop after the party?" She laughed softly when she saw my expression. We walked silently a bit more. "I understand you did a Native American sauna thing with a bunch of naked girls," she said casually.
I almost stumbled. "What?" That was a private matter, and she should NOT have known! "How ... how did you find out?"
"I have my sources," she said with a smile. "Sounds like good practice, if you ask me. Being naked with a bunch of girls in a sauna, being naked with a bunch of girls in a hot-tub - sounds pretty much the same if you ask me." She gave me a rather leering look. "I would have _loved_ to have been there."
"I bet you would have. But you weren't, and we didn't take pictures," I huffed.
"Then I'll have to let my imagination run wild, won't I?"
I just shook my head. "When it does, don't forget to include my mother and grandmother naked in the sauna, too!" I saw her eyes widen and wince on her face at that mental image. "I really need to get a note from Chief Delarose telling you that I can walk around campus unescorted."
"What, and spoil the highlight of my day?" Rosalyn pouted.
"Something like that," I replied with a sweet smile. It was my turn to watch her react - but she didn't. She was _very_ disciplined with displaying her emotions. "Okay, we're here," I said, stopping outside Schuster. "I don't need you to hold my hand and walk me to class like I'm in kindergarten."
"Oooh!" Rosalyn purred. "Now _there's_ an idea!" She made kissy lips to me, and I blushed brightly, thinking of the last time I'd seen her lips puckered like that. "And I happen to know that the Chief and Mrs. C said the escort is going to be required until they find out who attacked you the last time." She smiled again, turning back toward Poe, but looked over her shoulder at me. "See you later," she said with a wink.
* * * * * * * * * *
Schuster Hall, Lunchtime
I glanced nervously at the clock, and then at the door, and finally back at Ms. Claire, who was sitting, typing away, seemingly oblivious to my presence. Across the open space, I was aware of Ms. Hartford occasionally glancing my way with her usual haughty, condescending scowl of superiority.
The sound of the door opening startled me, making me flinch, but it shouldn't have. The headmistress knew I was sitting out here waiting. Mrs. Carson stood in the doorway, looking directly at me. "Come in, Ms. Franks," she said very calmly.
"Yes, ma'am," I answered, following her into her intimidating domain. I expected her to circle behind her desk and assume the 'seat of supreme authority', but instead, she sat in one of the leather-covered chairs before her desk, gesturing me to sit in the other. Hesitantly, I sat down.
"Now, what did you want to see me about, Kayda?" Mrs. Carson asked in a pleasant voice. She smiled, trying to dissipate any nervousness that I felt.
"Um," I hesitated, wincing. "Mom and I had a long talk while I was home, and, um, I ... um ... kind of ... I guess I owe you ... an apology," I managed to stammer, looking down out of fear and embarrassment.
"I see," Mrs. Carson said very calmly. She gently lifted my chin so I was looking at her eye-to-eye. "Why are you so nervous?"
I fought tears of embarrassment and unpleasant memories. "I ... I don't know," I confessed, wanting so much to be anywhere but here, apologizing to her. "I ... figured it out when Mom and I talked ... about how she knew. She told me how she and Dad knew, but they hoped I'd been unconscious and didn't remember anything."
"Yes," Mrs. Carson said simply, "we had that conversation your first day here."
"I ... realized that ... you were doing what you thought was in my best interest, even though," I paused, looking down again, but this time out of shame, "I was pretty nasty and angry and stuff."
She chuckled softly, surprising me. "Yes, you were." I looked up, startled. I'd somehow expected her to say 'no, you weren't' and otherwise placate me. Her candor was unexpected - and refreshing, because it meant that she didn't feel the need to coddle me.
"I'm ... sorry," I said, afraid to look her in the eye. "I was ... really wrong in judging you."
"Was that so hard to say?"
Those words surprised me. "No," I managed to mutter.
"To be honest, I'd have been surprised if you'd been anything _but_ angry and resentful and hurt. Compared to you, most of our students have a very easy manifestation, so it's understandable that you felt quite traumatized and even distrustful." She smiled gently. "Did your mom tell you that you owed me an apology, or did you come to that conclusion on your own?" It was like she knew exactly what I was going to say and what had happened.
"Did she call you?" I asked. Seeing her head shake, I continued, not sure what to say. "It took me a bit, but I kind of figured it out - with a little help from Mom. She told me you called her ... when I was having trouble."
"I kept her informed of everything you were going through. She wanted to fly right back out here when you had your emotional collapse," Mrs. Carson, "but I persuaded her not to."
I goggled at that statement. "Why ... why not?"
"Because Mr. Geintz and Dr. Bellows advised against it. While you were catatonic, she couldn't have done anything for you that they weren't already doing, including dream walking with Mr. Lodgeman to help you." She paused a moment for that to sink in. "But if they hadn't been able to get through to you, I was ready to have a charter flight bring her straight here - not that she'd have been able to help you, either."
I nodded slowly. "And maybe ... they wanted to see if I could," I paused, biting my lower lip for a second, "if I could maybe start finding some new friends to be my support group here?"
"That's part of it," Mrs. Carson said with a nod. "To be quite frank, if they hadn't been able to get through to you, we were looking at transferring you to ARC, because we wouldn't have been able to do anything else to help you."
I gulped; I'd heard about ARC and their psychiatric unit for mutants. I wouldn't have wanted to have gone there. "I just ... needed to say I'm sorry."
Mrs. Carson smiled warmly at me and squeezed my hand lightly. "I appreciate hearing that." She gave a half chuckle. "I wish more students were as mature about things as you are about this. Some of them never do realize they should apologize, and if I do get an apology, it's usually when they're much older and have grown up emotionally."
"I know you're busy," I explained quickly, "so I don't want to waste your time."
"Nonsense," Mrs. Carson said, smiling. "There are a couple of things I wanted to talk to _you_ about."
I pulled my eyeballs back into their sockets. "Me?"
"You're in the mystical arts class where Miss Reilly is teaching assistant, and you're on her floor in Poe."
"Yes, ma'am," I answered, not quite sure where she was going.
"Losing a spirit is a very difficult thing for someone," she continued. "Since you're a shaman-in-training, I'd like your opinion on how she's doing."
"But ... Mr. Geintz and Dr. Bellows and ...." I was totally surprised by her question.
"I have _their_ opinions. I want yours. You're closer in age to her, you see her every day, you interact with her closest friends. You probably have a much better view of how she's really doing than Louis and Dr. Bellows. How is she?"
"Not good," I replied cautiously. "She's managing to keep her focus on her classes," I added quickly, "but out of class, ... she's ... lost." I turned my head slightly to stare at a picture behind Mrs. Carson, trying to figure out the proper wording. "It's like ... like when grandpa died. Mom was ... lost. She kept acting like he was just in the hospital and he'd be home soon."
"Are you suggesting that Nikki is in denial?"
I winced. Was she looking for opinions that might cause them to put Nikki in ARC for psychiatric help. "Um ...."
Mrs. Carson squeezed my hand again. "I _have_ opinions from professionals," she assured me. "I want your opinion, nothing more. You don't have to worry that you might say something that causes me to do something drastic with her. I'm not going to act based on the words of an untrained teenage shaman," she added with a wry smile. "I want the viewpoint of a teenage friend." I must have still looked unconvinced. "Just so you know, I have appointments this afternoon with Ms. Goodkind and Ms. Chandler to get another opinion, so don’t worry about me acting hastily on just your view."
I nodded my understanding. "Uh, yeah. I think she's in denial. She's asked me several times if I've seen Aung in my dream space, and if I can dream-walk with her to help her find Aung. She thinks that her spirit is just ... missing."
"And you know otherwise?" I nodded. "How?" she asked.
"I've ... looked," I said. "I ... searched around the dream world, and she's not there. Wakan Tanka helped me. And ...." I trembled slightly at an unpleasant memory, "I ... met the Kodiak in dream space," I said, my voice quavering. "I saw Aung's death through the Kodiak's eyes,."
"You're certain that Miss Reilly's spirit is dead?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"In your opinion, what would be the best thing for her?" Mrs. Carson was talking to me like I was a colleague, not a teenage, trouble-attracting student.
"Let her stay here so her friends can help her," I said without hesitation. "Her teammates really love her, and they're giving her all the emotional support they can. Without that," I shook my head, "I think she'd fall apart." She smiled unexpectedly. "What?"
"That's exactly what both Mr. Geintz and Dr. Bellows think. But you're leaving out one factor. Yourself." My jaw dropped. "Yes, you. It's Dr. Bellows' opinion that, while you may not be best friends with Miss Reilly - which is a good thing, given how much trouble the two of you attract separately - you could dream-walk with her to help her accept - slowly - that her spirit really is gone. And the fact that you're relying on her for catch-up work in Intro to Mystical Arts gives her a purpose, which is helping her continue without having a breakdown."
"Oh." I hadn't thought of either of those as factors.
"And supposedly, your mother's jelly is a special treat for her," Mrs. Carson added with a smile. "Although I can't really say _why_, as _I've_ never had opportunity to sample it to see if it's really good enough to merit being called a special treat." She chuckled when my jaw dropped. "Just teasing, dear."
"Oh. I _could_ have one of the chefs make you something ...."
"I'm not Ayla, dear," she countered, still smiling. "But if you insist ..."
"I don't want to take up more of your time, ma'am," I fidgeted a little bit. This was much more of a discussion than I'd expected. "I know you're busy. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
"I always try to make time for important conversations with my students," Mrs. Carson replied easily.
"Well, I'll leave you to your other ... stuff. I've got a couple more stops before I meet Dr. Quintain ..."
"Ah, yes. Your work-study job with him in pattern theory math." She smiled. "How is the extra martial arts working out for you?"
I groaned, thinking of yesterday's exercises. "I'm glad it's only three days a week now. Getting beat up in three martial arts classes a day is a little much."
She laughed softly. "Sensei Ito was quite pleased that you took the initiative to fight Lancer."
My hands were shaking at the memory; I'd barely managed to get through fighting Hank, and only because I knew and trusted him - and even then, I'd barely managed to keep it together. "It ... wasn't easy."
"I'd imagine not, but it _is_ progress. Now you said you have a few more stops to make, so I shouldn't keep you."
"No, ma'am," I said, starting to rise from my chair.
"But I will. Headmistress' prerogative, rank hath its privileges, and all that." She smiled. "I want to spend a little time talking with you about your recent adventures."
"Ma'am?" I asked, puzzled.
"Oh, don't look at me like that. Yes, I have the reports, but I want to talk to you about your own thoughts of your performance. And I want to discuss precautions against being filmed or photographed." She read my expression. "Oh, you _weren't_ aware that you were filmed twice during spring break? Once manifesting your white buffalo after you'd stared down a wild bison, and the other time while you and Charge were fighting the ... Canotila, is it?" She frowned. "Staring down over a ton of shaggy fur, horns, and hooves doesn't exactly sound like a bright thing to do."
"Uh, Mom and Dad and ...." I stopped abruptly; I wasn't about to say more.
"And Cornflower," she finished my sentence with a pleasant smile.
"Um, yeah, and Debra ... they thought I was nuts to do that."
It was over half an hour before I left Mrs. Carson's office. She'd been so interested in talking to me that I'd have to schedule my other two meetings for another time. Unlike other debriefings - grillings - I'd had about my various battles, Mrs. Carson was quite cordial and non-judgmental, eliciting and listening to _my_ evaluations of what I'd done right and wrong, to the point that I ended up asking her for _her_ assessments. And unlike the earlier critiques from Ms. Grimes and Ito, I actually felt pretty good when I left Mrs. Carson's office - mostly. It was only as I was walking to my meeting with Dr. Quintain that I realized how she'd steered the conversation so that _I_ said what _she_ was thinking, so that I felt like I had come up with the points she wanted me to get.
There was one thing she said, though, that really caught my attention. I'd have to check with Wakan Tanka and probably Fey, but Mrs. Carson reminded me of the fact that when I'd battled Snakey Jr, I'd dumped _all_ of my essence into my knife. From Ms. Grimes analysis after the battle, I knew that it wasn't smart, but I hadn't realized just how serious it was until Mrs. Carson _also_ mildly scolded me for doing that. I had to keep my 'core' essence intact and 'lit' because without that vital core essence, I might lose the ability to attract more, and then I'd have no magical powers. And like Ms Grimes, she noted that I was leaking essence all over the place, and needed to learn more control, so any essence I gathered stayed with me. I knew that I was going to get some 'special' homework assignments in Intro to Magical Arts. Groan - all I needed was more 'special' homework. On the other hand, I think she was pleased to find a way to increase my interaction with Nikki for tutoring, so I could continue to help her. Assuming that I could. It was strange that Mrs. Carson believed in my ability to help Nikki more than I did. I thought adults didn't have confidence in teenagers.
* * * * * * * * * *
Laird Hall, late afternoon
When I came out of the locker room from changing, I was surprised to see Stormwolf, Stonebear, Mule, Lupine, and Mr. Lodgeman sitting in a circle with Mr. Two Knives in the training room. I was a little late because I'd been trying to finish a lab in electronics, and evidently Mr. Two Knives, having more students, had started without me. Mr. Two Knives was talking about the tomahawk and knife as weapons, and as I approached, he looked up. His smile turned to a scowl. "Where are they?" he asked simply.
"Addy and Alicia have another project," I started to explain.
"No. Your markings."
I gawked. "My ... markings?"
"You are In'oka. You should always mark yourself with the signs of In'oka," he chided me.
"I ... left the skins in my room," I said, wincing.
Mr. Two Knives saw the puzzled expressions around him. "Kayda has been honored to be inducted as In'oka, a member of the badger warrior society. A warrior so honored should _always_ wear the markings of his or her society as an example to others. Just as I always wear the markings of the White-Marked society, she should proudly declare to all that she is In'oka."
I sat on the mat, blushing heavily. The curious looks I was getting from Mule and Stonebear were disconcerting; I was going to have to answer more questions, and as a result, I was going to get more of a rep on campus.
"Kayda, to the bow, just like yesterday," Mr. Two Knives directed. "I'll do some basic demonstrations and lessons exercises with the tomahawk here."
"May I work Kaya with the bow?" Stella - Lupine - asked eagerly, to which Mr. Two Knives nodded.
Over spring break, Mr. Two Knives had brought his own bow to Whateley, and had gotten another bow for me to train with. It was a simple recurve bow bent in somewhat of a B-shape, made of white ash with antler tips to hold the bowstring, and laminated with several layers of sinew to add strength. It couldn’t have measured much more than forty-eight inches tip-to-tip unstrung, but it had a surprisingly tough draw weight. It was ideally-sized for using from horseback.
I strung the bow and picked up a few arrows. Lupine looked at me oddly as I nocked an arrow on the right side of the bow instead of the left side. "You're supposed to hold the arrow on your left side," she informed me with the certainty of someone who knew her way around a bow.
I smiled. "That's what I thought when I started, because that's the way it's always shown," I replied, "but Mr. Two Knives showed me how it's traditionally held. With the arrows on the right, I'll eventually learn to hold several in my right hand as I draw and shoot, which will let me shoot more arrows as fast as I can draw." I picked up a second arrow, held in my fingers, and then drew and shot the first arrow. Lupine watched the arrow sail toward the target, and so she missed me drawing the string back and nocking the second arrow in one smooth motion. Before she'd even turned back to me, the second arrow flew to the same target.
Lupine glanced back at the target, and then turned to me, eyes wide. "Wow! That was fast."
I shook my head. "No, that was slow. Mr. Two Knives can shoot ten arrows in less than six seconds, _and_ he's very, very accurate."
She thought a moment. "May I?" she asked. "I did some bow-hunting, so I know what I'm doing."
I let her take the bow, and as expected, she drew an arrow on the left side of the bow. Her shot was very accurate, but when she tried to draw another arrow to deliver a follow-on shot, she had to fight the placement of the bow. "Hmmm," she muttered to herself, thinking. "I see what you mean about being tough to draw a follow-on shot."
"Try shooting from the right side, like Mr. Two Knives is teaching me."
She drew a second shot, awkwardly, because she was already used to shooting one way. After a bit of fidgeting, she let loose the arrow - and though it hit the target board, it wasn't nearly as close to center as her first shot.
We traded more shots; though I was an amateur by comparison, she had to unlearn her former technique and fight those bad habits to learn the Lakota way of shooting. It made us relatively even, which made it a friendly informal competition.
After about twenty-five to thirty minutes, we put up the bow and arrows and went back to where Mr. Two Knives was on the floor with Stormwolf sparring with tomahawks. I'd heard that Stormwolf was a good, quick fighter, but Mr. Two Knives was better. Every time Stormwolf attacked, Mr. Two Knives met and deflected the attack with minimal, graceful motions, delivering a devastating counter when Stormwolf was at his most vulnerable. Feints did little to alter the situation; I knew that Mr. Two Knives was reading the same air and earth spirits that I was learning to, and he was completely prepared for anything and everything Adam threw at him.
After three or four minutes of this 'schooling', Mr. Two Knives called a halt to the sparring, putting down his training weapons and shaking Adam's hand. "You're good at the basics of fighting, but you have to learn the weapons," he said simply.
"It was interesting that you were able to block all of my attacks," Stormwolf said warily. No doubt he assumed that Mr. Two Knives was a mutant with faster reflexes, or possibly a paragon.
Mr. Two Knives smiled broadly. "And I suppose you think I have some mutant powers, right?" Seeing the look of surprised confirmation on Adam's face, he continued. "I don't. I've just been training in these weapons for years. And I listen to the spirits of the air and the earth. A warrior learns to touch the air spirit, and the earth spirit, to feel the energy flows. You, too, will learn such skills, if you wish. One needn't be a shaman to listen to the spirits of the earth and the sky. Let's finish the day with a demonstration of the tomahawk and knife," Mr. Two Knives said to the others. He looked right at me with the unspoken question of whether I would be able to do this demonstration.me. "Kayda, would you like to demonstrate?"
I gulped nervously. "I'll ... try," I said uncertainly, which drew some rather surprised looks from the other students. I took the training weapons from Mr. Two Knives.
"Who would like to spar against Kayda?"
Stonebear and Lupine glanced back and forth between Mule and Stormwolf; clearly, those two weren't keen on going first. And since Stormwolf had just fought, Mule settled the issue by clambering to his feet. "I guess I'll volunteer."
"Just a sec," he said, and he gestured for Lupine to join us. "I may need your assistance," he said very softly to Lupine and me so the others couldn't hear.
Lupine looked at him and then at me, and I nodded. "In what way?"
"I ... had some ... bad experiences," I said softy, wincing. Lupine's eyebrows rose. "I ... have some ... issues ... fighting guys." A knowing look dawned on her features. "Sometimes," I continued, "I ... lock up. A couple of times I ... kind of lost control."
Lupine nodded. "Mule will be safe to spar with, then," she said, "since he's a brick. You can't hurt him."
Mr. Two Knives nodded, and then handed Mule a training knife he'd picked up from the shelf of mock weapons. "Just attack Kayda with the knife," he posed the scenario. "It's a non-lethal training knife, so you can go full-out, okay? The worst that will happen is that you or Kayda may be bruised. Ready?"
I gulped nervously and nodded, reaching out to the air spirit and the earth spirit. I frowned when the air spirit seemed to not be touching Mule. I wondered if there was a peculiarity with his TK shield that made it impossible for the air spirit to feel him. I'd heard of his combat final against Fey, in which she learned, to her frustration, that magic didn't work against his TK field. Perhaps the spirits weren't affected by him, either.
Mule attacked in a classic knife-fighter's stance, balanced and holding the knife out to his right in his flexed arm, positioned so that he'd be able to make a number of different strikes. I frowned; without the air spirit, I couldn't sense where he was moving, so when he feinted, I countered, swinging to hook his knife-arm in the tomahawk. There was no arm there to hook, and I was slightly off-balance. Alarmed at being duped so easily, I lashed back and up with my arm, barely deflecting his blow as I leaped back from the attack.
Warier, I circled him, both of my weapons at the ready. Again he made the same attack, but this time, it wasn't a feint. Having been fooled once, I didn't commit to the defense until late - late enough that I only partially blocked his attack. To my horror, I felt a sharp pain in my arm and then a stabbing pain in my side where the knife blow had been deflected. Slightly off balance at the intense pain, I stepped back and glanced down, shocked to see crimson on my arm and splattered on the mat, while pain radiated from my side throughout my body and red wetness slowly spread over the side of my gi.
JJ swung his knife at me, and I felt something stab into my arm when I futilely tried to block the blow. Pain erupted from my arm and side, and a scream came from my lips. He grinned wickedly, holding his knife dripping with my blood. Screaming with primal rage, I tried to raise my tomahawk to attack him, but my arm would lift because of intense pain that I couldn't overcome.
Someone grabbed me from behind, attempting to pin my arms. I screamed again, fighting those who were pinning my arms. I couldn't budge them, and my fear turned to terror when I realized that I couldn't break free, but was helpless.
I screamed again, letting loose the essence I felt within me, causing it to explode outwards like a bomb burst. My arms were suddenly free, but when I looked again, JJ stood there, holding the knife and staring at me.
"Kayda!" the unseen people called to me, mocking me as they came back to try once more to pin my arms so I would be helpless once more. My world spun crazily, darkness trying to close in around me, pain blurring my fading vision. Consciousness was ebbing.
"Kayda!" Someone was shouting at me over and over, a commanding voice that pierced into the buzzing darkness that was my world. I tried to turn toward the noise, but pain interrupted my movement, and all I could do was cry out.
"Kayda, they're sending a litter from Doyle to take you there, okay?" It was Lupine's voice. I slowly realized that I was in the training gym, not back home, and I tried to nod, unsuccessfully.
"What the hell happened?" Mr. Two Knives was confused, and based on what I heard from the others, they were as well.
The last thing I heard was Mule's voice. "It was a training knife! I checked!" He sounded baffled, and quite distraught.
* * * * * * * * * *
Doyle Hall, late evening
Liz Carson
The chief paced back and forth, unable to sit as he exercised the worry muscles of his face. Incidents like this, he told himself once more, were going to be the death of him. He stopped suddenly when the door opened; it wasn't, as hoped, the door from the operating room, but rather the other door from the hall into the waiting room.
"Franklin," Mrs. Carson said bluntly as she walked into the room. "How is she?"
Chief Delarose shook his head. "I haven't heard anything since she got here. They took her right into the operating room."
Liz nodded, noting the worry on his face as he waited for news. Her expression matched his. "Do you have any idea what happened?"
The chief sighed. "She was stabbed in her Native American fighting class. It was apparently an accident, because they were supposedly using training weapons. She was sparring with Mule, and he did a routine training attack - only the knife was real." He shook his head, rubbing his tired eyes. "Mule swears it was a training knife. The instructor was certain it was a training knife. _Everyone_ in the room swears it was a training knife."
"But ...?"
"Circe determined that it was an illusion covering a real knife."
Liz's brow wrinkled deeply. "Mule should have noticed when he picked it up. Magic doesn't affect him through his field, so ...."
"Circe said that the cutting edge was outside his field, so he didn't notice. It _has_ to be, or he wouldn't be able to use weapons." He frowned. "The only other option, she said, was that it was some very unusual magic."
"Damn." Liz poured herself a cup of coffee from a pot brewing in a little refreshment area for those in the waiting room. "How bad was she injured?" Taking a sip of coffee, she sank into a chair, showing the fatigue and angst of a mother whose child was injured. To her, all her students were her children, and she took their safety very seriously.
"She sustained a cut on her left arm, and then a very serious stab wound to her abdomen." He shook his head wearily. "They haven't said more, but she's been in surgery for an hour and a half."
Liz nodded. "You probably should get back to the investigation. I'll wait for word on her."
Chief Delarose nodded. "I've already got the team pulling all the security videos, looking for anyone who had access to that room. We've dusted for prints already, but since Mule was wielding it ...." He shook his head, expressing his lack of hope. "I don't think we'll find anything there." He looked at the worried headmistress. "Do we need to make her a Section 33 - for her own protection?"
Liz shook her head. "No. You know some of the trouble-makers. That'd probably backfire."
"Rule one-eighty-four?" Franklin asked simply.
Liz sighed, shaking her head as she rubbed her forehead with one hand. "I ... I hate to do that." She looked up at her security chief. "Tell a kid she's officially authorized to use deadly force to protect herself if she feels threatened, to kill another student as long as she believes a threat to be credible? That's not something I want to saddle _any_ of the students with if I can help it." The weight of her position hung heavily on Liz's features. "Suppose we make her a one-eight-four, and she kills someone because she thought there was a threat, but it wasn't real? How would that mess her up mentally and emotionally?" She shook her head. "I don't even know why we keep rule one-eighty-four on the books. I can't see that it would _ever_ be useful, let alone in this situation."
"We know a non-violent armband wouldn't work, and she's not a UV. What do we do?"
A frown crossed the headmistress' face. "The escort rule stands. She is only allowed to spar with weapons _she's_ wielding until Louis can check out her combat instructors. I'll get her a charm that will counter any illusions in ... ten feet?"
Franklin nodded. "Five meters would be better." He correctly read Mrs. Carson's expression. "But ten feet is better than nothing."
"Keep me posted on the investigation. I want to know who did this, and I want them off of my campus, in the hands of the FBI or MCO, and charged with attempted murder."
"What about Mule?"
Liz shook her head slowly. "Ah, now there's a problem. Since Louis can't do a psychic probe, we can't be sure that _he_ wasn't the perpetrator, can we?"
"Mule? He's about as straight-arrow as they come. Non-violent except in the simulators, sticks up for underdogs, and hates bullies. There's no reason to think he'd have any reason to dislike Kayda."
"It can't be helped." She looked straight into Franklin's eyes. "Find a motive or find an alibi. Hopefully," she added somberly, "the latter."
"Should I tell Gunny?"
"No. He'd have a conflict of interest." She sank back into the chair and took a pull from her coffee cup. "Get the Wild Pack and anyone else you can trust to start nosing around. Find any enemies Kayda has. Anyone who _might_ be upset enough with her to try something like this. I want to know every move that each of them have made in the last forty-eight hours. If they _think_ about hurting Kayda, I want to know."
"TNT? Cagliostro?" Delarose asked.
"Start with them."
* * * * * * * * * *
Whateley Academy Woods, near the school boundary
The shadowy figure was looking all around itself as it crept into the woods, checking to ensure that nobody had followed. He followed a circuitous path, always vigilant against even the slightest hint that he had a tail, and stepped into a small clearing occupied by several stumps, the ugly remains of trees which had fallen victim to lightning, or excess snowfall, or some other natural calamity.
A figure in dark clothing sat on one of the stumps, glaring at the newcomer. "You're late."
The newcomer scowled at the way he was being upbraided by the figure on the stump. "Do you want me to be on time and followed, or do you want to keep things secret?"
"You seem to forget - I have ways to make sure I'm not detected," the dark figure snarled.
"You keep telling me about your mystical gifts from some all-powerful shaman that let you do anything you want," the newcomer retorted angrily. "Meanwhile, I'm the one taking all the risks. I'm the one who's going to be expelled if they trace this last one."
The dark figure stood and stomped over to the newcomer, and despite having to look up a couple of inches, he clearly cowed the other boy. "And you almost fucked up! Are you _trying_ to get her killed?"
"There weren't supposed to be any other students there. Just her and her instructor, and ...."
"I _know_ the plan, dammit!" the dark figure snarled angrily. "She was supposed to injure her instructor or one of her gal-pals, and then be expelled after an investigation! It was _my_ plan!"
"And that says that it was a bad plan," the taller newcomer said with a scowl. "What's so important about her that you want to get rid of her so bad, anyway? Why not just kill her if she's such a threat here?"
"The shaman I'm working for doesn't want her dead. She's supposed to be just leave Whateley - and not in a pine box," he added
The taller boy pulled himself erect, squaring his shoulders. "This is getting too fucking crazy. You can deal with this yourself from here on out," he announced. "I've done enough for you. I got that damned poster. I stole that creepy spike. I've got Blackrose harassing her to no end. Switching the knife is my last job. From what I heard, security is going over every inch of tape from Laird. They're going to find out that I was in that training room." He shook his head. "I'm through."
"Oh? Is that so?" the dark figure asked with an almost audible sneer. "You know how things went for the Goodkind bitch-boy? You know how much harassment Saladin got when he was outed? Are you ready to deal with all of that? Hmmm? Do you _really_ want all that aggravation, _Brad_?" He watched the taller boy shrink back a bit. "How do you think Collingsworth GMC is going to do businesswise when it comes out that junior is a pansy, a frou-frou sissy-boy? Do you think your dad will be proud his son grew up to be queer?"
"You _know_ the rules about threatening family!" Brad tried to say sternly, but he was rattled, and his voice quavered. He knew it _would_ really hurt his dad's business if his sexuality came out in their hometown. Not to mention how his parents would feel when they discovered their son was gay.
"Are you going to go cry to Mrs. Carson, like the sissy you are?" the dark figure taunted more. "Poor little Brad, can't stand up for himself?"
"I'm done with you," Brad forced his voice to be cool and collected. "How do you think the administration is going to react when they discover that you're engaging in threats to family, blackmail, attempted murder, theft, and other things?" He watched the shoulders sag on the dark figure. "Do you want them to know that, Magic Mikey?"
Mike Reynolds, Magic Mikey, turned away from Brad, clenching his jaw as he fought back the mindless fury seething through him. "You won't do that," he finally said in a disturbingly collected, cool voice.
"And why wouldn't I?" Brad straightened himself, sure that Mike was bluffing. "Maybe I should be like Saladin and out myself so you don't have anything to blackmail me with."
"You won't tell anyone," Mike repeated. He spun quickly, and before Brad could react, a spell slip was slapped on Brad's chest. "Because you won't be alive to tell them," he said, his voice sounding like the echoes from a tomb. His eyes burned with an unnatural fire, a glow that bespoke insanity and evil. He drew a knife, a cruel-looking ceremonial dagger, and held it up to the taller boy who was paralyzed and helpless because of the magic spell. "You got anything else to say, faggot?" He leered at the terror in the eyes of his helpless victim. "I didn't think so." He dropped his arm, partially turning away, only to wheel and slam the knife up into Brad's abdomen, thrusting the long blade up behind Brad's ribs and into the boy's heart. For a brief moment, shock registered on Brad's eyes before they glazed over and his lifeless corpse slowly crumpled to the ground, pulling the knife out of Mike's hand.
Mike sneered at the body lying in the clearing. "I hate to waste it on you," he spoke, as if Brad was still alive to hear, "but with this ghost charm on you, they'll never find a body. The shaman can always get me another one." He slipped something from his pocket, and pulling the knife free, slid a small metallic token of some kind into the still-oozing stab wound. "Hasta la vista, sucker!" Brad's corpse vanished from sight as soon as Mike's hand released the charm.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; 3 am
Doyle Hall
Kayda
A one-sided conversation slowly drilled into my head, piercing the blissful unconsciousness in which I'd been floating. The first thing I noticed was a dull, mild ache in my abdomen, followed by a feeling of being detached from my body a little. Gradually, I became aware that the person speaking was Mrs. Carson. I had no idea what time it was, but given the surroundings, I figured I was in Doyle - again. I let my head flop to one side so I could look toward the sound of the voice.
"What do you mean, missing?" Mrs. Carson sounded more than a bit upset.
"And security hasn't found anything?"
"Is it possible he's just out?" She absently ran her fingers through her hair. "Call security and have them review all their tapes. He _has_ to have gone somewhere, and the cameras should tell us."
She seemed to notice me lying on the bed. "Bella, Kayda's awake finally. I'll call back in a bit." She hung up her phone and smiled at me. "You're going to be the death of me yet."
"Doyle?" I asked. "I ... really got stabbed?" It had all seemed like a dream.
Mrs. Carson nodded, her expression grim. "Liver, large and small intestines, left kidney. Yes, you got pretty serious wounds from being stabbed."
"What .. what happened?" I was dumbfounded; it all seemed so surreal and confusing.
"What do you remember?"
Give Mrs. Carson credit; she wanted my statement before I could be prejudiced from hearing what others had said. "Mule and I ... were sparring. He ... attacked, and I missed blocking him. Then ... I think I freaked out. The next thing I remember clearly is waking up a minute ago."
"Who selected the weapons you were using?" Mrs. Carson asked.
"Mr. Two Knives," I answered after a moment of thought. "He ... asked if I could spar Mule, to demonstrate knife and tomahawk." I paused, closing my eyes for a moment to try to recall. "He handed both of us training knives," I continued, "and I had a training tomahawk."
"Go on."
"Mule attacked me once, and I blocked him. Then he attacked again, and I ... I couldn't tell what he was doing." I shook my head, feeling my eyes tearing up. And I felt weak. So terribly weak and tired. "I ... couldn't feel the sky spirit, so I ... I missed his attack."
"Did you blank out and have an episode?"
"Uh, I ... I think so," I stammered softly. "I ... was being attacked ... by one of my friends. He stabbed me, and I screamed, and then people were holding me and I was sure he was going to kill me. And then ... everything faded."
"Do you remember anything else?"
"I think ... someone said something about Doyle. And ... Mule said ...." I thought a moment, not quite sure what was real and what had been in the PTSD attack, "he said ... he was sure it was a training knife. He ... seemed ... very upset."
Mrs. Carson nodded, not quite able to suppress the half-chuckle. "I suppose you'd be pretty upset if you thought you had a training weapon and it turned out you seriously injured someone, or possibly even killed them."
"I need ..." I started to say, struggling to sit up.
Mrs. Carson was instantly at my side, pressing me down so I couldn't move. "No, young lady," she scolded me firmly, "you are _not_ going to get up. You aren't going anywhere for the next day."
"But ... my classes," I protested, even though I quit trying to sit up. The pain in my guts and her very firm hands made that impossible.
"Can be attended remotely, or you can be excused."
"I ... have a test to give Ayla in calculus," I continued to object to forced confinement. "If I can get my medicine pouch, I can ...."
"Dr. Tenent has already used all the healing magic on you that she dares," Mrs. Carson interrupted firmly. "Right now, you need some rest so your regeneration can finish healing your wounds. Magic can only go so far; the body has to do the rest."
"But ...."
"But nothing." She smiled. "If you behave yourself, I'll talk to Dr. Tenent about releasing you mid-afternoon."
"I'll miss ...."
"Mid-afternoon. No sooner," she said in an uncompromising tone. "_If_ you cooperate. Otherwise, she'll keep you overnight. Now get some rest."
* * * * * * * * * *
Kane Hall, mid-morning
Chief Delarose
"Chief?" Samantha Everheart poked her head into Delarose's office.
Delarose looked up from his computer monitor, his eyes bloodshot. "What?"
"I've got more information on the missing student. He hasn't been in any classes this morning, and no-one remembers seeing him."
Delarose sighed. "Can this day possibly get any worse?" he muttered to himself.
Sam started, and then stepped closer, leaning over the computer monitor for a better look at the image displayed. "Yeah, that's him. Bradley Collingsworth."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"The missing student. That's him. I pulled his file to distribute his picture to the security teams."
The chief's eyes widened and he stared at his assistant, then at the monitor. "You're kidding, right?"
"No. Isn't that what you're looking at - the file of the missing student?"
Delarose felt an icy chill on his neck. "No. I didn't know anything about a missing student. These are hits from the security tapes around Laird Hall yesterday before Ms. Franks was injured. Reynolds and his team have been reviewing the tapes to look for suspects who might have had opportunity to swap the training knives."
"Chief, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sam asked bluntly.
"A student is in Laird going into the training rooms where Ms. Franks was injured an hour later. That same student is now missing."
"There's more data to correlate," Sam noted. "Ms. Franks reported the theft of one of her magically-enhanced copper spikes from the Mishibijiw creature. Given Mrs. Horton's protections of Poe, it would seem to be an inside job. Mr. Collingsworth is a resident of Poe. Further, there was an incident reported where a ... um ... private poster was copied and distributed. Again, it would most likely have been an inside job from a Poe resident."
Chief Delarose nodded grimly. "It's looking like we have a suspect in a number of incidents associated with Ms. Franks. His code name is Apathy, because he can project a strong emotional sense of apathy, which would be perfect for blending in. Anyone in the area wouldn't care about his presence, and thus wouldn't note it. He'd have an easy time of substituting the knife."
"Or accomplishing the other incidents in Poe. The probability of a coincidence is less than one hundredth of a percent," Sam reported what her 'hive' of processing nanites told her.
"Amend that search order. We may be looking for a suspect for attempted murder," Chief Delarose said grimly. "Let the search teams know what his power is so they can try to compensate. Wireless field cameras are mandatory in case he influences someone on the security team."
"Consider it done. One thing about the search ...."
"Yes?"
"Mrs. Horton has a magic charm that lets her keep track of students. Her charm can't determine anything about Mr. Collingsworth."
"Better check the barriers and the security tapes of the perimeter, then, too. He may have decided to jump ship."
"I'll get an APB with his picture to surrounding law enforcement agencies - just in case."
"Good thinking, Sam. We _also_ have to start looking for a motive. Lots of kids in Poe have opportunity. One of them has the motive. We've got to find it." Delarose stared at the image on the screen for a moment. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call our beloved headmistress and rain on her day."
* * * * * * * * * *
Poe Cottage, before dinnertime
Kayda
I looked at Ayla, waiting with what appeared to be the patience of a saint as I graded his test. "Your hanging around won't help your grade," I said with a sardonic smile.
"True," Ayla replied, "but I will get good feedback immediately so that I can correct any errors I may have made before you decide to give me another test or quiz."
"Your reputation _is_ true, isn't it?" I asked rhetorically.
"That I'm an overachieving, pedantic asshole?" Ayla asked with an eyebrow cocked.
"Well, yeah," I chuckled, wincing slightly at the residual pain in my gut. Despite my regeneration and both my and Dr. Tenent's healing spells, my abdomen was still a bit tender. "But I wouldn't have put it quite that way."
"Oh? How _would_ you have put it?"
I smiled. "I don't know that I'd have included the asshole part. The other two? Yeah." I finished marking the paper, then wrote down the grade in a notebook I was keeping so I could discuss progress with Ms. Bell. "I'm giving you a ninety-eight," I said, handing Ayla the graded paper.
"Ninety-eight?" Ayla asked, a bit disappointed that he hadn't gotten a perfect score.
"Yeah," I replied, pointing to my red marks on the test paper. "You didn't show a critical step in evaluating the limit here, so I couldn't tell if you worked through it in your head or if you made a lucky guess."
Ayla lifted an eyebrow. "Now who's being pedantic?"
"Maybe," I said with a grin, "but I've got the grade book."
"If you want explicit demonstration of every step, you'll get it - no matter how trivial some steps might be," Ayla said; I knew it was a mock threat delivered in a joking mood.
"Julie used to always fuss at me for making her show every step," I mused, thinking back, with a bit of sadness, at the days when Julie was my girlfriend.
"Julie? Your former girlfriend who manifested as a Native American wood elf? The one you and Charge fought to rescue?"
"Yeah," I said wistfully. I gave a half a chuckle. "Your information sources don't miss anything, do they?"
Ayla opened his mouth to reply, but before he could utter a word, the door burst open and my friends spilled into the room - Naomi, Evvie, Laurie, Addy, and Alicia. "Ready to go to dinner?" Alicia asked cheerfully.
I sighed, shaking my head. "Nope. One of the conditions of my parole is that I'm stuck here until tomorrow morning so I don't disturb the doctor's handiwork."
"Bah!" Addy said, sitting down beside me to grab my arm. She paled when she saw me wince in pain at the sudden jolt to my body. "Je suis desole!" she apologized immediately.
"I'd be all healed by now if I had enough essence for a regen-healing spell," I grumbled, "but with everything going on ..."
Ayla smiled. "Your control over storing essence isn't as finely developed as you'd like," he said as if he was the authority on the subject - which is how Ayla spoke about _everything_ he knew something about. "Correct?"
I slowly managed to lift my jaw out of my lap. "How ...?"
Ayla smiled. "Fey was talking at lunch about her new 'special assignment,' which is tutoring you in preserving your essence and not, quote, spewing it all over like water from a garden sprinkler, unquote."
"Mrs. Carson talked to Ms. Grimes," I grumbled.
"Who then gave Fey a special tutoring assignment, followed by Circe deciding that _I_ could use a little extra tutoring in that area as well." Ayla glanced around. "How about if I order some pizza, and we can all have dinner in the common room? You guys, Team Kimba, whoever else is hungry?"
"But not Sharisha?" Evvie asked cautiously. "She's got a bad 'tude."
"And not Vox either, I presume," I added, having noticed a little mote of sadness in Ayla's eyes.
"That sounds like a plan," Alicia said eagerly. "Do y'all s'pose they make mudbug pizza? With a proper amount of good cayenne pepper?" she asked with a grin that broadened at the horrified looks on the rest of our faces.
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, April 20, 2007. Evening
Poe Cottage
A knock sounded at my door, and I looked up sharply from my math book, surprised though I shouldn't have been. "It's open," I called, and then buried my nose back in my book.
Ayla stuck his head in. "We're gathering in a few minutes in the lobby," he announced. "Come on."
I didn't look up. "I ... I can't go," I stammered, not looking at Ayla. "You guys - you're her friends. You love her like a sister. I'm ... not."
Ayla did something that I least expected him to do. He sat on the edge of my bed and lifted my chin to look at him. "Your spirits knew Aung. Shouldn't Wakan Tanka at least be represented to say goodbye? At least out of respect for her?"
"Wakan Tanka will no doubt be there," I replied, lowering my eyes so I didn't have to look at Ayla. "In the astral world, watching. And I can send Tatanka. He knew her."
"And you know Nikki," Ayla chided me. "She needs support from all of us, and that includes you."
"What can I do?" I said uneasily. "I'll remind her of Aung, because of the ... incident with dream-walking, and that won't help Nikki at all."
"You should come. Do I need to have Billie persuade you?" Ayla asked in a way that I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
I stared at him for a few seconds. "Okay," I relented. Ayla might not have been joking, and I didn't want to find out. Billie was scary-powerful.
As soon as Ayla left, I put on my best buckskin dress, braided and adorned my hair, laced on my moccasins, and then put on the accoutrements of In'oka and Wakan Tanka - the war paint and the furs on my neck and wrists Ayla was waiting outside my door, and escorted me to the lobby, where all of Team Kimba surrounded Nikki like a protective phalanx, and her parents hung as close as they could. Bugs clung closely to Nikki inside the circle, her arm around Nikki to give her whatever comfort she could. With a nod, Ayla led us outside, to an even larger group - the Outcasts, the Grunts in their dress uniforms, the Sidhe students, and more. Poise stood somberly with Heartbreaker and Lifeline and two other girls from Venus, Inc. Stalwart stood rigidly, tall and strong, but there was sadness in his gold and silver eyes, mostly from sympathy for Nikki, upon whom he was gazing with puppy-dog eyes, but probably also a bit because Bugs was comforting Nikki. It seemed that he wanted to say or do something to help her, but wasn't sure what that might be, and so he stood silently. Molly stood halfway behind Stalwart, hiding out of shyness, but there was nothing shy about the way Rythax, the black winged panther, stood tall, his head hung in mourning.
Mr. Lodgeman and Ms. Grimes represented the faculty and school. Wordlessly, Jade and Jinn took up two standards that had images of burning oaks on black banners, while Ayla, Hank, Toni, and Billie hefted a platform on which rested a shield, with the same burning oak adornment.
Chou, pale as I'd ever seen her, looked at Ayla, and getting an affirming nod, wordlessly led a solemn and somber procession to the Grove, a supposed Class X area on the campus that was normally very off-limits. But Chou continued into the Grove, followed by the mourners. The standard-bearers and platform-bearers halted, letting the group that had surrounded Nikki pass and follow Chou. I hung back, still not quite sure of my place in the affair, while beside me, of his own free will, Tatanka manifested, his coat as white and clean as I'd ever seen. I glanced at him, and in his eyes, I saw, for the first time, profound sadness. He turned away quickly, embarrassed that I had seen his feelings.
The standards followed the last of the mourners, and they were followed by the platform, and then Nikki, her eyes downcast and sad, the Sidhe queen's crown on her head weighing her down with its memories and new responsibilities that she now bore. Behind her, his face bearing a deeply-troubled expression, walked Wyatt Cody, wearing a swordsman's outfit with bracers on his arms. Still feeling awkward and out-of-place, I crept in behind the last of the procession.
The sky spirit told me that something was moving behind me, so I held back a moment, not wanting to let anything disturb this ceremony that was for Nikki. The figure moving in the shadows stopped, so with my hand on Wakan Mila, I slowly walked toward the specter. As I drew near, I thought I recognized the figure, and I gasped in surprise, but Mrs. Carson put her finger over her lips in a silent gesture to be quiet. "Mrs. Carson!" I whispered insistently, "You should be with Ms. Grimes and Mr. Lodgeman."
Mrs. Carson sadly shook her head. "This isn't about me," she whispered. "I'm here to pay my respects, but not to take the spotlight. This is about Miss Reilly, and Aunghadhail. Please don't tell anyone I'm here." I slowly nodded, and then she put her hand on my shoulder. "Why aren't _you_ with the group?" Gently but firmly, she turned me. "Go. Join the others."
Reluctantly, I left her side and stepped back toward the circle, but I stopped short, still concealed in the shadows. I really felt out of place, awkward. These were all Nikki's close friends; I was a latecomer to the scene, and really didn't belong. I wondered why I was even there, but at the same time, I knew that, if nothing else, I had to let Wakan Tanka say goodbye to the spirit she'd both fought beside and fought against.
The mourners were gathered in a circle around a pyre, on which sat the woven platform with its shield. Nikki tried to speak, but as far as I was from the group, I didn't hear clearly. When she was overcome with emotion, Mr. Lodgeman and her parents moved to comfort and console her. Mr. Lodgeman spoke a few words about Aunghadhail.
I really felt out of place, a misfit. I leaned close to Tatanka. "You stay. You knew Aung. I ... don't belong here." I turned to leave, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned to face Caitlin. Without a word, she led me to the circle, to those who belonged here to support Nikki.
Wyatt spoke, and then began to sing in tribute to and mourning for Aunghadhail, and I realized that his spirit was really, really hurt over her loss, and with the spirit, so felt the burly senior redneck who was acting like anything but a redneck. The Kodiak - and by extension, Wyatt - was a healer, in this case, lending comfort and succor to a deeply-wounded girl whose spirit he had known too well in ages past, ignoring his own sense of loss and pain. Wyatt Cody wasn't the womanizing, easy-going, cocky senior he usually showed. There was a very caring side to him, and he was doing everything he could to comfort Fey and to honor the deceased queen.
As Wyatt sang, accompanied by Jericho on the guitar, Mr. Lodgeman cast a spark, and the pyre lit. Quickly, the fire blazed, consuming the symbol of Aunghadhail, marking her passing, while Cody continued his song. And when the song ended, and the pyre was dying down, the Weres let out howls, bellows, or roars, while the Grunts fired off a salute.
One by one, the assembly walked to Nikki, offering their condolences in whatever way they could. Once more, I was holding back, but Tatanka nudged me none-too-gently, and I joined the line of mourners. Despite the number of people, it moved quickly enough, and when it was my turn, Tatanka cut in front of me. The lumbering beast nuzzled Nikki gently, and, weeping, she threw her arms around his neck. When she let go, he nuzzled her once more, and then de-manifested, leaving me at the head of the line.
Without thinking, I manifested Ptesanwi as I hugged Nikki. "We are at peace," we said softly, recalling some of our words with Aunghadhail. "We grieve with you." I felt her wet cheeks against ours, and we hugged for several seconds. As we hugged, Ptesanwi faded, until it was just me and Nikki, two students, hugging as I tried to offer her some comfort.
We all headed back to the campus, less in a procession than a ragged mob, walking silently and respectfully, all most certainly lost in our own private thoughts. The core group, though, reformed into the protective, living shield around Nikki, escorting the weeping girl. I was behind them, bringing up the rear, still not feeling completely a part of the group. And so I saw a figure detach itself from the trees after most of the mourners and friends had passed, and step in front of the protective circle, which halted. Flickering torches cast their illumination on the strong figure. Wordlessly, she walked to the phalanx, and it parted like Moses parting the Red Sea. Mrs. Carson walked silently to Nikki, and then, in the presence of only Nikki's closest friends and family, stepped to the shattered girl and embraced her. She said something to Nikki, obviously, and Nikki nodded, returning the embrace and clinging tightly to the headmistress as Mrs. Carson softly, gently stroked Nikki's hair, soothing the stricken girl who had, according to stories, been quite a challenge to Mrs. Carson at other times. After a few moments consoling the girl, Mrs. Carson departed as quietly as she'd arrived, blending into the shadows of the trees like a wraith, as if she'd never been there.
It was a really, really sucky night. Everyone was doing their best to help Nikki, but not very successfully. To top it off, I didn't sleep well, wondering how I would feel if I lost my spirits, wondering if I'd feel as lost and shattered as Nikki.
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, April 21, 2007. Mid-afternoon
Near Whateley Stables
Summer wheeled under the guidance of slight pressure from my knees, turning back toward the large round archery target and breaking into a full gallop. She wore a simple halter so that if I dismounted, I could control her, but while riding, I preferred not to use it. I felt so alive on her back, the wind on my face, the sun over my shoulders, as we rode as one. As the target circle neared, I drew another arrow. In four days of intense practice, I could now at least hit the six-foot diameter circle from fifteen to twenty yards away while galloping, and I was slowly increasing my ability to fire multiple arrows quickly. I was not near as good as Mr. Two Knives; he could put five arrows in the center of the target while passing twenty-five yards away, or hit five consecutive dummies lined in a row as his horse galloped past. Compared to him, I was an amateur with a _lot_ to learn, but I'd made a lot of progress in those four days. At first, I couldn't even hit the target from a mere five yards away because I was jostled by Summer's gait. After more practice, we - horse and rider - were getting used to each other, though, and were becoming a team. I was learning quickly how to ride bareback in a way that minimized my body motion, no matter whether she was walking, trotting, or in a full gallop. And I was learning to anticipate the movement so I could compensate.
"Let's go again, girl," I whispered to Summer, drawing another three arrows from a belt quiver as I guided her around for another pass. As I nocked an arrow and drew, I felt the sky spirit telling me about the winds, so I compensated. At the same time, I felt, through the winds and the earth, that someone - or rather, two someones - were watching me from a small cluster of trees beside the archery range.
A little pressure and my horse wheeled again, this time away from the target and toward the trees. My bow was drawn, and as Summer bore down on the trees, I focused on the figures, who I almost immediately realized were two girls sitting at the base of the tree watching. I didn't let down my guard, though - I'd heard a lot of pretty serious stories of some really psychotic, nasty girls like Hekate and Freya.
One girl I recognized as Gateway - Molly - half-hidden behind the other, the one Wakan Tanka had identified to me as the Handmaid of the Tao. Chou seemed unfazed by my sudden turn; instead, she had a rather bemused look.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, my bow still drawn, as Summer pulled up and stopped about eight yards from the pair.
Chou smiled but it didn't fully reach her eyes, which seemed slightly unfocused - as if she wasn't really paying attention to me. "This isn't a restricted training area," she said calmly, "and not knowing if you wanted privacy, we were watching you practice. You're a very good rider."
"We were having a picnic," Gateway added from behind Chou, "and when we heard your horse, we decided to come and see."
I eased tension off the bow and slid the arrow back into my quiver. "In answer to your question, yes, I would like privacy." I dismounted and took Summer's harness in my hand.
"I understand," Chou replied easily, her eyes now focused on me. "I get that it's wise to keep your foes from knowing of all your talents and weaknesses."
"Some ancient Chinese proverb or something?" I asked with a soft snort.
"Among other places," Chou chuckled. "It's also a common theme in most books on strategy."
"And you're an expert on books about strategy and tactics, I suppose?"
Chou actually laughed at my acerbic comment, apparently unaffected by my tone. "No, but one of my mentors, Guan Yu, is."
That name sounded familiar for some reason. "I've heard that name, but I can't remember where."
Chou gave a soft chuckle. "You probably have if you've watched some anime, kung fu movies, or several video games. He's the Chinese War God and he's very popular. Anyway, he has taken a very active interest in me learning tactical things and martial arts skills."
"I imagine he would."
"You should learn to use a bow, Chou," a voice that I didn't recognize called out from somewhere unseen. "Guan Yu would insist if he were here and saw this display."
Instantly, my shield spell was active, and I had an arrow nocked. "Who's there?" I demanded, looking around intently. How had a third person gotten here without the wind telling me?
Molly's eyes were nearly popping from their sockets at my sudden action; it looked like she was preparing to take some magic action of her own as she half slid behind Chou.
Chou took Molly's hand to calm her, and then turned to me, eyes slightly out of focus again. "It's okay. That was just my sword, Destiny's Wave. You are not under attack."
"A talking sword?" I asked in disbelief, not relaxing my draw any.
Chou nodded, and then very slowly held out both hands palms up before she reached over her shoulder, towards the hilt of the sword I knew she always carried. I then realized what her eyes were doing, more focused on my drawn bow than me. I wondered if my arrow would actually hit her, given her martial skill. Equally cautiously, she pulled the blade free before holding it in her two hands, almost as if presenting it to me. The sword was quite unusual; the blade was colored like milky jade - stone and not metal. The hilt in her hand was wrapped in a rich jade-colored cording, probably silk, I guessed.
"Greetings, Ptesanwi." The voice was not Chou's or Molly's, but seemed to resonate from the sword. It seemed familiar in that way that I'd heard but couldn't quite place. I was startled; there was no way that Chou or Molly knew I was the Ptesanwi. I was really trying to keep the secret - just to be safe. As Chou had said, it was better to not let a potential foe know of all my abilities. And yet I was being called by my spirit's name.
"How ...?"
"The Tao knows, so Destiny's Wave knows," Chou said simply, shrugging slightly.
"The spirit you channel, Wakan Tanka," the sword continued, "is known to the Tao. At times, she has served the balance of the Tao, as do all things."
Wakan Tanka had warned me about the Tao and the Handmaid shortly after I had gotten here, and this was not helping to dispel any of my worries. "You will forgive me for being skeptical," I answered with a frown, "but my mentor's desire is to protect the People and to help them prosper, and from what I know, the Tao's interests have not always aligned with that goal."
"Is it important to debate this right here, right now?" Molly pouted, complaining to Chou, clearly not enamored at the course of our discussion. She was clinging to Chou's arm as if to dissuade her from doing something rash. "We don't need to talk philosophy... again."
"I ... suppose not," I said cautiously, not sure of how to take Chou and her role as the Handmaid or Molly's comment.
"What should I do, Wakan Tanka?" I asked as I sipped my tea. We sat at the fire circle, surrounded by the People who seemed to be ignoring us as they went about their activities. More and more often, the village was occupied so that I could observe, interact, and learn more of my cultural heritage. Wakan Tanka said that it was necessary for the role I would play.
"Do you trust the girl? Not the Handmaid, but the girl?" she asked.
"I ... know only a little of her. She lives in my cottage, and I see her occasionally, but I don't know her well. After your warning, I have been avoiding her."
"That was not the purpose of the warning. It was to make you cautious and aware, nothing more. She and her companion - they are Winkte. Did you not see the bond between them?"
"No," I answered with a frown. "What was I supposed to see?"
"Open yourself to the spirits, and you will see," Wakan Tanka said. "As to your question of what to do, what do _you_ believe you should do?"
"I ... I don't know. You told me yourself that the Tao might be a friend or it might be an enemy." I was a lot more unsure at that moment, not certain where all this was going.
"Rest assured, Wihakayda, if the Tao were an enemy," Wakan Tanka said solemnly, "you would not be alive right now. Nor would I."
I goggled at her words. "She's _that_ powerful?"
"No, the Tao is that powerful, like a calm stream that can turn to raging rapids. It is only when the Tao acts through her that _she_ is that powerful."
"Kayda?"
I cleared my head from my momentary distraction. That was probably not the best time for that. "Uh, yeah? Sorry. I was ... distracted. My spirit wanted to talk to me in my dream world."
"You looked like you zoned out," Molly observed.
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as I considered both her words and what Wakan Tanka had told me. "It happens. Usually, when my spirit wants to give me advice or when I have a question."
Chou looked warily at me, still holding her sword in both palms. "What did your spirit say?"
"That if you were an enemy, I couldn't do anything about it," I said simply. Maybe it was time to take a bit of a chance. I extended my bow to her. "Would you like to try it?"
Chou's eyes widened a moment, and then she smiled. "Yes. I would."
We walked to the target area, and I tied up Summer to a shrub so she could graze, and then took an apple from a backpack I'd set down on the ground while we practiced. She greedily ate the fruit as I stroked her muzzle.
"She's very pretty," Molly said as I gave Summer the treat.
"Thank you," I replied with a smile. "She was a traditional gift. In the Lakota culture, when a person becomes a member of a warrior society, they give them a horse."
Molly's eyes widened, but Chou looked at me impassively. "Are you a Lakota warrior?"
I smiled. "I'm In'oka, a member of the badger society. That's what my paint markings say, in case you're curious."
We took turns shooting; like Lupine, Chou had learned to shoot with the arrow on the left, so she was quite surprised at how I shot. She was also surprised at how quickly I could get four arrows into the target - although I still had a lot to improve my accuracy when doing rapid-fire. When I did slow shots, I was a lot more accurate. Molly even shot my bow, and she was surprisingly good, much better than she'd thought she would be.
"This is fun!" she declared. "Maybe I should get a bow as a backup," she mused.
Chou grinned. "And you can always see if Bugs will make you some interesting arrowheads like the Green Arrow uses?"
I had an amusing mental image. "Like the kind that go boom - you know, like in Rambo?" Then something occurred to me. "I wonder ... would it be possible to bind a spell to an arrowhead so that it triggers when it hits a target?"
Molly's eyes widened, and she got excited at that, immediately considering the possibilities of 'stored' spells in arrows that she could release from a distance through a bow. I probably had the same expression, because I was considering the same thing. "That would be so neat!"
Molly and Chou asked if it would be okay to have a ride, and while I was a little nervous letting someone else ride Summer, especially since she was used to me, Chou's tale of riding a horse to Whateley from Tennessee convinced me that she wasn't totally inept. While they rode, I kept one eye on them while continuing to practice with my bow. I was hitting five of five human-sized targets from about fifteen yards, placing five shots within about ten seconds. It wasn't bad, but I had a long ways to go to be as good as my tutor.
After giving Summer one more treat in the stables, Chou, Molly, and I walked together back to Poe so we could get to dinner at a reasonable hour. Over the course of the afternoon, Molly had gotten less shy, and by the end of the day, the three of us were joking and laughing, even though Chou seemed to have a competitive streak.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Poe Cottage
Sunday morning should have been a morning for sleeping in. Instead, Ayla, Fey, and I were sitting in Kimba Korner, the lounge area at the end of our cottage. I sat cross-legged on the floor, while Ayla occupied a chair in a dignified, rigid, business-like pose. I strongly suspected that we were going to be doing this a lot.
"You need to visualize your essence," Fey said in a calm, tutoring voice. "We'll start with a visualization exercise." She thought a moment, her head half-cocked to one side as she stared up over our heads. "Think of a swirling cloud of ... ping-pong balls."
"Ping-pong balls?" I couldn't help blurting out.
"In the midst of the swirling winds, you have to collect a pile of them and keep that pile together, while you also try to collect more and add to the pile."
"I always hated ping-pong," I said disgustedly.
Fey glowered at me. "Can you keep to the point?"
"Sorry." I closed my eyes, trying to imagine a swirling cloud of ping-pong balls, but I just couldn't. "Too bad she didn't use the money-ball analogy," I muttered to Ayla. "You'd be able to visualize that instantly."
Ayla raised an eyebrow. "Money ball?"
"It's a cheesy contest. The person is put in a ball with money swirling all around them blown by air jets. They have a finite amount of time to collect as much money as they can. So they have to hold what they have and try to gather more," I explained.
Fey's eyes lit up. "That's a _perfect_ mental image for you, Ayles," she said gleefully.
"It sounds very impractical," Ayla retorted. "One would have to focus on spotting and collecting larger bills, ignoring the smaller ones, while still holding the money that had already been retrieved - presumably organized neatly enough to be able to hold without losing it in the swirling air currents."
"That's a perfect mental image for you," Fey repeated with a grin. "You understand business and money, so relate essence-gathering and retention to something involving money." She incanted a small spell to help Ayla visualize the money ball.
"Can I use any mental image I want?" I asked. "The money ball doesn't do it for me."
"Yes, yes," Fey said impatiently. "What kind of image are _you_ thinking of?"
"A blizzard."
Fey thought a moment. "Yes, that would work. But it has to be dry, powdery snow that doesn't clump together easily."
"Why?"
Fey just smiled. "Imagine it for a moment, and we'll draw the analogies after." She repeated the spell so I'd have an easier time visualizing the blizzard.
I closed my eyes and began to picture being in a blizzard, trying to catch snow. It was hard, and the worst part was that when I caught it, it wouldn't stick together in a snowball, so it was hard to hold onto. As I imagined the situation, I tried various scenarios. Piling the snow I'd gathered didn't help; the wind blew it away almost faster than I could gather it. I had to work to compact the powder in my hands into a snowball, which took a lot more effort than if it had been wet, sticky snow, and even then, my snowball was fragile. Collecting more snow to add to my snowball was even more difficult; I could try to scoop snow off the ground, or to catch it, but catching individual flakes was tricky. After a bit, mentally fatigued from the visual exercise, I opened my eyes.
"Well?" Nikki asked sweetly.
"It's ... hard. Keeping a snowball is tough enough, but adding to it is nearly impossible. A snowball of powder doesn't want to stick together.
"And you?" she asked Ayles.
"It's a pointless way to get money. It's hard to pick out large-denomination bills from all the small bills in the swirling air currents full of money, and capturing them is difficult."
"And the point of the exercise?"
Ayla didn't hesitate. "Gathering essence is difficult. Retaining it is tougher. Any slight mistake causes one to lose some of what they already have." I nodded my agreement.
"Which is why you," she looked at Ayla, "need to be extra-diligent about retaining essence, because it's difficult for you to gather it. Kayda and I have advantages that you don't have. And you," she looked at me, "need to learn to keep what you receive from your spirit so it doesn't leak out all over."
Nikki cast a spell, and suddenly, we could see radiant energy - essence - swirling around us, almost like a glowing fog. Inside me was a core of glowing essence, and a stream from somewhere - which I knew was Wakan Tanka's trickle charging. Disheartening, though, was the imagery of my 'core' of essence slowly leaking away, breaking away from my core like solar flares and joining the swirling fog.
While I was doing that, Fey gathered some essence, which looked to be exceedingly trivial for her, and gave it to Ayla. Very quickly, the magical energy dissipated. "No, no, no," Fey chided Ayla. "Think of it like money."
"If it were money, I'd invest it in ways that would give me the best return."
"No, no, no." Fey sighed heavily. "It's ... money you want to keep on hand - in case."
"You mean like a reserve fund of liquid assets to cover contingencies," Ayla postulated. "Something you need to keep close at hand, and worry more about asset value preservation rather than high rate of return."
"Yes," Nikki agreed, and then added, "I think."
With that line of thinking, Ayla turned his mental focus to keeping the essence he had, while I began to examine _why_ I was losing so much.
"Think of something you'd like to have right now," Nikki challenged me.
Immediately, I thought of Debra being with me, cuddling. To my amazement, my 'ball' of essence began spurting 'solar flares' quickly and intensely. I gasped in shock at how easily my thoughts were making essence dissipate.
Nikki nodded. "Now focus on holding your snowball, and then _carefully_ think of the same desire."
The 'snowball' of energy became my primary focus, and every time a little 'flare' occurred, I concentrated on catching it and pushing it back into my little glowing ball of accumulated essence. It was difficult enough as it was, but then I tried to let part of my mind think of Debra, and the ball seemed to erupt in chaotic flares and bursts.
I was thoroughly demoralized about my skill as a mage when we finished. Any mage could cast any spell, provided they had enough essence. Spell-casting wasn't difficult, as Nikki showed and as I'd learned. It was gathering the essence in the first place - a task that I sucked at. Through Nikki's spell, I was now painfully aware that I wasted more essence daily than some mages could gather, and that the skill of storing essence was far more important than learning a few spells. Without Wakan Tanka's supply, I was no more a mage than Ayla who was a Wiz-0, although I had more potential to gather essence. I had little control over keeping my essence, and it suddenly occurred to me that the reason the three little witches wanted to hang around me was to catch my cast-off essence!
Fey sensed my disappointment. "The other students in class have been focusing on this for weeks now, and learned exercises to practice control. You're a little behind on that, but you've got a little more affinity for keeping it - once you learn that control."
"In other words, I suck at this," I spat bitterly.
"In other words, you haven't had much time to practice," Nikki corrected me gently. "It takes time and practice."
* * * * * * * * * *
Crystal Hall, lunchtime
I was still mulling this over in the caf, a bit oblivious to the chatter from my friends, but when their talk abruptly ended, I took notice. Alicia and Addy, most prominent in my field of view, were looking up behind me. Surprised that I hadn't felt anything in the sky spirit, I turned and was startled to see a tall gentleman wearing a tailored suit that looked silk, and cut in a Chinese style. He was a good-looking man, and even the suit couldn't hide how well-muscled he was; his long, thin beard gave him a wise elder appearance, and his eyes sparkled with life and energy. Beside him were Molly and Chou, who I hadn't noticed until then.
"Kayda, this is my ... one of my ... mentors. Guan Yu," Chou introduced the older man, apparently a little embarrassed by this
"Um, nice to meet you," I said hesitantly. The man radiated power in a way that was most intimidating.
"We met with Mrs. Carson this morning, in our monthly meeting for training assessment." Chou continued, "It came up that I had done some archery with you, which got Guan Yu interested. After a... discussion, she agreed, with conditions," she glanced nervously at Guan Yu in a way that made me even more nervous, "that we can meet your tutor, because Guan Yu has suggested that I learn more of the bow, including horse-bow."
Something about how she'd spoken and how nervous she was glancing at Guan Yu made me uneasy. I tentatively said, "We'll have to see if Mr. Two Knives is available."
"He's ... expecting us - over at the archery range." She looked down, her face showing color.
"I see. You didn't leave me much choice, did you?" My eyes were narrowed a bit; I didn't like being put on the spot, and my voice reflected my unhappiness.
Guan Yu chuckled, a sound that rumbled in his broad chest. "You have fire in your heart, young one, like a warrior should," He stroked his narrow beard in a way I had seen in kung fu movies. "Yes... you might be an adequate training partner for the Handmaid."
That did not make me feel better. Neither did seeing that Mrs. Carson was waiting by the cafeteria door watching Guan Yu intently. Once outside, the five of us piled onto her club cart and headed off. I was surprised to see her taking an active - and wary - interest in Chou's training. Or mine. Or, perhaps, her mentor. In any case, we didn't say much on the short drive over to the archery range, where, as Chou had said, Mr. Two Knives was waiting on his horse. He also had Summer with him, her halter tied to a bush so she could graze while he practiced.
He had just wheeled his horse for another attack, racing across the range, bow ready, arrows in hand, and as usual, he shot with devastating accuracy, hitting all five man-shaped targets with ten arrows, putting an arrow in each heart and head. Satisfied, he turned the horse and slowed to a trot toward us.
"You have some skill," Guan Yu said, climbing out of the cart and standing tall, his arms crossed and his countenance stern and judgmental. This wasn't the way he was before. Mrs. Carson was rubbing her temples with one hand, looking annoyed.
Mr. Two Knives looked him over, head to toe, eyes intent on everything, and then nodded. "I practice," he said simply, refusing to be drawn into conflict.
"I see you don't ride with a saddle," Guan Yu observed critically. "That throws off the balance of the archer."
"When an enemy raids one's camp in the night, one doesn't have time to saddle a pony before driving off the foe. If one must fight without a saddle sometimes, it is better to practice without a saddle _all_ the time."
Guan Yu nodded, his expression still unreadable, but by his posture, it looked like he approved of the response. "May I see your bow?" he asked simply.
Mr. Two Knives dismounted and handed his bow to Guan Yu, who tested the bow's draw and examined its construction with an expert eye. "It is not as solidly constructed as a horn bow," he said critically. "Nor does it have the same power."
Mr. Two Knives could have taken offense, and from Mrs. Carson's reaction, I judged that she expected him to, but instead he simply smiled. "It serves its purpose. A good archer can bring down a bison with one arrow."
Guan Yu continued to aggressively question Mr. Two Knives for a few more minutes, but he refused to be drawn out. Finally, Guan Yu simply nodded at Mrs. Carson. "He is acceptable, and a far better warrior than the other one," he said, and a bow and quiver of arrows appeared in his hands. He extended the weapons to Chou, who seemed bemused as she took them, "Train hard. I will expect progress." He then climbed into the club car without another glance. After breathing a sigh of relief, Mrs. Carson walked back to the car and the two of them rode back towards campus.
Mr. Two Knives looked over Chou. "I understand you're a baseline," he said simply.
"Yes, sir," Chou answered, exchanging a nervous glance with Molly.
A smile spread across Mr. Two Knives' face. "So am I. And you're younger, so you should learn quickly." He glanced at the two horses. "We'll start shooting from a standing position so I can gauge your skill, and then I'll set up a target for you to keep practicing while Kayda practices her horse archery. Do you know how to ride?"
Chou nodded. "Yes, sir. I rode from Tennessee to here." She saw his eyebrows lift. "So I think I'll be able to ride without a saddle, contrary to what Guan Yu wishes."
Mr. Two Knives smiled. "You have an interesting mentor."
"He's ... the Chinese God of War," Chou admitted, wincing. "He's ... sometimes a little ... difficult. I'm very surprised that he didn't have you engaged in combat, like he did with my previous sword instructor. It was a pretty big mess." That certainly explained Mrs. Carson's presence through all of this, as well as Chou's nervousness.
"One only fights when one has to," Mr. Two Knives observed with a wry smile. "But one always trains."
Chou and I traded shots, and it quickly became a competition. As long as we were shooting slowly and deliberately, she was outscoring me - a little. She was still struggling a little with drawing arrows on the right side of the bow, but she'd learn. It was distracting as well that she had a cheering section in Molly, but Molly had cheered her on last time, too, so it wasn't unexpected. Following about an hour of single-shot firing, Mr. Two Knives had us fire five arrows as quickly and as accurately as we could, and I outshot her both in accuracy and time. At the end, I sort-of grinned at her in mock triumph, to which she and Molly stuck their tongues out at me.
In another exercise, we shot at the upper-body targets instead of the big target circle. This time, Mr. Two Knives stressed accuracy, but said that time was a factor as well. I was averaging between three and four targets hit every round, but I was firing my arrows within six or seven seconds, whereas Chou, though more accurate, took eight to ten seconds per shot. At the end, I mentally calculated my average at three point eight targets hit per round, while Chou did four point two. She didn't seem to notice, so I didn't tell her the score.
After that, Mr. Two Knives moved a target circle so Chou - and Molly - could practice, while I could safely shoot from horseback in another area. I was pushing out my distance slowly; I added two or three yards to the distance I was shooting at the large round target, but I was still having some difficulty with the man-shaped targets, so I actually reduced the distance I was shooting from.
On the way back to the core campus, though, Molly _did_ bring up the scores, as she'd clearly been keeping track, which inspired Chou to do a little 'victory dance'. I replied in a dignified, graceful manner - giving her a raspberry. One thing we agreed to was that we'd have to coordinate our training schedules so we could practice more, and Molly and I talked about trying to lock spells onto arrows. I realized I could talk to Fey about that little problem; she might find it a challenge and a distraction from her loss. Besides, I heard that she used a bow occasionally.
* * * * * * * * * *
Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota; midnight
The second son of Unhcegila crept closer to the dwelling; he'd been so close to getting three shamans - and _her_ - only a few days earlier, and then they'd all dispersed while the sun was still high in the sky and he was immobile, hiding from the scorching rays. He'd screamed in rage at being so close and yet losing three shamans, but he'd steeled his resolve and began tracking one of them.
Which led him to this out-of-the-way tiny ranch in the middle of nowhere. He could sense the shaman close by, inside the dwelling. There were three others inside, but that didn't bother him. Though they could give him no information, he hadn't eaten in a while, and he preferred the taste of human flesh.
As the snake-demon crept closer, some cattle in a pasture adjacent to the house began to bellow and moo, loud enough that the demon feared it would wake the sleeping shaman. But the family slept on, undisturbed. The snake-demon could feel the shaman visiting the astral plane, spending time in his dream-world, or that of his wife.
The shaman bolted upright in his bed, a disturbed look on his face. Something very dark and vile had touched his dream-space; he'd flinched from the touch and had awakened, trying to figure out what exactly had caused the disturbance. Beside him, his wife still slept, unaware that her husband had stirred.
He tried to recollect the feeling, to see if he could catalog and identify it, but such an evil feeling had only happened to him once before - and that was in Mission, when the Ptesanwi had been guest of honor. Something had disturbed him then, too, the night before she had flown home.
In previous generations, the shamans had encountered some of the more evil spirits on the astral plane, and so understood the 'feel' of each. But lately, the evil spirits slept, inactive, silent, and few had experienced their foul touch in dream-space. The shaman's grandfather, himself a shaman, would have known exactly what the feeling was, but alas, the only thing he'd been able to teach his grandson was that evil spirits and demons _did_ exist, both in the real world and in the dream space.
He sat and pondered the feeling. It had been thoroughly repugnant, and even thinking of it was disturbing, but he knew that it was his obligation, as a shaman, to know these things in case one of the People encountered it and needed assistance.
A _thing_ crashed through the window of his bedroom, splintering the wall framing around it and sending shards of glass flying every which way. In the dim light, the shaman only saw a dark snake-like shape rearing back, with arms reaching for him. The last thing he realized was that the creature was some kind of demon, just before the scimitar-like teeth rent his body and ate his life-force.
The shaman's wife awoke at the disturbance, and she lasted only a precious few seconds more, but she had time to scream. It was that scream that woke her two sons. Her attempt to flee the bed delayed the snake-demon further. The elder of the two ran to his parents' bedroom, arriving just in time to see a massive dark shape lunge at his mother. He screamed, turned, and fled, grabbing his little brother as he passed his room, and ran into the night, barefoot and in only his pajamas. Behind them, the sound of the house being torn apart was all that was heard, as the screams had stopped the moment life passed from the shaman and his wife.
In the house, as the memories of the shaman were absorbed, the snake-demon temporarily forgot about the other two lives that had fled. Sensing that the other two were out of his reach, and having new facts to think about, the snake demon withdrew from the shattered house, pausing to kill and eat a cow, and then found a shelter for the day so he could think. How was he to find this shaman named Gray Skies?
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, April 24, 2007, dinnertime
Crystal Hall
The banter around the table was the usual stuff - who was going with whom, who had crushes, who'd broken up, who had detention, who'd been injured in the simulators or martial arts - the usual high-school stuff.
"Good evening, Kayda," Mindbird said pleasantly from behind me. "I see you've been being unsociable with security for a while." She smiled at my startled expression. "That's a good thing!"
"Tea?"
She nodded, sighing. "Another long day - mostly doing mind-numbing paperwork!" she complained as she sat. "There's nothing as boring as page after page of tedious forms!"
I took out my supplies and began to brew her tea. As I did so, my friends decided to get in some fun. "So Kayda," Laurie said with a wicked grin, "now that you've got Dale hooked, are you going to start charging for her daily 'fix'?" I rolled my eyes at her comment.
"Yeah. But if you make it too pricey," Adrian cautioned, "she'll have to take up a life of crime to support her habit!"
"Is it against the school rulebook to push addictive tea?" Evvie teased.
Mindbird just smiled demurely at their teasing, which was more than I managed. "Here you go," I said as I pushed the steaming cup of tea across the table to her. She closed her eyes as she took a sip, and allowed the peaceful feeling to spread through her. The new calmness was visible in her features, and she sighed contentedly.
No sooner had Mindbird left than I hear three familiar little-girl voices coming our way. I turned to confront the three little witches. "I suppose you girls waited for Mindbird to leave before you came?"
Pally winced, and Clover looked at her feet, which she scuffled. "Um, no," Abra lied transparently.
"What's up?" I asked innocently.
"Um," Clover said hesitantly, "we ... need our supplies for the magic tea."
"Yeah," Palantir chimed in. "Yesterday, you didn't give us very much."
I nodded. "Okay." I started measuring out the various herbs, putting them into plastic baggies for the girls. "And you'll meet me for my spells?"
Palantir glanced nervously at the other two, and then nodded. "Yeah," she said noncommittally. They scooped up the bags and scampered off.
"You didn't give them very much," Laurie noted.
"Nope."
"That means they'll be back to bug you tomorrow!" Naomi pointed out needlessly.
I nodded, smiling. "The agreement was that they'd teach me spells in exchange for the herbs." I grinned. "And it turns out that even simple spells can be handy; Clover's shock spell came in pretty handy on spring break, you know."
"Yeah, but ..."
"But they're a couple of spells behind, and if I gave them a week's supply, they'd have no motivation to get caught up," I continued, ending with a grin. "At least Palantir and Abra wouldn't. Clover is still scared to death that she's in a wizard's pact with me."
"Ah. Pretty clever!" Evvie noted.
"Yup." I pulled out my electronics book and cracked it open. "I've got a test Friday," I noted to answer the questioning looks, "and with the Nations meeting Thursday night ...."
"Among other things," Naomi said with a grin and wiggling eyebrows.
I shot her a scowl, and then made my expression neutral again, "With the Nations meeting, I need to start studying for the test early."
After a while, as I read, I slowly realized that the banter had stopped. I looked up to see what was going on, and I saw them all staring at one end of the table. There were four girls there, three of whom I immediately recognized, and all were staring at me.
"Good evening, Kayda," Poise said politely in greeting.
"Uh, hi," I stammered after struggling to down the bite of fruit salad I had in my mouth. The way the girls were all staring at me was a bit unnerving. "Um, can I help you with something?"
"We were wondering if you'd like to join us for dinner," Lifeline replied.
"We'd like to chat with you a little if you wouldn't mind," a third girl added; I thought her name was Heartbreaker, but I wasn't sure.
"You all wouldn't mind if we take Kayda's company from you for one evening, would you?" Fey asked politely. I was pleased to see her with another group, which meant that she was slowly recovering, but I was confused.
The reaction from Evvie, Naomi, and Laurie was not what I expected. "Kayda eats with other groups all the time," Evvie said, almost urging me to go. "We can always talk more later tonight."
"She ate with the Anna and the Underdogs last night," Naomi added. "We like to see our girl expanding her circles of friends." She spoke like she was my mother or doting aunt.
I felt like I was being pushed. "Um, I suppose I can." Truth be told, I always felt a little vulnerable outside my group. We were bloodied together in our battle with the snake demon. We knew we had each other's backs. I worried a lot less about trouble finding me when I was with them.
Before I could change my mind, Lifeline picked up my tray, and the girl I thought was Heartbreaker picked up my books. With Fey and Poise flanking me, we walked up to the second level of the cafeteria and sat at a table where three other girls were eating and conversing.
"Everyone," Lifeline said to interrupt the conversations and get the girls' attention - not that she had to, since the girls were silent and focused on me, "this is Kayda Franks, also known as Pejuta." She went around the group and introduced the others relatively quickly. I had been right; the girl who carried my books was Heartbreaker.
"We're Venus, Inc.," Poise said as she very gracefully sat down. The other girls were trying to emulate her, not always successfully. "We wanted to talk with you a little bit about your modeling accomplishments and aspirations."
I had a sense of dread. "Debra," I muttered to myself, knowing that Debra was likely behind what was obviously a meeting to attempt to rush me into their group.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Poise said with a charming smile. "You freshmen girls won't remember, but Cornflower, who graduated last year, is an alumna of Venus Inc."
"What did she send you?" I asked with a sinking feeling. "She _did_ send you pictures, didn't she?"
Heartbreaker opened a laptop that was sitting at her spot and called up some images. I groaned to myself as I saw picture after picture from _both_ our photo sessions at the Sioux Falls League. At an adjoining table, boys were craning their necks to try to see the pictures on the laptop. The only thing that kept me from slinking away was that none of the more suggestive pictures were present. But the ones they had were racy enough! "Oh, God!" I moaned softly. "I'll ... I'll kill her!"
"They're very good photos," Poise complimented.
"Considering that you've never done modeling before," Heartbreaker added.
"When your calendar went on sale in the bookstore, Mr. Parker and Ms. Dennon, our co-advisors, strongly urged us to talk to you about joining," Poise continued.
"And be a model?" I asked, astounded? "You guys are like the hyper-fashionistas, and I don't know much about fashion at all!"
"But you carry off the Native American theme quite beautifully," Lifeline countered.
"For one thing," Poise continued, "pictures taken through Venus Inc. have copyright protection that the school can enforce - unlike the debacle that happened with a certain poster."
I blushed furiously at the reference; I still occasionally heard a comment or two about that poster. Thank God the inscription hadn't copied!
"Second, if you model any school materials, it's considered part of a work-study job."
"I _have_ a work-study job already," I protested weakly, "with Dr. Quintain working on pattern theory. And a very full schedule, especially counting my Native American fighting skills tutoring every afternoon."
"Thanks for the reminder," Heartbreaker said. She made a few clicks on her keyboard, and a new series of pictures came up in a slideshow. Some were of me riding Summer, with and without weapons, while others were me training on foot."
"Where ... where did you get those?" I demanded, baffled and outraged at the same time.
"One of our rather ... infamous ... photographers has been taking pictures of you," Fey said. "Oh, don't worry - he's not stalking you specifically. He's an equal-opportunity letch."
"Who?" I roared, blood coursing through my veins so loudly that I could almost hear it.
"We ... persuaded him to give us his camera and digital memory card," Poise said with a grin. "We gave it back, of course," she added with a pleasant smile, "after we deleted everything on it."
"But not before copying pictures of me?"
"Mr. Parker thinks you’re a natural in front of a camera," Lifeline said, ignoring my comment.
I sighed. "I really, really appreciate your invitation," I began, "but my schedule is so full right now that ...."
"We all have busy schedules," Poise interrupted gently, "but an hour or two a week to help the school with promotional materials isn't an overwhelming burden. Besides, the runway exercises help with coordination, which in turn helps with martial arts."
"And you'll be better prepared next time the Sioux Falls League wants you to pose for them," Lifeline added quickly.
I looked around; the expressions ranged from one that was indifferent to others who were hopeful. I sighed again. "I know Debra is so set on me joining, and ... I'm honored that you think I'd be good enough."
"But?" Lifeline asked the obvious question.
"I'm ... afraid of overcommitting. I've got a busy schedule, and I've got the Nations, plus work-study, plus being a TA, and my extra Native American martial arts training."
"It's only an hour or two a week," Poise countered politely with a friendly smile. "
"Can I ... think about it a little bit?" I asked timidly, hoping I wasn't offending them by not immediately accepting their invitation.
Heartbreaker and the other girl seemed a little miffed, but Poise smiled pleasantly, almost like she'd expected my slight objection. "Given your class load, it's only right that we give you a chance to see if your schedule can work. How about a little demonstration? You come by our clubhouse and studio in Dunn Hall this evening when we're practicing? Get to know us and see how we work before you decide?"
I nodded, wondering if I was doing the right thing. "I guess I can do that." What was I getting into? What was _Debra_ pushing me into? I hoped it wasn't going to be too big of a demand on my time. Or cause me embarrassment.
* * * * * * * * * *
Whateley Academy, after dinner
Amber Prentice glanced around herself nervously as she strolled into the wooded area north of Holbrook Arena. The note she'd found in her backpack indicated that Mike Reynolds, her boyfriend, had some very large looming problems but also offered her a way to help with those issues. It sounded like cloak-and-dagger stuff, but the hint that Mike might encounter serious problems with administration and security had garnered her attention - and fear.
"Hello?" she asked as she walked cautiously off the path into the trees. "Is anyone here?"
"I see you decided to accept my invitation," a figure said, stepping out from behind a tree.
Amber started, and then she relaxed a bit. "You startled me."
"You were expecting someone else?"
"I wasn't sure _what_ - or who - to expect," Amber answered with a nervous laugh, "because your invitation was anonymous."
"But you were curious."
Amber nodded. "'I have important information about Mike and some big problems he has. Meet me behind Holbrook after dinner.' Yeah, that got my attention."
"You _know_ that Mike is in _way_ over his head, don't you?"
Amber frowned, suddenly wary again. "How do you know?"
The one who'd trained Hekate in the dark arts chuckled. "I know a lot more about what's going on than most people could even imagine. For example, if Security knew what he's done trying to get that Lakota girl off campus, do you think our Headmistress would be lenient, or would she expel him and possibly turn him over to the MCO for attempted murder?"
Amber goggled at him. "Uh," she stammered, "he's .... he hasn't .... there's ...."
"There's no proof?" Hekate's Master laughed wickedly. "There's _plenty_ of proof ... if the right people look in the right places. Proof of some things that could land him in prison, if not handled properly."
A chill went through Amber. "You ... wouldn't!"
"I wouldn't. But I can't speak for others. Now if you were to help me out a little bit with one of _my_ problems, I _could_ find ways to help you protect your boyfriend," he offered her an enticement to gain her assistance.
"What ... what do you want?" the girl stammered, frightened.
"Nothing serious," was the response. "Just a little exchange of favors."
"What ... do I have to do?"
Hekate's Master held out a charm on a simple thong necklace. "Just give him this," he said soothingly. "It'll help him stay more ... covert. And you just keep me informed on his plans."
The girl's hand trembled as she reached for the charm. It sounded so simple, and if it could help keep Mike out of trouble .... Her hand clasped around the metal ...
... And her eyes glazed over, her posture stiffening like she was in a trance. Or enchanted. "Now, my dear," Hekate's Master chuckled, "keep that charm on you at all times. Don't give it to anyone, and never take it off. Just go about your business, and when you hear something of interest, report to me. And you'll forget all about this meeting."
Zombie-like, Amber nodded, turned, and walked back toward the campus core. After thirty or forty yards, her eyes unglazed, and she shook her head to clear it. She frowned at herself; what on _earth_ had possessed her to go for a walk this far from campus? Glancing at her watch, she chided herself; she had to hurry now to meet with Mike for studying - and a little making out.
* * * * * * * * * *
Venus Inc. Clubhouse and Studio,
Dunn Hall
The clubhouse was completely unlike anything I would have expected. The 'clubhouse' proper was a small room off the studios and locker room, with expensive, leather sofas and chairs - matching, of course - and a coffee table and end tables strewn with the latest editions of a variety of fashion magazines. A refrigerator sat in the corner, with a small counter beside it; I was offered beverages and 'healthy' snacks, like fresh fruit and 'lite' yogurt. That made sense; some of the girls in the club might not be exemplars, and they would be very sensitive to their body images and would carefully watch what they ate. I'd seen the same thing in my old high school; the 'fashionistas' and 'in' girls were fastidious about their figures, if not downright obsessive.
The girls showed me the locker room, which was dominated by vanities and mirrors, with the lockers almost as an afterthought. Lengthy racks held a wide variety of garments. I goggled at that, and Poise chuckled softly. "Oh this? This is the 'active' rack of clothes. It's nothing much, really. Wait until you see Narnia."
"Narnia?" I stammered, not quite comprehending.
"Our costume and garment closet," Lifeline said with a smile. "We must have, what, five or six thousand garments stored there?"
Outside the locker room was the studio proper, with three or four camera and light setups, each in front of a backdrop, for the actual photography. Between the backdrops, props were stacked practically to the ceiling.
"Let me guess - there's another store-room just for props?"
Poise smiled warmly. "No. We share with the theater department, so we rely on their vast warehouse of furniture and props."
I paused to watch at one station, where one of the members was modeling an LBD, a little black cocktail dress. She was moving before the camera which was clicking off flash after flash. Behind the camera taking pictures was a tall, shapely redhead that I didn't recognize. "No, no, no!" the redhead said sharply, chiding the model. "Less head and hair motion. You're at a cocktail party, not on a beach or playing volleyball! Flirt with the camera! Imagine a tall, hunky guy in a tuxedo at a formal dinner party! Flirt! But be sophisticated about it." The model nodded, and then began to move again. This time, she seemed less playful and more demure but also confident. As they shot photos, an assistant handed her a glass with some kind of liquid in it, and the model held it like she _was_ at a cocktail party, at one point sort-of hiding shyly behind the glass. I was impressed at how well the girl was pulling off the poses. The arrangement was far better than what the Sioux Falls League had.
Lifeline waited for a pause in the photography. "Hey, Elaine," she called out to the photographer. "Where's Mr. Parker?"
"Probably at home," the redhead replied, not taking her attention from the camera. "He asked me if Ah could finish this shoot tonight."
"Would you like to try posing for a few pictures?" Poise offered.
"Uh, no thanks," I stammered. The last thing I wanted to do was to start posing; I knew from our sessions at the Sioux Falls League that it could take quite a while, not only to get ready, but also to pose for the pictures. Besides, changing and getting made up weren't on my agenda for the evening.
"You should come by for some test shoots. I'm sure Mr. Parker would love to get you in front of the camera. Especially with your native outfits and that white bison of yours," Lifeline chuckled.
The redhead behind the camera lifted her head, having overheard, and she glanced my way for a moment. "Are you the one featured in that calendar?" she asked me pointedly.
"Um, yeah," I replied, feeling a little uneasy, like I did every time someone mentioned that calendar.
The redhead looked me over. "Ah'd like to get you in front of the camera," she said. "Ah can think of a number of themes that Ah'd like to have you posing for." She glanced at Poise. "From the pictures on the calendar, you seem to be a natural." She looked at me questioningly. "You _are_ going to be a regular model, aren't you?"
I winced, feeling like everyone was pressuring me to join. "I'm ... thinking about it," I answered hesitantly. I didn't want to annoy anyone. "But I have a very busy schedule."
The girls all laughed at that. "Welcome to the club, hon," the redhead chuckled. She turned her attention back to the model, and I walked with Poise and Lifeline to the next room. I was shocked to see a formal elevated runway. The two showed me how they strutted, mind-boggling displays of grace and balance. I began to doubt if I'd ever be able to do something like they'd just demonstrated. We then returned to the clubhouse, where Poise offered me a soda.
I declined, politely I hoped. "Actually, I'd just like a cup of water," I replied. "I'm kind of ... partial ... to the tea my spirit mentor taught me to make."
Poise smiled as she very gracefully put a cup on a saucer and opened a bottle of water to pour in it. "I've heard about your tea. Mindbird swears by it for stress relief."
"I could brew you a cup if you'd like to try," I offered. "Any of you."
Lifeline took me up on the offer, but Poise declined. "Thank you, no," she replied in her honey-smooth voice, oozing charm. "I try to avoid drinking too much tea in the evenings. I'll have a soda instead."
"Where do you get all the outfits?" I asked, curious how the club could have thousands of outfits, as they'd claimed.
"Mrs. Braithwaite and Mrs. Ryan from Home Ec work with Mrs. Rogers from Dunwich ..."
I interrupted gently, "I know of her - and her shop."
Poise nodded. "They teach a special topics class in fashion design as part of the Home Ec curriculum. That's one of the major sources of our outfits."
"Once in a while," Lifeline added, "we can talk one of the boys into modeling with us, but ...."
"Hank Declan was nice enough to model our last shoot of dancewear," Heartbreaker said. "He looked pretty nice in a tuxedo, but I don't think he's interested in joining the club."
"Off and on over the years," Poise said, gracefully pausing to take a sip from her soda from a glass - heaven forbid she'd be caught dead sipping directly from a can! - "we've approached several of the boys about joining, but ...." She didn't need to explain the answers they'd received.
Having just taken a sip of my tea, I had to fight to avoid bursting into laughter and blowing tea out my nose. No straight guy in his right mind - at least the guys I'd grown up with - would consider things like cheerleading, fashion design, or modeling for fear of being labeled gay, a tag that would forever ruin his social life and start a nightmare of bullying. Somehow, that little fact didn't seem to occur to Lifeline.
"Um," I began, wondering if my questions would be interpreted as a sign of interest. I was just curious. "How do you learn ... modeling and runway stuff?" I shook my head. "I can't imagine that being something taught in either Home Ec or PE."
Poise chuckled softly. "You might be surprised. Mrs. Dennon, one of our co-sponsors, and Mrs. Rogers, who also teaches ballroom dance, work with us on grace and movement. Mrs. Dennon teaches a combat PE course called Exemplar Grace." She smiled. "For my final exam in that class, I had to fight in high heels and a skirt while holding a full cup of hot tea by the saucer! I couldn't break a heel, mar my makeup, spill any tea, or be immodest. So yes, she knows a whole lot about graceful movement, and she helps teach runway and modeling work."
"You're not a brick or exemplar, are you?" Lifeline asked. "Even if you're not, you'd probably get a lot out of Exemplar Grace."
I shuddered at that thought. Three fighting classes a term were already intimidating without thinking of fighting in high heels, let alone with a teacup. In a way, I was hoping I'd never, ever get a class with Mrs. Dennon.
* * * * * * * * * *
Poe Cottage; just before curfew
I walked into my room, and halted abruptly. On my desk was a large digital clock, its bright red numbers counting down second by second. I glanced at my watch, and then back at the clock, which was counting backwards from forty-eight hours, thirty minutes. There was no mistaking the meaning of that time, nor the giver of this 'gift'.
"Oh, gods!" I groaned aloud. Rosalyn was NOT going to let me forget about the hot-tub party.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, April 26, 2007, Lunch
Crystal Hall
"Do you suppose there's something here that'll give me food poisoning?" I grumbled after Rosalyn walked by and made kissy lips at me. Evvie and I had been the only ones who'd seen that provocative little gesture on her part.
Naomi almost spat her food out, she was laughing so hard, and Evvie chuckled aloud.
"I can just see it - you walk to the serving line. 'Excuse me, but may I have a case of ptomaine poisoning to go?'"
Once Naomi had wiped off her mouth and composed herself, though she was still giggling, she decided to add to the conversation. "Wouldn't matter," she said with a grin. "She'd just have Banned Aids come by and heal you."
"I'm pretty well stuck, aren't I?" I asked glumly as Laurie, Adrian, and Vasiliy set their trays on the table.
"Stuck? Doing what?" Laurie asked, her curiosity stoked.
"Kayda has a meeting tonight," Evvie chuckled.
"Yeah, we know," Adrian replied. "The Native American thing every Thursday night."
"No, this is a different meeting," Naomi explained in cryptic tones. "A ... personal meeting."
It was Evvie's turn to spew mashed potatoes because she couldn't keep from laughing.
"What?" Vasiliy asked, perplexed at the inside joking. "What did I miss?"
"Oh, nothing," Naomi said innocently, trying but failing to keep a smirk off her face.
"Girl stuff. You wouldn't understand," Evvie added, dabbing her face with a napkin.
Laurie's eyes narrowed, and she glanced back and forth between the three of us Poesies. She started to open her mouth, but then decided against it. There was a moment of awkward silence, which I used to gulp down some of my tea to _try_ to help calm my jangled nerves.
"I heard that the group is going to form a special team for simulations," Laurie said to break the silence.
I nodded and put down my cup. "A few members have been going to some of Mr. Two Knives' classes, and they seem to be really enjoying it, so last week, we talked about making a training team or two so we could do some ... interesting sims."
"Such as?"
I chuckled. "Such as a buffalo hunt, horse-stealing raids, combat with an enemy tribe, raiding parties - you know, usual boring stuff."
"Buffalo hunting doesn't sound bad," Adrian observed.
"On horseback with bow and arrow."
"Horseback? Bow and arrow? And you call that boring?" Vasiliy asked, mouth agape in astonishment. "
I shrugged indifferently. "Based on some of the stories of my ancestors, yeah, that's boring."
"I noticed you're wearing your uniform today. Carson get on your case?" Laurie asked, changing the subject.
"No," I said with a derisive snort. "It was Hartford. She wasn't exactly warm to the idea that my religion demanded that I wear buckskin dresses."
"Yeah, well, she's probably jealous that you look better in them than she would," Adrian commented. The appreciative look he was giving me earned him an elbow from Laurie.
"I told her that the Great Spirit wanted me to wear traditional Lakota attire, but she told me that since I channel that spirit, this can't be independently verified, and therefore, wear a uniform like everyone else."
"So, like you're your own goddess?" Naomi chuckled. "Why _wouldn't_ she believe you?"
"Can't you appeal to Mrs. Carson?" Vasiliy asked naively.
"Guess who controls what Mrs. Carson sees and doesn't see in terms of paperwork?" I asked rhetorically. "I'd have to fill out a form one-seven-four slash A, requesting a religious exemption from the school uniform and submit it to the dress-code variances committee, and as head of that committee, she'd take it up at their next meeting, after which I could appeal the decision to Mrs. Carson if I was unsatisfied."
"Sounds simple enough," Evvie noted.
"Because it's late in the school year, the next dress-code variances committee meeting isn't until late May," I groused. "And then only if they have sufficient items on the agenda to merit a meeting, versus a ruling from the committee head."
"So basically, you're screwed."
I nodded with a resigned sigh. "If she makes an arbitrary ruling, I could request a special committee hearing, which she'd have to grant within thirty days of my request."
"So if the committee decides in late May to not meet, and Hartford rules against you, then if you appeal, she can run out the clock on the term," Adrian speculated. "Sneaky."
"Bureaucratic," Naomi corrected him.
"So you're finished wearing those nice, tight-fitting, sexy buckskin dresses?" Adrian asked in a tone that, combined with his words, earned him yet another elbow from Laurie. One day, the boy was going to learn to keep his mouth shut.
"Nope. Some days I'll just wear the blazer over my dress - like the girls from India do."
"But ... won't you get in trouble?" Vasiliy asked.
"Maybe. But any punishment I can appeal to Mrs. Carson immediately, so I go around Hartford," I said with a huge grin. "It's all about understanding the rules."
"Damn," Adrian whistled, "you sound like Loophole!"
The grin faded instantly, and I clenched my jaw. The Gadgeteer Goddess was thrown in my face yet again. How often was I going to be compared to the Lab Queen?
I should have known something was up from the way Evvie, Laurie, Naomi, and Chat Bleu all had a sudden urge for visiting the rest room or getting dessert or some other such excuse to leave the table. I had a sinking feeling, though, when Mindbird, Abra, Pally, and Clover came up behind Adrian and Vasiliy.
The girls came up from behind me, encircling me, and it wasn't just the four who'd been at our table, but also Chou, Molly, Alicia, and Addy. Evvie planted a huge cake, with sixteen burning candles, on the table in front of me.
"Oh, God!" I groaned. "I told you guys not to make a big deal!"
Evvie grinned. "You were overridden by your mother. She told me very explicitly to make sure you had a nice birthday cake. More specifically, a pineapple upside-down cake!" Which the cake was. It was the largest pineapple upside-down cake I'd ever seen, and it looked just like Mom's, only much larger.
As the group broke into a rendition of 'Happy Birthday," I shrank in my seat, wanting to slip into a crack in the floorboards or tile. Unfortunately, neither were possible, because the floor was a faux-granite devisor material that was seamless, so there were no cracks in which to hide even if I had been able to shrink.
Naturally, the cacophony drew attention, and more and more voiced joined in the rendition of birthday wishes, until I was beet red from embarrassment. Finally, they finished, and after a raucous roar of applause, I blew out the candles. Naomi produced a serving knife and Laurie had a stack of plates, so they began to cut and serve cake to those around us.
My embarrassment wasn't through. Robert Rose, the cut-up, practical-joking, ectoplasm-manifesting kid in Victorian attire, came to the table. "M'lady," he said, bowing deeply. "It is only fitting that a lady celebrate her birthday with a dance with a suave gentleman." My eyes widened, and he continued with a grin. "Since we seem to be short on those, I'll have to do, I suppose." He glanced to the side, and his friend Froggy began to sing a Sinatra song, accompanied by a siren who was doing all the musical background. He offered his hand graciously, and after glancing nervously at my friends, I realized that I was thoroughly on the spot and was _not_ going to get out of this.
Fortunately, Robert Rose was a total gentleman, and equally fortunately, I knew the Foxtrot, or at least some basic steps - and I figured that Mom had a big hand in the planning. And so I nervously danced with Robert around the fountain. He was a perfect gentleman, and I was certain that someone had arranged for a projective empath to dampen my sense of panic, because I had none at all, which totally shocked me.
Once the dance was over, I was subject to a great deal more cheering and whistling as I slunk back to my seat. There followed no peace in dining for quite a while, as many people I knew - and some I only vaguely knew - came by to wish me Happy Birthday and get a piece of cake. The list of well-wishers included all of Team Kimba, several classmates, and most of the Poe girls. The Poe girls kept giving me quite interesting looks - kind of like they were sizing me up with hungry looks in their eyes. Eventually, though, the excitement died down, and I tried to eat some cake in peace. What little was left after all the well-wishing vultures had eaten almost all of it.
Whoever had been projecting calm to keep me from having a panic attack during the dance left or quit projecting because I suddenly began to tremble and then outright shake at the realization that I'd danced with a guy. With him holding me.
* * * * * * * * * *
Schuster Hall, after dinner
The Nations meeting
"It was _way_ cool!" Lupine bubbled enthusiastically. "Mr. Two Knives was absolutely awesome, the way he took apart Stormwolf with a tomahawk!" She didn't see the boy staring at her with a look of disapproval. "And the bow - Kayda said that she wasn't any good, but she hit the target five times in about six seconds!"
Mule sat toward the rear. As Lupine and Stormwolf reported on their adventures in Mr. Two Knives' class, he was strangely silent.
"The idea of Native American fighting techniques and simulations is quite interesting," Stormwolf said, carefully impassive in tone. "While Kayda was in her electronics class yesterday, I spent more time with Mr. Two Knives. He is remarkably skilled in stealth, and he's nearly impossible to sneak up on." He grinned. "Imagine having those skills in the upcoming combat finals."
Bluejay cleared his throat. "Can we get permission to use the simulators for some combat scenarios?"
I nodded. "Since we're officially recognized, yes. It was a point I brought up with Mrs. Carson."
"I say we form a training team."
"Show of hands - who would like to be on a Nations training team for some Native American simulations?" I asked. Immediately, a lot of hands shot into the air. I counted eleven of the sixteen members present. The group now included two students who had no Native American blood, but were interested in Native American lore, skills, and history. Not surprisingly, Windrunner was _not_ one of the respondents.
"Looks like we'll need two teams," Stormwolf chuckled.
"Okay, I'll get the names from Flux, and we'll randomly draw teams next week."
"How about training with your tutor?" Slapshot asked.
"He's open to more students training," I said, "but we'll have to see when he could teach. It might be tough in my tutoring session, because I'm working on horse-bow..."
"We could ask that he set up an area for training in the same location, so he could teach a variety of skills. One area for tomahawk, one for Krav Maga, one for bow..." It was the first comment from Mule, and it surprised me, given how quiet he'd been.
A thought crept into my brain. "If we have enough demand, we might be able to petition to get PE credit for it, too!" Another thing occurred to me. "I'll invite him next week, and we can see who's interested and what the options are."
"He told me he's willing to do a demo any time in the optional seventh period," Stormwolf commented. "And a class, if there are enough interested students."
"When we take a break, I'll call him." I turned to Windrunner. "You said you have some ideas for activities?" I wanted to make it known that I counted on her, as a member of the Tribal Council, for input. "How about you talk while I call Mr. Two Knives?"
She began to talk about various 'craft' projects, and I could tell, from the background noise, that the reception wasn't nearly as warm as what the subject of combat training had gotten, but some were interested. While she spoke, I talked with Mr. Two Knives, and he agreed to do a demonstration the following day while I was in electronics class. When Windrunner finished, out of courtesy, we did an informal vote on several of her proposals, ranking the top five possible activities to schedule for the rest of the school year. Surprisingly to me, she had proposed a sweat-lodge ceremony, which garnered quite favorable review.
"I've got a line on a portable structure we can set up a sweat lodge in," I reported. "Who's up for next Saturday for that?"
"How about we do a camp some upcoming Saturday night, too? But not the weekend after next." Hardsell proposed. That was favorably received as well.
"I guess we'll learn about making native dwellings as well as doing a sweat lodge," Scott said with a chuckle.
"Two dwellings - at least," Azteca interjected. "One for you boys, and one for the girls."
"Two week should give us plenty of time to organize things. I'll see if I can get Mr. Lodgeman to attend as well - at least the fire circle. He's probably got some knowledge on setting up dwellings and stuff that we want to tap."
The discussion became quite lively; some wanted the cooks to make some traditional Native American dishes for us, while others wanted us to cook for ourselves. One even proposed that we hunt our own wildlife to cook. While a few of the guys - and Lupine - were very enthusiastic about the idea, most of the girls were a little squeamish. I suspected that we'd eventually hunt, and then the girls would learn to either deal with it, or they'd quit coming on those types of outings.
Mule took responsibility for working with the grounds crew to find where we could camp and build a fire, temporary lodges, and a sweat-lodge. Lupine and Pristine were going to work on supplies for some temporary lodges, and I'd finish my arrangements for a sweat lodge.
"So, what did Mr. Two Knives say?" Slapshot asked when the campout discussion wound down.
"He said that anyone who wants a demonstration or intro lesson should be at the archery range near the stables after sixth period tomorrow. If there is enough interest, he'll talk to Mrs. C about starting a class and about PE credit for it."
We talked more about future possibilities, but eventually, I noticed that people were getting antsy to leave, so I reluctantly adjourned the meeting. As we were leaving, Flux offered to walk with me back to Poe so I wouldn't have to wait for security. Part of me _wanted_ to wait for security.
"I couldn't help but wonder if you were trying to make the meeting run past curfew," he said with a grin as we walked. My eyes felt like they were going to bug out, and my mouth hung agape, which made Flux chuckle. "Oh, it's not a secret that there's a hot-tub party tonight," he chuckled. "Nor that Blackrose conned you into going after she's been chasing you since you arrived."
Oh, shit! The whole damned cottage knew! "Uh, I don't know ...."
Flux chuckled. "It's pretty common knowledge." He waggled his eyebrows at me as we arrived at the front door to Poe. "Have fun, you two!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Behind Poe Cottage, just before curfew
Rosalyn glanced around to see if anyone was watching, and then ducked into the small copse of trees, away from the walkway. As she walked hesitantly, a shadowy figure detached itself from the dark outline of a tree. "You startled me," Rosalyn said, her hand lightly touching her heart in a very feminine gesture of surprise.
"I shouldn't have. I told you to meet me here," the shadowy figure countered.
"I suppose, but this seems so ...."
"Sneaky? Devious?" the shadow asked knowingly. "You _know_ you really want to play your part, don't you?"
Rosalyn winced. Her motives were too transparent. "Yes," she answered hesitantly. She held out something, which the shadowy figure took from her.
"Good. Don't mess this one up." The shadowy figured blended back into the black outlines of the trees, leaving Rosalyn alone with her thoughts.
'Damn,' Rosalyn cursed inside as she considered what she'd agreed to, and the role she'd already been playing. 'How do I get myself out of this mess?' She started walking back toward Poe, still shaking her head. 'Now I'm caught in a web that I helped weave....' At Poe's back door, she squared her shoulders and held up her head. No sense in anyone else knowing what kind of a mess she was caught up in, and if she presented herself as anything _but_ a confident, self-assured, predatory, part-time-dom, people would start to suspect something. She'd have to act her part - again.
* * * * * * * * * *
Poe Cottage, after curfew
I paced nervously, glancing periodically at the countdown clock which had been fastened with some kind of devisor glue to my desk. The numbers were down to fourteen minutes and twenty seconds, and ticking away.
"Relax, Kayda," Evvie said. "It's just a soak in a hot tub with a bunch of girls." She was sitting on her bed in a soft black terrycloth robe reading a magazine to pass the time.
"Led by a girl who wants to get in my pants and has made no secret of it since I got here!" I added angrily.
"She won't do anything. Not without your permission," Evvie tried to reassure me.
"But ... she's been pretty aggressive coming on to me!"
"And why not? You're very attractive, and when those curves finish developing, you're going to have a dynamite figure!"
"But ... she moved the party - to my birthday! She found out, and moved it!"
"Maybe, or maybe it's a coincidence," Evvie suggested. She looked up at the sound of our door opening. "Hi," she purred to Naomi, who was wearing the same black robe as Evvie. The same black robe that sat on my bed, and which were part of the supplies for the hot tub, like the ultra-soft towels and slippers. I was told that it was traditional to wear the black robes at these formal parties.
Naomi closed the door and then sat on the edge of Evvie's bed, "Hi, yourself." She punctuated her greeting with a lengthy kiss. After she finished, she looked up at me. "You better get dressed," Naomi chided me gently.
"I ... I don't want to go," I protested, my voice quavering slightly.
"It'll be okay," Evvie assured me, springing up to hug me and comfort me.
"But ... I'm sixteen now! Now it's legal for her to ...."
Evvie held her hands on my shoulders, looking square at me. "If you don't want to, she can't make you."
I turned away, wiping at the tear that appeared in one eye. "That's just it," I mumbled. "I ... I _do_ want to!" I started shaking as my minor fear turned to sobbing. "I'm so afraid ... that I'd betray Debra ... just because I'm so curious I can't stand it!"
"Oh, Kayda," Evvie said, hugging me from behind, trying to calm me.
"I'm so afraid that I wouldn't be able to say no," I sobbed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Poe Cottage Lobby, after curfew
Trembling, I descended the stairs with Evvie and Naomi. Like them, I was clad in a black terry robe, with nothing underneath. I halted abruptly, fighting panic, when I saw Rosalyn looking up at me with a smile that reminded me of the look in a wolf's eyes when it's stalking its prey. The other girls followed her gaze, and suddenly, I felt like I was on display. There were about fifteen girls, many of whom I knew, but a few, like the girl with the dusky olive Mediterranean complexion who was clearly attached to Zenith, I didn't know.
"Are we all here," Rosalyn asked as the three of us joined the group; no doubt she was the chairperson for this little outing.
"Rip is studying with Toni," one of the girls reported.
"You mean, she's studying Toni!" A titter of laughs circulated through the group.
"Megs isn't coming, either."
"Okay. Stick close together and follow me." Rosalyn turned toward the door, but turned back and took my trembling hand. "I don't want you to get lost," she said with a grin, which evoked even more giggles.
There must have been some 'understanding' with Mrs. Horton, because she'd know instantly if any of her charges were out after curfew. I'd been to the hot-tub before with Naomi and Evvie, so I wasn't surprised, although the path off the walkway into the trees was a little trickier to navigate in the darkness.
Rosalyn stopped by the ginormous remains of the tree and fiddled with the lock, opening the door. "Step along girls," she directed in her sweet, sexy voice, "and be careful if it's your first time. It's quite a drop."
One by one, the girls descended the ladder, with Rosalyn sort-of pushing me into the middle of the line, perhaps fearing that I'd chicken out if she let me go last. The ladder descended from the dark of night into a softly-lit cavern, so it actually seemed easier to go down than at my last visit. The cavern was no different from my previous visit; the lighting was constant whether it was day or night outside, but somehow, knowing that it was dark outside seemed to add a little creepy edge to the caverns, a hint of foreboding.
At the bottom, the girls were already folding their robes and placing them in little cubbies; in the bluish-green glow of the cavern lights, their naked bodies looked quite exotic, and it didn't make matters any less enticing to see some very attractive exemplar bodies in the mix. I sort of stepped to the side, wincing at the display of female flesh and the knowledge that when I disrobed, a lot of girls were going to be looking at _me_.
There was a girl at the bottom who hadn't been part of our gathering in Poe, and I was afraid my secret would be out, but Zenith wrapped her arms around the new girl in an almost smothering embrace. "Oh, Elaine, welcome home, sister!" she said in a warm, genuinely happy voice. "Elaine said you were coming..."
The unfamiliar girl - a redhead, I guessed, though it was a little hard to be absolutely certain in the bluish lighting - returned the hug. "Hey, Zoe."
Zoe's partner, who was at her side as if fastened permanently there, chuckled. "Don't you go by Lanie down here?" she asked. "Why did you start insisting on being called 'Elaine' last year, anyway?"
The smile on Lanie's face froze. "Ask the Kodiak, Sahar," she said, her voice as ice-cold as her expression.
"Awkward!" the girl said. "Sorry. I didn't mean to stir up anything." The girls around us murmured at whatever story or rumors were associated with the girl and the Kodiak.
Zoe intervened to halt the awkward moment. "This is a happy occasion!"
"Let's not bicker and argue about _who_ killed _who_!" someone chimed in a faux Scots burr, laughing.
Lanie's expression softened at the bit of humor. Zenith continued. "You're free, you're you again, and you've got the whole world ahead of you!"
I kind of shuffled to one side, not quite sure how to act in this group. This was different from the sweat lodge; in the sweat lodge, it was about a Lakota ceremony. This was about lesbian girls checking each other out like a meat market, hoping to find someone for a relationship - or a hot one-night stand of sex. I shuddered at that thought. Slowly, reluctantly, I slipped off my robe, hoping that I was blending into the background, trying to not be obvious. I knew that if all the girls were in the pool naked, and I was standing alone still in my robe, it would be a scene that would probably embarrass the hell out of me.
Zenith, Sahar, and Lanie sat down on the benches to take off their slippers. I wasn't quite sure what they were saying, because I was nervously watching the other girls disrobe and walk confidently into the hot tub. While I trembled from jangled nerves, Zenith and Sahar stepped into the tub and eased down onto the built-in benches. "Are you coming into the water Lanie? Or are you just going to watch?" she asked.
"Not that I'd blame you if you just watched," Selkie said with a wicked grin as she slipped into the water.
"Ah'm not Peeper!" Lanie shot back with a very obvious southern accent. She stood and removed her own robe, and as she did, I goggled her. She was curvy in a way that put almost every other girl in the room to shame. Her very generous bosom had to be D-cups, and she had a figure that girls would die to have. Her eyes locked onto mine, and for a couple of moments, I stood, transfixed, as if she was casting some spell on me. I swallowed nervously at the way she was looking. Finally, I managed to look down to tear my gaze from hers.
"I thought Delta Spike said you weren't looking for a rebound," Zoe said teasingly. My skin flushed red and warm in embarrassment from the tip of my toes to my scalp.
"Hmmm, Lanie," Angel said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively, "You're looking at Kayda like your more than a little interested."
Lanie shook her head, making her long, wavy hair dance about her face. "Ah thought the purpose of this little clambake was to admire the goods," she said with a leering smile. I blushed an even deeper shade of red. "But Ah don't want to catch a rebound. That wouldn't be fair to them. Still, there's no harm in looking!" She grinned at me, her eyes locked onto mine once more, and a shudder coursed up and down my spine for some reason. "Kayda's beautiful. She should be proud of that." I tried to back away from the pool, to ease myself from being the center of attention, but I immediately bumped into an outcropping of wall.
Zenith chuckled as she cuddled up and wrapped her arm around the dusky girl. "Yeah. You go for the exotic girls, don't you? Like Songbird? And now Kayda?"
God, I wanted to run. I wanted to get out of the place, because I _was_ one of the last ones not in the pool, and everyone was watching me, and now this new girl Lanie was unashamedly admitting that she was checking me out. As were most of the girls who were already in the hot-tub.
Lanie placed a hand lightly over her breast. In an imitation of a Southern belle straight out of casting central, she purred, "Well, now, bein' a well-brought-up Southern lady," she intoned, her accent into full deep South genteel mode, "it goes without sayin' that Ah have more sophisticated tastes and a more discriminatin' palate than all you Yankees!"
Rosalyn chuckled at Lanie's act, and she stepped to my side, wrapping an arm around my waist while her other hand lightly touched my bare shoulder. "Hands off, Lanie. In case you didn't realize, Kayda is mine."
My jaw dropped in shock at how Rosalyn was basically claiming me. "No!" I cried out, pushing away from her. "I'm ... I'm already involved with someone!"
"I didn't think Rosalyn had gotten that far yet!" Troika giggled, causing most of the girls to titter and chuckle. If my skin was already flushed from embarrassment, it began to completely burning from shame.
Rosalyn shook her head, and whatever expression she shot at the other girls calmed down the laughter. "Kayda," she said, looking at me with a touch of sympathy in her expression, "Lanie, who is actually Elaine ..."
"'Cept Delta Spike is our resident Elaine, and Lanie is only visiting," Shove chuckled from the other side of the pool.
Lanie turned and extended her hand. Hesitantly, I took it and shook. "Mah pleasure," the Southern girl purred. I could still see something of a twinkle in her eye, which caused another shudder to traverse my spinal column. "We met the other night."
I was startled. "Did we?" I tried to remember; one would think that I'd remember such a stunning redhead with a figure .... The answer hit me. "Oh, yeah. At the Venus Inc. clubhouse," I mumbled softly.
"Lanie," Rosalyn purred, "this is Kayda, who is going to be my next girlfriend. She just doesn't realize it yet." She waggled her eyebrows. "Or more precisely, she just won't admit it yet."
"I'm NOT interested in Rosalyn!" I said sternly, my emotions vacillating between anger at Rosalyn's prank and embarrassment to the point of tears. I was getting sick of the teasing.
"But ... you just _met_ Lanie!" Lissa joked. "You sure move quickly!"
"I'm not interested in Lanie, either!" I shot back, my lip trembling and my voice about to crack. I really didn't like the amount of teasing I was getting.
Lanie grinned at me. "What? Don't you like red-headed Georgia girls?" she asked with a seductive purr.
Shove, next to Jody, grinned. "Yeah. How could you _not_ love that accent and those curves?" Everyone giggled when Jody punched Shove in the arm for making that comment. Shove was going to have to do some smooth-talking to make up to Jody for _that_ little statement.
"Because she's interested in girls with long, wavy, dark hair," Rosalyn teased.
I was about to cry from what had turned from mild teasing into utter humiliation. "I've _got_ a girlfriend!" I protested in a trembling voice, fighting to keep my composure as my eyes misted. I wanted to run away, but if I did, I knew that the teasing afterwards would be an order of magnitude worse. I'd seen how vicious girls could be with their teasing. "Cornflower's my special girl!" I cried, fighting tears as I was overwhelmed emotionally by the teasing.
Lanie glanced around the pool, and the laugher and chuckling instantly ceased at whatever gesture or expression she directed at the others. "Back off, girls," she said, her voice suddenly strong and commanding. She turned to me, an apologetic look on her face. "Ah know it's kinda traditional to tease the new girls," she said, lifting my chin with her hand so I was looking at her instead of the floor. With her other hand, she wiped the teardrops that were starting to trickle down my cheeks. "Ah'm sorry if we went too far with our teasin'." She smiled at me. "And Ah know you're already spoken for."
My jaw practically dropped. "You ... know? How?"
Lanie smiled, a warm, friendly expression that made me want to instantly forgive her for her part of the teasing. "Mah friend Ayla told me."
"Ayla told you?" I stammered. "He ... he promised he wouldn't tell!"
Lanie's flinch was almost impossible to miss. "Ah know the secret of Poe," she explained, blushing a little, although it was difficult, in the cavern's light, to tell how much she was embarrassed. "So knowing you lived there, Ah figured you might be ...." She eased herself into the pool, sitting beside Zenith.
Sharisha, as usual, wasn't about to stop teasing. "Ooohh," she said in a half-snarky, half-mocking voice, "so you _are_ interested in Kayda! You were checking her out!"
Elaine blushed and shrunk down in the pool a bit, her shoulders hunched in what a somewhat embarrassed posture, "Well, yeah," she admitted, "Ah kinda was." She glanced around at the grins directed her way - which was nice that they weren't all focused on me for a change. "Well, can you blame me?" she demanded. "Besides, it's an old habit." The girls mumbled a bit, thinking about what Lanie had said, which caused me to blush once more, because I realized that they couldn't really argue with Lanie's logic. I was using up a month's worth of blushing in one night!
"What did Ayla tell you about me?" I asked, my voice quiet and trembling a bit. I had secrets that I didn't want to share, and I _hoped_ that Ayla and others would respect my privacy.
"Just the usual stuff," Lanie said reassuringly. "Basic background details, like your name, where you're from, what you're interested in...and the fact that you saved Cornflower's life, and she's your girlfriend." She suddenly grinned broadly. "You _can_ join us in the pool," she said. "Take a load off." She waggled her eyebrows once more. "Not that any of us are mindin' the view!"
My skin was really red by now, flushed to the point that I didn't think it possible for me to be any _more_ humiliated and blushing. I glanced around, and saw that there was - unfortunately - one spot that was quite clearly empty - right next to Rosalyn, between her and Lanie. I goggled at that.
"Oh, come on in," Rosalyn said, gesturing to the spot next to her. "I don't bite," she purred. "Much!" she added with a leering grin.
Steeling my nerves, I sat down, stuck between a girl who had been flirting with me practically non-stop since I'd arrived, and had made no secret that she wanted to seduce me, and a girl I'd just met who'd done her share of teasing, admitted she had checked me out, and then had interceded to stop all the taunts and teases when she thought they'd gone too far.
The water was relaxing, I had to admit, and thinking of all the naked beauties was playing mind-tricks on me, slowing my senses somewhat. It took a few seconds to notice that Rosalyn's hand was on mine, which I promptly snatched away. On my other side, Lanie and a clutch of girls gathered around her were talking about Lanie's ex-boyfriend. The more I heard, the less comfortable I got. The girls, despite the advertisement of this party as a lesbian hot-tub party, were _very_ interested in details about Elaine's relationship.
"Lanie's been lynched by the bullpen," Rosalyn chuckled as she whispered the explanation in my ear. She was close enough that her lips brushed my earlobe, sending a shiver through my entire body. She saw the confusion on my face. "All those girls - and Lanie too, I suppose - are switch hitters." I frowned, not quite getting the reference into my relaxed, fatigued brain. She made a loop with her left finger and thumb, and then put her right index finger into it in a very blatant sexual gesture. "They're bi."
I felt my stomach churn, and shivers ran up and down my spine as the blood drained from my face. My hands and knees were shaking like nobody's business at the implications of what Rosalyn had said, but fortunately, nobody could see them beneath the water's surface.
"Are y'all really askin' ...?" Lanie asked with a scowl. The squealed chorus of 'yes' from the girls caused Lanie to roll her eyes and shake her head. She finally raised her hands, a substantial distance apart, which caused the girls to ooh and aah. For my part, I was pre-occupied fighting the terror that was trying to rise in me, the flashback to that awful night. I felt moisture in the corners of my eyes.
"Have you ever been the complete focus of someone's attention?" Lanie continued. "Where there was only you and nothin' else?" She smiled. "That's the best way Ah can describe it."
Lanie glanced around, and suddenly, she leaned close to me. "Ah'm sorry, Kayda," she said, her voice hushed. "Ah know there are two kinds of lesbians. Girls like Rosalyn, who either like girls more, or don't like boys - kind of a preference thing. And then there are girls like mah ex, Maria. She had the same look you have every time the subject of boys came up." I looked up at her, not quite sure where she was going. "Maria was raped and abused by her stepfather."
If I'd been blushing before, my complexion went to the other extreme; my lip quivered as I began to shake badly. The nightmare was trying to come back; my vision was dimming as my PTSD tried to claim me.
Lanie's warm, comforting embrace kept me from slipping into a full-blown PTSD collapse. "Am Ah wrong in thinkin' ...?"
Tears ran down my cheeks, dripping into the pool, and I looked down out of shame, feeling yet again that I was damaged and soiled. "I ... I thought ...." I sniffled, trembling and trying to control my emotions. "I thought ... they were my friends! But ..." I couldn't continue; the tears went from a trickle to a deluge.
Lanie wrapped her arms around me from one side, and Rosalyn from the other, both holding me to reassure and comfort me. For what seemed like long minutes, the two hugged me, while other conversations ceased instantly or faded to the faintest of whispers. "Friends don't do things like that," she said softly.
I nodded, wiping at my face, and then I looked at her. Her expression was cherubic, warm and comforting and reassuring and non-judgmental. It was what I needed to see at that point.
"Ah'm sorry if what Ah was sayin' was upsettin' you. Ah didn't mean to."
"I know," I squeaked in a tiny, timid voice. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and gave her a hug. "Thanks. For being understanding and supportive." I gulped. "And for not judging me."
"Why on earth would Ah judge you for bein' the victim of a horrible crime?" Lanie asked, surprised by my question.
Rosalyn decided to lighten the mood. "Hey everyone," she sang out cheerfully, "it's Kayda's birthday today!" She grinned. "And you know what that means!"
I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach; I was about to learn, I feared, _why_ Rosalyn had moved the party. At least one of the reasons. The other was only too obvious.
"Birthday girl!" someone shouted out gleefully. The girls began to move through the large pool toward me, which filled me with a sense of dread.
"I don't want anyone to make anything special or out of the ordinary about my birthday," I protested, but I feared that I'd have better luck trying to hold back an incoming tide with my pinky fingers.
Lanie grinned at me. "Too late!" she said, just before she grasped my cheeks lightly and kissed me - fully on my lips. I was caught completely by surprise, and then again when I felt Lanie wrap her arms around me, pulling our naked bodies close together. Before I knew what was happening, I was kissing her back, feeling warmth rising inside me at her tender attention. She didn't hurry the kiss at all, and I really didn't mind.
When she finished, she leaned back breathlessly, a smile on her face. "Happy birthday." She saw the look on my face. "Oh, Ah guess no-one told you ...."
"Told me what?" I asked, equally out of breath from that quite fantastic kiss.
Rosalyn none-too-gently pushed Lanie aside, giving her a look that I suspected was rather unkind, and she draped her arms over my shoulders. Leaning close, she smiled and in a husky, breathy, sexy voice, she said, "It's a tradition. _I_ was going to be first," she declared, shooting a glare toward Lanie before putting her seductive expression back on and looking into my eyes. "It's a long-standing tradition in Poe Cottage that if a sister is having a birthday, all the other sisters give her a birthday kiss, and with that kiss, wish her a happy birthday and a long, happy life." She smiled. "Kind of like New Year's Eve." Then she leaned forward, and just as Lanie had done, kissed me gently and passionately. I felt myself warming even more when her hand began to very gently caress my breast. I fought to not respond, but as I'd learned at that fateful movie, Rosalyn was a _very_ good kisser. When she finished, she leaned back. "Happy birthday," she purred in a sexy voice, staring at me with a hungry, aroused look in her eyes. She grinned a tiny bit and then leaned closer, her lips brushing my ear lobe. "You know you can get a very special birthday present - all you have to do is ask."
I gulped nervously. "This - this is why you moved the date of the party!" I sputtered, confused by a raging internal war between indignation at her trick and a growing arousal.
Sahar shook her head. "Imagine that! Rosalyn taking advantage to get a chance to swap spit with the new girl!" she said sarcastically. "Say it isn't so!"
"Like _that's_ never happened before," chuckled Zenith.
I was being subjected to birthday kisses as the two chortled at Rosalyn's trick. Most of the girls gave me short, innocuous kisses, but Angel lingered with a kiss that seemed to be straight from heaven, and Selkie French-kissed me so thoroughly that if I'd have been standing, my knees would have collapsed.
"You two as well," Rosalyn said to Zenith and Sahar as the last girl in line locked lips with me. "It _is_ a tradition!"
Zenith shared a glance Sahar, and then the two turned and blew me kisses. "Happy birthday, Kayda," they chimed together, the combination of their voice a dulcet duo that echoed pleasantly through the artificial cavern.
Rosalyn glared at them, and I gathered that she was about to let loose at them for disrespecting the Poe tradition, but a sound from the entranceway interrupted her. "Didn't you lock the door?" Zenith asked Rosalyn, her eyes wide.
Rosalyn's eyes were equally wide. "I thought _you_ locked it!" she said. Around us, girls sank down into the pool, eyes riveted on the entranceway.
"Hi, guys!" Bunny called out as she pulled the door shut behind herself. "I'm sorry I'm late."
As Bunny descended the ladder, Zenith moved to a control panel near the bottom of the ladder and worked a few buttons. When the door was secured and the fear of discovery gone, an audible sigh of relief went around the pool.
"I swear she's getting worse, not better," Bunny explained as she descended. "All the crying and hobgoblins! I couldn't leave her alone until she fell asleep." When she got to the bottom of the ladder, she kicked off her slippers and slipped out of her robe, turning toward the pool. "She's had a really rough ... Oh, hey, Loophole! I didn't expect to see you here! Welcome back, sister."
"Hey, Bugs," Lanie replied.
My jaw dropped as I gawked at the redhead. It couldn't be! She ... was the Lab Queen?
Lanie saw my stunned expression and looked at me, curious. "What?"
"You're ... Loophole?" I stammered, stuck in state of shock and disbelief.
"Ah didn't ask for the codename, Ah got tagged with it, but yeah, that's me. Why?"
"You're ... the Gadgeteer Goddess?" I stammered, my voice trembling uncontrollably. "The Lab Legend? The Mechanism Maestra? The girl who works miracles in the labs?"
Lanie shook her head as if upset at the titles I was calling her - even if she acknowledged that they were things some called her. "Why?"
I flapped my jaw, trying to say _something_, anything. "You're ... you're not an arrogant, self-righteous bitch!" I heard myself saying.
Elaine blinked in surprise, but a few other girls snickered. "Uh, thanks," Lanie stammered. "Ah think." She wrinkled her forehead in puzzlement.
"Why would you think she'd be a bitch?" Rosalyn asked me, as puzzled as Elaine and most of the other girls.
My emotions were so jumbled from the evening that I didn't know if I felt like crying or screaming or laughing. "I don't know," I stammered. "I ... I ...." I shook my head, trying to make something sensible come out, and all the girls were now paying rapt attention to me. "Back home, I was .... I felt important in school. I ... tinkered in my dad's shop, and in the repair shop in his dealership. I was ... the best mechanic and tinkerer and student in my class." All my self-doubts were surfacing. "Now, I'm ... I'm a nobody! In some classes, I feel like I'm barely getting by, and ... and they scheduled me so I don't have time to go to any workshop, and ..." I was sniffling, fighting tears. "And all I hear about in the technical classes is you!" I said. "The Queen of the Alphas. The Goddess of the Labs!" I shook my head. "I hear everyone talking about how you're the best mechanic ever! I was practically born with a wrench in my hand, and worked on diesel trucks and tractors from the time I was about 6, but nobody knows, and it all sounds like I'm nothing in comparison! All I hear about is how great you are!" I looked down, wiping at my moist cheeks. "You were supposed to be a stuck-up, arrogant bitch so I could at least hate you! But you're not even that!"
Lanie drew back, surprised. "Whoa!" she said, holding up her hand in a sign to stop. "Slow down, girl! Of _course_ Ah know cars! Mah daddy owns a shop that his daddy owned, and mah great-grand-daddy before him - well, after he got out of jail for bootleggin'." She put her hand gently on my shoulder. "For another thing, Poise is Alpha Female, not me! Ah'm not all that stuff they say ...."
"Oh, yes you are!" Bunny declared. "You sure as hell put Tansy in her place!"
"And your combat armor and power supply," Naomi interjected. "And Pocolda for the fire-extinguishing capsules."
"Don't forget the turbocharger!" Bunny added.
"And Kevra," Delta Spike contributed. "Mrs. Ryan said that was the most significant advance in protective fabric since ...."
"Not helping here, guys!" Lanie hissed, scowling at them.
"See?" I asked, feeling overwhelmed. "All the stuff I did to dad's tractors and trucks, all the things I made - nobody knows _anything_ about that, so I don't count for shit in the labs. As far as anyone _here_ is concerned, I'm a rookie with zero accomplishments!" I shook my head, wiping at the corners of my eyes. "How am I ever supposed to even be noticed around the labs with all of the stuff you do? How can anybody? But that's not enough - breezing through, inventing all that stuff, topping anything I might _ever_ do isn't enough! No, you have to go and be so goddamned nice, too, so I can't even hate you or resent you!"
Lanie stared for a moment, and then started chuckling. "What?" Kayda demanded angrily.
"You," Lanie said with a smile. "It's deja vu!" She looked around at the other girls. "Ah ask y'all, was this not how Ah acted last year?"
"She's prettier than you were last year," Sahar replied drolly, making a gesture which summoned a black cloud. It formed itself into a tall, lanky, awkward girl, her shockingly red hair in unflattering braids, trying awkwardly to hide her small breasts as if embarrassed by them. "Meet Loophole as a freshman," she said with a giggle. "You've come a long way, baby!"
I stared at the figure. "That's ... that's you?" I stammered. "What happened?"
Lanie chuckled, hefting her ample breasts. "These happened," she said with a grin. "Mah summer break present. And believe it or not, Ah really didn't even notice!"
"How could you _not_ notice those monsters?" Shove asked, astounded at Lanie's little confession. I, too, wondered how one could have such a magnificent rack and not notice.
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt!" Lanie laughed. "The rest? Well, Gunny Bardue tried to kill me in mah winter combat final, and mah metagene complex activated and Ah finally manifested."
"He wasn't trying to kill you," Zenith said with a frown of disgust.
"You weren't on the receiving end of his sim, were you?" Lanie demanded, to which Zenith splashed her in response. Lanie ignored her and turned back to me. "You've been here - what, a month? Two? Have you even been in the labs? Are you in any of the tech classes?"
"Just electronics," I admitted sadly. "Because of my spirit, they put me on the magic track, and I have to fight the administration and my advisors for any of the tech track classes."
"Well," Lanie grinned, "Y'all can't expect to get noticed for what ya ain't done, can ya?"
"But ...," I stammered, having to admit the wisdom of what she said, but still feeling like crap, because I _had_ done a lot of tinkering and building. Only it was back home. "It's not like I've never been in a shop, though," I protested. "I built a new type of transfer case for one of my dad's four-by-four tractors," I said, "and I was working on about a dozen improvements to my four-speed Muncie transmission for my car." I looked down again, saddened that my car project was back home - not that I wanted it here. Not if I had to compete with the various genius gadgeteers who infested the labs. "All the stuff I've made - it's like it never happened, and nobody around here will ever know."
"If you were tinkerin' and inventin' that much back home, in a small town school from what Ayla tells me, how much are y'all goin' to make here, where there are proper labs and shops?" she asked. She smiled at me, an expression that said that she had confidence that I _would_ succeed here.
"I ... never thought of it that way," I said slowly.
"Besides, from what Ayla says, y'all are some kinda hyper-math guru, with almost enough college-level math credits for a master's degree!"
"Everyone says that _you're_ a certified genius," I found myself mumbling, my self-doubt not willing to let go of its hold on me.
"Lighten up on yourself, already," Zenith said with a scowl. "And quit comparing yourself so much to Lanie. You've got your own talents."
"Besides," Lanie added with a chuckle, "mah Mensa card won't even get me a discount at Starbucks, and Ah wasn't the one who got a job workin' with Dr. Quintain on hyper-dimensional pattern theory." She grinned. "Ah won't fib and say I'm not good at math, but Ah've got to have somethin' to apply it to. Orbital mechanics? Lift-to-weight ratios? No problem. But that abstract stuff you're workin' on with pattern theory? Thinkin' about it makes mah head hurt!"
I felt my cheeks flush a bit at the compliment, and doubt let go of me - a bit. "Math is just a hobby," I admitted. "My passion was working in the shop on a car or truck, or anything else mechanical."
"Ah'd go plumb bonkers if'n Ah wasn't able to putter around on mah car here," the redhead said with a chuckle. "Why don't you come meet Mr. Donner in the vehicle shop? He got ahold of a '34 Ford 730 Deluxe, like Bonnie and Clyde had, and we're doing a frame-off restoration. If y'all work on cars like you're sayin', you'll fit right in t' the Gearheads."
"Maybe," I said hesitantly. "But I've got a crazy schedule."
Lanie laughed. I noticed that the others were back to their own conversations - intimate conversations involving facial contact. "We all have crazy schedules," she admitted. "So no-one in the vehicle lab works on a 'normal' schedule."
"What kind of car are you working on?"
"Baby Girl is a Ford Mustang, with a four-twenty-seven engine. With mah afterburner, she puts out six-hundred eighty-four ponies," Lanie said proudly.
"Six eighty-four - out of that motor?"
"Five years of hard work, bored and stroked, ported and polished, plus a blower and a Holley single-barrel on each cylinder! And Ah forgot about how much torque that'd put out. Tore the pumpkin to shreds."
I frowned. "How ... how do you keep from blowing a head gasket? You've got to be running thirteen or fourteen to one to get that kind of power! And that's saying nothing about floating the valves without overhead cams?"
Lanie grinned. "You _are_ a gearhead!" We talked more about her car, and the longer we talked, the more comfortable I felt with her. She wasn't laughing at any of my questions, but in a few places, I might have even got her thinking a little bit. "So what are you working on?" she asked.
"My grandpa's fifty-seven Chevy two-door wagon," I admitted.
Lanie's eyes widened. "Nomad?"
I nodded my acknowledgement. "I'm putting in a small block high-performance four-hundred. They rev faster than a big-block, and I can get a higher top-end rev limit, so even with less torque..." I shrugged. "I'd really like to put the power down through a variable-power-split four-wheel drive system." I winced slightly, still a bit nervous because I'd heard too much of Lanie's accomplishments.
"Chevys of that generation don't handle worth a damn," Lanie noted.
"Actually, I've got an idea or two about the suspension..." My voice trailed off, and I looked at Lanie expectantly, wincing a bit. I expected that Lanie would tell me how to solve my handling problems.
Lanie laughed. "Are y'all _still_ afraid Ah'll tell you how to solve your problems?"
I winced again. "Um, a little bit."
"Ah haven't yet, have Ah?" she asked with an understanding smile.
"No," I admitted sheepishly. I was very pleasantly surprised that Lanie wasn't being a know-it-all. . "Well, if I get rid of the live axle and go to independent rear suspension, which might be tough with the frame the way it's designed, and yeah, I'd have to kind of engineer a space-frame to make room for the new suspension to replace it, including multi-link front so it'd corner better, then..." We got lost in more tech discussion of cars, and Lanie was asking some quite pointed questions without once telling me how I _should_ solve the frame issues.
After a bit, Rosalyn sighed heavily. "Are you two done with your techie talk?"
"I think Lanie has a better chance of 'quality time' with Kayda than you do, Rosalyn," Sharisha taunted in a sing-song voice. Rosalyn fumed and got a bit red in the face, but Lanie reacted before anyone else.
"Now, 'Risha, why would Ah poach on Cornflower like that? Us being friends and all."
I blinked, stunned. "You know Cornflower?"
"Sure," Nalley replied. "Mah roomie Maggie is in Venus Inc., and Ah met Cornflower through her. Ah dabble in photography so Ah helped in a couple of shoots. Next time you talk to her, tell her Ah said hello."
"She told me I should join," I said hesitantly, my voice tailing off. "I don't know ...."
"You really should," Lanie countered as she stood. I winced and quickly looked away so I wouldn't get an eyeful of her crotch or ass. Zenith and Rosalyn noticed and giggled at my strange sense of modesty. Here I was, in a hot tub with almost twenty hot, naked girls, and I was worried about violating some sense of propriety.
"Are you leaving already?" Zenith asked immediately.
"Yeah, it's been fun, girls, but Ah got a pretty early start tomorrow. Ah meant what Ah said about coming down to the shop, Kayda. Ya all but promised." I nodded, still averting my eyes. "Zoe, may Ah have a word with you, please?"
Zoe got up to walk with Lanie, and I couldn't help watching their swaying derrieres as they sauntered away from the pool.
Rosalyn scooted a bit closer. "Now that you've gotten all that techie talk out of your system, what shall we talk about?" She had her trademarked predatory grin. "What did _you_ do on spring break?"
"I've already told those stories half a hundred times," I chuckled. "You can't tell me you were _never_ paying attention any of those times." Nevertheless, she continued to ask, so I regaled her with tales of the week, including a very detailed description of the photo shoot I did with the Sioux Falls League girls. I didn't leave _any_ doubt that Debra was the focus of my vacation. I flinched a bit when she held my hand, but I wasn't going to give her the pleasure of making a scene. I got the impression that she was a drama queen and loved getting attention. It would explain why she was so outrageously forward all the time.
When her hand moved to my thigh, I _did_ flinch, but she smiled sweetly. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing. We're chatting, and girls touch more than guys in social situations," she said, a very feeble explanation. The problem was that I found her touch pleasant, and even a bit exciting.
"Um, please don't," I protested weakly. "I don't want ...."
She leaned close. "Tell me to stop if you want," she said softly. The problem was that I couldn't - and she knew it. What I'd confessed to Evvie and Naomi was exactly what I was feeling - absolutely consuming curiosity, an overwhelming desire to make love with another woman - not in my artificial dream-space. I wanted to feel the real thing, not something imaginary based on what I thought it would be like that formed the basis of my dream-walks. I _wanted_ Debra to be here. I _wanted_ to give myself to her. And I was left with a burning hunger inside me that dream-walking with Debra wasn't going to satisfy.
And that left Rosalyn. She was here; Debra wasn't. I _had_ to stop, before I gave in to something I couldn't control any longer.
"I ... I need to go back to my room," I stammered, my voice trembling as her hand touching my thigh made me tremble with need. I heard a few ooohs among the girls, and I blushed; they were obviously thinking that I was giving in to Rosalyn. And they were right. Damn, double damn, but they were right. "I'm really tired. My ... my Native American fighting instructor ... he was really brutal today, and I'm exhausted," I added quickly. It was a painfully transparent lie.
"I'll walk you back, if you're so tired," Rosalyn volunteered, and I didn't object. She stood, and helped me stand. I glanced across the pool and saw the girls staring at me, knowing smiles on their faces. My blush was nearly the shade of red that I wore as war paint.
We pulled on our robes and slippers, and before I started up the ladder, I glanced back at the pool. Evvie was looking at me with a very curious expression on her face, and I suddenly felt ashamed. She must think me a slut to give in like I was, especially given how much I professed to love Debra. My eyes moistened.
"What am I doing?" I muttered to myself as Rosalyn walked me back to the main path, holding my elbow supportively but not suggestively.
"You're tired, remember?" Rosalyn said with a big grin. "So I'm going to help you to bed."
We walked in silence the rest of the way to Poe, and then up the stairs. When Rosalyn guided me up the second flight, past my floor, I looked at her questioningly, but she just smiled sweetly. "Important detour," she said coyly. Up we went, past the third floor to the fourth, and then, with me almost in tears as my mind warred between primal instincts, needs, and my love of Debra, we came to her door. "Do you want to come in for a second?" she asked.
Before I could answer, she leaned forward and kissed me again, a long, slow, lingering, passionate kiss that left me nearly ready to collapse if she hadn't been holding me up. My willpower crumbled, and though I hated myself for what I was about to do, I couldn't stop myself either. Rosalyn opened the door, and I stepped in.
Her room was dark, and she didn't flip on the lights. Perhaps, I reasoned, that was best. I didn't want to see myself betraying my love. I didn't want to see the face and body of the other woman, the seductress who was going to have her way with me. Blindly, I stumbled a few steps forward, stopping when the door clicked shut.
Arms encircled me from behind, and lips kissed my neck and nibbled on my earlobes. I was putty in her hands.
And yet .... "Please," I muttered softly. "I ... I can't." It was taking superhuman willpower that I didn't have; when I'd been a guy, I'd experience the point where the logical half of the brain was totally overwhelmed by the primal, passionate side, but I hadn't expected that women would have the same unstoppable desires. Now I knew better. "Please don't."
She spun me, and her lips met mine. I resisted - for a few seconds, and then I returned the passion, eagerly kissing my seductress, helpless to even try to resist any longer.
"I didn't think you'd want to stop," she said with a slight chuckle as she paused.
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, April 27, 2007
Crystal Hall
"Someone didn't come home last night," Evvie whispered in my ear, startling me. Debra and I were in the serving line at the caf, and I hadn't seen Evvie sneak up behind me.
"Um ....: I stammered, turning to see she was with Naomi, Rip, and Verdant. "I don't know ...."
"What I'm talking about?" Evvie giggled. "Yeah, right!"
Naomi grinned. "Judging from that stupid grin on your face, I'd say you didn't get much sleep last night."
I blushed crimson, though I couldn't deny what they'd surmised. At the same time, I couldn't help but smile to myself as I recalled the very confusing night before.
"So, was the hot tub party worth it?" Rip asked with a leer, waggling her eyebrows.
"Mmmmm," was all I could say. I'd been so terrified of going to the party because Rosalyn was really hitting on me, and I was afraid that I couldn't resist her advances. And indeed, I hadn't; I was ready to let her take me when she led me back to Poe, to her room.
And then the world became glorious, with angels' voices and trumpet blasts, fireworks and roses and sunshine. I leaned to Debra. "You planned this, didn't you? With Rosalyn, I mean."
She smiled sweetly, so sweetly that I wanted to kiss her again. "Guilty as charged. I hope you don't mind."
I purred with contentment. "No," I answered, "but next time, please let me know so I won't be half-terrified." I'd actually been mortified at my own actions when I'd let Rosalyn escort me back to Poe, and I was so ... in need ... that I let her walk me to her room with nary a protest. I'd gone into the darkened room, fully resigned to letting her have her way with me to satiate my seemingly-insatiable curiosity, and when the door closed and someone wrapped her arms around me and kissed my neck, I was melting, though disgusted with myself for giving in.
And then I'd heard Debra's voice asking why I was so nervous. We kissed long and passionately, me crying with happiness, and then we sneaked out of the cottage to the guest apartments where she was staying. The rest, as they say, is history, and besides, I was never one to kiss and tell
"If I were to hazard a guess," Evvie teased, "someone got laid last night!"
I turned to glare at her but the stupid grin on my face couldn't be wiped away, and instead, my faraway, contented gaze gave away my secret.
We - Debra, Evvie, Naomi, and I - joined Vasiliy, Laurie, Chat Bleu, and Adrian at our usual table. The guys looked at Debra with an appreciative gaze, while Chat Bleu sat impassively and Laurie looked back and forth between Debra and me, a knowing expression on her face. I realized that I'm going to have to have a chat with her.
"Guys," I began as we sat down, "this is Debra - Cornflower. She graduated last year ...."
Adrian nodded. "I remember. You were in Venus Inc., right?"
Debra nodded, smiling. "Yes, I was. I decided to visit my alma mater."
"She's my best friend, and she's with the Sioux Falls League group of superheroes," I continued quickly. "They rescued me from the East River branch of the MCO and helped me get here." I figured if I got past the best-friend and into the entire league's help, it'd disguise _how_ good of friends we were - although I suspected that Laurie had seen through our cover already.
"Vasiliy, also known as RPG," I introduced the Russian, then continued around the table. Debra asked a lot of questions about our fight with the snake-demon in Dunwich and their roles, plus she really drilled into my various incidents and how they'd helped me.
"Sorry, guys," I interrupted her to apologize, "but Debra sometimes is a little overly concerned with my safety and well-being - like my mom." That elicited a chuckle, and a 'look' from Debra while Evvie and Naomi giggled a bit.
After breakfast, on our way out of the cafeteria through Schuster, we bumped into Alicia and Addy; Debra hugged Addy like a sister, and we chatted a bit; Debra wanted to get to know Alicia, because I was going to spend part of my summer with her and Addy. It kind of reminded me of Mom, who'd always insisted on meeting my friends so she knew who I was with, and it left me with mixed feelings. I knew Debra cared deeply for me, and like Mom, she worried about me. On the other hand, I was sixteen, so I didn't need babysitting or her approval of my friends.
"Kayda, can I speak with you for a moment?" Mrs. Carson's voice called down the hall of Schuster.
I almost jumped out of my skin. "Yes, ma'am," I answered quickly. I glanced nervously at Debra, wondering what Mrs. Carson wanted me for. She simply shrugged, so I hastened down the hall toward our headmistress.
She directed me into an empty classroom, since her office was on the second floor and she obviously wanted a bit more privacy than the hallway afforded. "Do you know why I want to talk with you?" she asked bluntly, with an inscrutable look on her face.
"No, ma'am," I answered hesitantly, "unless it's something about Debra's visit."
"Right in one," she said impassively. "I'm sure you are aware that we have a rule against certain ... extracurricular activities." She watched me blush; she was probably enjoying making me squirm.
"Yes, ma'am," I answered, even more nervous.
"Those rules don't apply to Cornflower," she said, "since she isn't a student. But _you_ are." Crap - was I going to be expelled for the previous night? I gulped - hard. "Normally, we would frown on how you broke two rules - ignoring curfew and sneaking out of your cottage, and engaging in, um, extracurricular activities."
I was almost shaking from nervousness. "Normally?" I squeaked when I realized that there was possibly a lifeline in her words.
"I had a visitor who indicated that you were under significant ... social pressure. This visitor seemed to believe that others were being unknowingly influenced by some external source to apply pressure to you." She watched my eyes pop wide open, and nodded. "I've had Mr. Geintz check, and we can't find any evidence of overt psychic tampering, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that the belief was false."
"But ... why?" I stammered. I could only think of one _social_ pressure I'd been under, but last night had belied that feeling.
"Perhaps to demoralize you. Perhaps to drive you away from Whateley. This wouldn't be the first such incident with you." She smiled knowingly. "That's why I'm _overlooking_ your activities last night."
"Ma'am?" I stammered, confused.
"I'm going to pretend that I didn't see anything. If someone _was_ trying to demoralize or shame you into leaving, your after-hours meeting was a very good way to discourage more such attempts."
I was even more confused. "I ... don't understand."
"You satisfied your normal teenage curiosity in a way that doesn't influence you to 'cheat' on your girlfriend," she continued. "And apart from breaking curfew, which is a school rule, nothing you did last evening was illegal since you are now sixteen.
I know my cheeks were even redder than before. "No, ma'am."
"I only have one request." She smiled pleasantly as I started worrying about what her request was going to be. "Try to be a little more discreet." My jaw dropped at her request. "Oh, don't be like that. We have a school full of hormone-laden teenagers. Do you _honestly_ think we expect to keep kids from experimenting?" She chuckled softly. "The rules are there to help all the students to be a little more ... discreet. And careful."
"Yes, ma'am." I breathed a sigh of relief. I _wasn't_ in trouble. "I have one question, though?"
"What's that?"
"Who told you ... about the pressure, I mean?"
Mrs. Carson chuckled again. "Probably the last person you'd expect." She knew she was tweaking my curiosity. "A very good acquaintance of yours." She smiled, letting me suffer from my curiosity. "Blackrose," she said after a few seconds.
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
**********
Poe Cottage.
After lunch, Debra and I went back to Poe, where Mrs. Horton was waiting for us in the lobby. She'd sent word to Crystal Hall that she wanted us both to meet with her as soon as we finished eating. "It's nice to see you again," she greeted Debra with a big hug. "Come in, girls," she said after the hug, gesturing toward her open door.
Inside, Rosalyn was seated at the table, and she looked more nervous than I'd ever seen her, like all the self-confidence had been sucked out of her. She looked up at me timidly. "Hi."
"Hi," I replied uneasily. At Mrs. Horton's gesture, we all joined Rosalyn sitting at the table. I looked at Rosalyn, who was alternating her gaze between the table and Debra. "What's going on here?" I asked bluntly. When Rosalyn didn't answer, but just looked at Debra, I turned to my girlfriend. "Debra? What's going on here?"
Debra winced. "When you came here, I ... asked Rosalyn to watch out for you."
My eyes bulged out. "You ... asked her to try to seduce me?" I was flabbergasted and angered that she might do that.
"No," Rosalyn replied quickly and sharply. "She just asked me to watch out for you and keep you distracted."
"By trying to seduce me," I accused.
Debra put her hand on mine. "No. That wasn't part of the plan. I was worried about you and I knew that you weren't very confident. I figured that if someone like Rosalyn were paying attention to you, it'd help your self-confidence. And she could watch out for you, distract you from things that might not be going well." She smiled. "I knew she wouldn't get serious about you. She never gets emotionally involved."
"Um ...." Rosalyn mumbled nervously. "That's not ... quite ... true." Debra and I gawked at her, and she looked down again. "I ...."
Debra stared at her for several seconds. "You ... started having feelings for her?" Debra asked, stunned.
Rosalyn gulped, and then nodded, meekly looking at Debra. "It ... was just a challenge at first. Like usual." She looked down again, not quite sure how to proceed. "I ... never felt anything ... for a girl. Not like I wanted a long-term relationship. I ...." She looked up at me, and I could see the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I ... I'm afraid I fell for you. Like I swore I'd never do. Not again. Not after Janet."
I stared at her, speechless. Debra, too, was dumbfounded, her jaw worked, trying to get words out, but her brain failed her, and she just couldn't find anything to say.
Mrs. Horton interjected, "Janet and Rosalyn had a thing during Rosalyn's first year here. But Janet broke Rosalyn's heart - quite badly."
"I know it's silly," Rosalyn forced a laugh, a hollow, sad sound, "but ... I did ... start falling for you." She looked up at me. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I guess I really messed up this time."
"Mrs. Carson said ...." I began.
"I talked to her earlier this morning," Rosalyn admitted. With a sad smile, she added, "While you two were probably in the shower." Debra and I both blushed at that little supposition. "Something - I don't know what - seemed to make me ... want you more than normal." She sighed, shaking her head. "Normally, when a girl says no the third time ...."
"You back off. I know." Debra finished her sentence. "But this time?"
"Almost from the start, I really didn't want to take no for an answer, and while I like the hunt, that's not like me. Something seemed odd, but it took me a while to figure out that something hinky was going on."
"Why didn't you tell someone, dear?" Mrs. Horton asked, almost like she was upset that Rosalyn wouldn't trust her.
"Tell them what? That I felt more attracted to Kayda than normal?" she asked. "Would you have believed me? Especially with my reputation?"
Mrs. Horton thought a moment. "No, I suppose not."
"The other night," she admitted, "when I found myself wanting ... to take you, and not take no for an answer, I ... I knew for certain that something was wrong."
"So you called me?" Debra asked, to which Rosalyn simply nodded.
Mrs. Horton put her hand gently on Rosalyn's arm. "You did the right thing, dear."
I was absolutely baffled. "You ... set up ... last night?"
Rosalyn blushed and nodded. "I ... I called Debra to arrange things." She looked down. "Even though it felt like Janet all over again, that I was getting hurt." There were drops forming in the corners of her eyes. "I ... couldn't ... hurt you," she admitted. "Even though I knew I was hurting myself."
The conversation didn't last much longer; there was nothing else to say. As Debra and I walked to my fourth period martial arts class, I couldn't help but wonder. "Will she be okay?"
Debra shrugged. "I hope so. I've never seen her so vulnerable before. She was always rock-solid, the steady, unemotional one in relationships."
"And you're still fond of her, aren't you?" It wasn't an accusing tone, or at least I hoped it wasn't.
"Of course," Debra answered bluntly. "You never forget those you love." We walked in silence a few yards. "Are you going to be okay? With her here, knowing how she feels?"
I tried to nod, but my head refused to move. "I don't know. I think so." I took a few more steps. "I'm ... I'm worried about her."
Debra pulled me close in a brief side hug. "I know. So am I. But she'll be okay."
"You hope."
Debra nodded. "That's all we can do - hope that she's okay."
**********
Outside Crystal Hall, after lunch
Amber Prentice clung tightly to Mike's arm as they strolled casually away from the cafeteria. For the past few weeks, he'd been getting more and more uptight. She led him to one of the little detached patios where she sat next to him in the warm spring sun. "Are you okay, Mike?" she asked, worried because he hadn't spoken since they'd left the caf.
"Sure," he answered immediately, a little testily. "Why?"
"You seem ... tense," Amber replied, trying to soothe him. "Like something's on your mind."
Mike sighed, and then glanced around. "It's that damned favor I owe my shaman," he grumbled. "That girl just _isn't_ taking any hints! I'm going to have to get ... more serious."
Amber's eyes widened. "You're not thinking of something ... drastic, are you?"
Mike laughed, surprising her. "It won't be anything she doesn't deserve," he replied, "and my shaman got me some tools."
"Security is really watching her," Amber cautioned. "What ... what are you going to do?"
"Tell me, sweetie," he replied, "how would you like to get back at that _other_ Lakota freak for hurting your cousin, Gold Stallion?"
Amber's eyes narrowed to burning slits. "That ... bastard!" she snarled. He'd really, really hurt Gold Stallion, and then had forced him to eat a humiliating meal to get cured.
"Suppose," Mike mused with an evil chuckle, "he got blamed for the next attack on the girl?" He grinned wickedly. "We can take advantage of security paying attention so that _he_ gets the blame for the next one, and for all the other attacks too, and he'll get expelled!" He looked at her eye-to-eye. "You _do_ want to get even with him, don't you? And if the attack is really, really serious, she'll leave - just like the shaman wants."
**********
Laird Hall, 4th period
"Cornflower!" I'd never seen Sensei Tolman display the kind of enthusiasm that she greeted Debra in my advanced Aikido class. She walked quickly to Debra and wrapped her in a warm hug. "What brings you here?"
"My ... well, adopted sister is the best way to say it ... had her birthday yesterday, and since she's had a few radical changes very recently, I thought she'd like to see a familiar face," she replied easily. As we lay cuddling earlier in the morning, we talked about how she'd explain being here with me - because we didn't dare state the truth. Hence the 'adopted sister'.
Sensei looked back and forth between the two of us, an eyebrow arched like she understood our little fiction. "So I assume you wanted to see how 'little sis' is doing learning to defend herself, right?" she chuckled.
"That _did_ cross my mind," Debra replied lightly. As other students came onto the mat, they stared - some nervously - at Debra because she was a visitor to the class and she was speaking with Sensei. I knew exactly what was going through their minds, and Debra did too. Visitors talking with an instructor usually meant special sparring and demonstrations. "How _is_ she doing?"
Sensei's eyes darted around to ensure no-one was close enough to overhear. "Kayda's ... issue ... is a handicap for her, but she is improving. She's a diligent and attentive student - most of the time - when she's not angry at Ito Soke and calling him names in Lakota." Both women looked disapprovingly at me, and I shrank back. "She's learning quickly. She's started sparring with some of our male students, but we're being careful."
Debra nodded her approval. "Good."
Ito strode out of the instructor's locker room, so I had to rush to get in seiza position and everyone was surprised when Debra joined me at the edge of the mats.
Sensei Ito strode confidently to the center of the mat as usual, and after scanning the students, he gave a cursory nod to Debra. "We have an alumna of Whateley visiting us today," he began. "Cornflower, could you come to the center of the mat?" As she strode confidently toward Ito and Tolman, Ito continued. "Cornflower is a member of the Sioux Falls League, a hero group in South Dakota." She turned and smiled at the students. "She has agreed to help us today with some demonstrations." He got a subtle smile that we all knew meant trouble. "Phase, would you come to the center ring, please?"
If Ayla was nervous about being called out by Ito, he sure didn't show it. "Yes, Sensei," he answered, springing to his feet and striding to join Debra with the senseis.
"Here is the scenario," Sensei Tolman explained, "Phase, you are a villain who has just stolen fragile vials of a highly toxic substance, and your goal is simple - to escape within three minutes - with your ten-pound bag of stolen materials, before more superheroes arrive to ensure your apprehension. You will begin in the circle to the left, and you will have escaped if you exit the right edge of the rightmost circle with the loot. Cornflower's goal is at minimum to delay you, to not allow the container to rupture and release the toxins, to get the bag safely from you, and if possible, to capture you. Understood?" Phase nodded, not taking his eyes off Debra, while she smiled at the challenge, nodding her agreement. "You may use your powers, but no lethal holdouts, understood?"
The two bowed to each other, and then took their places. "Hajime."
Almost instantly, Debra changed from her street clothes into her superhero costume - which I knew was courtesy of magic from Vanity Girl, while without hesitation, Ayla took the initiative. He went heavy and tossed one of his smaller ball bearings at Debra, but she had experience and expected use of holdouts or power, and she ducked, using a pulse of energizer push to deflect the ball bearing into a wall. If he'd have been fighting full-out, the ball bearing would have left a crater in the wall, but in this case, he hadn't thrown it full-force so it merely chipped the paint. She moved in quickly to Ayla, closing for a direct attack or grapple, but Ayla was ready; Debra's force pulse rocked Ayla back a little, but didn't throw him since he was heavy. As he recovered, Debra attacked directly, but Ayla countered quickly, swinging with his baton. Debra had to duck and roll away from the heavy object, doing a foot-sweep as she did and temporarily knocking Ayla over.
He rolled and came up on his feet, deciding at this point that a dash for the exit was more practical than continuing to fight. Debra, though, anticipated such a maneuver, and one of her own holdouts - bolos attached with very high-strength cable, wrapped around Ayla's legs, tripping him.
Ayla's experience in training and in real fights showed; he immediately went light, phasing through the cables and freeing himself, floating upward so he wouldn't smack into the ground. I couldn't help but gasp; he could float over Debra and make his escape.
Except that Debra was experienced and expected the unexpected, and not knowing if her opponent could escape the cables or not, she used the distraction to shoot a strange-looking gun at - of all things - the loot bag, and at the same time, used her other hand to direct a force-shove at Ayla. Being light, Ayla was pushed head-over-heels, tumbling, toward the back wall.
Ayla managed to go heavy again before he hit the wall, but was then surprised that when he tried to move away, the loot bag wouldn't come free from the wall. Further, his hand was stuck to the handle, and some of the glue was splattered on the side of his gi, which might make it tricky for him to move. He made the best of it, though, and phased in a way that disintegrated the glue from his hand, freeing himself. His strategy changed instantly; he threw another ball bearing, which Debra wasn't able to deflect completely because she was too close; it smashed into her left knee, and she crumpled, a scream of pain erupting from her lips.
"Debra!" I cried aloud, starting to my feet, but Alicia and Addy held my shoulders so I didn't run to her side. I guessed that Ayla was going to disable Debra or force her to surrender, and if he did that within the time limit, he could use his phasing to free the loot bag, get away, and win.
"Non," Addy gave me a knowing look. "It is Debra's fight, not yours. The Senseis will punish you if you interfere."
"I can't just sit and watch her be hurt again!" I cried - not even realizing that I'd replied to Addy in French. My heart ached; I desperately wanted to run to Debra and help her, but I couldn't. All I could do was watch as Ayla went light and floated toward Debra, high enough to be out of her reach as she lay on the mat, wincing in pain. I gasped again when he drew his tactical baton from his waist belt; I'd seen that thing in action against bricks, and it was devastating.
Debra wasn't done, though. To the surprise of everyone in the class - although I wasn't certain if Ayla was surprised as well - she rolled to her feet and in the same motion launched a golf-ball toward Ayla. No sooner had it left her hand than it split into numerous segments, the expanding segments drawing forth a thin mesh that seemed to crackle with energy. In only a foot or two of distance, it was a net about three meters in diameter, and dragged by the weights of the ball pieces, it wrapped around Ayla. Ayles gasped in pain as energy discharged from the net; to avoid pain, he went heavy, and as a result, crashed to the ground with the net completely encircling him as the segments somehow drew back together, closing the trap.
Debra limped painfully to where Ayla lay on the mat. "Do you submit?" she asked, one hand in a waist-pouch just in case.
Ayla struggled with the net for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Yes," he said simply.
Debra touched the reassembled ball, and it split back into segments. She offered a hand to Ayla to stand, and then pulled a small spray bottle from her waist pouch. "This should take care of the glue," she said. "Sorry about the mess."
"Are _you_ okay?" Ayla worried his lip, fretting about whether he'd hurt Debra seriously or not. From the way she was limping and the look on his face, he was certain he had.
Debra nodded feebly. "I've hurt worse." The Monty Python joke fell flat because everyone had seen and heard how bad Debra had been hurt. She gathered up the remains of the net and cautiously tried a step - unsuccessfully. "I think you might have broken something." She saw the worry lines deepen on Ayla's face. "I'll be okay. Might take a bit for my regen to fix it, though."
Sensei Tolman looked at me, and I ran into the locker room to get my medicine pouch. While others separated into groups and started sparring, I made a medium-strength healing potion and spell for Debra. "Are you okay?" I asked, genuinely worried about how hard she'd been hit.
She flexed her knee to test it. "Not a hundred percent," she said with a smile, "but your magic helps a lot." She glanced around, and then whispered, "I'll have to thank you for it later."
I blushed and grinned stupidly at the memories. Before I could say anything, though, Sensei Tolman cleared her throat. "Are you well enough to spar?" she asked Debra.
Testing her knee, Debra stood. "As long as no-one launches any more cannonballs at me."
"Good. Ito Soke would like you to spar with Kayda."
I tried to argue, but I lost. Worse, Ito came over to judge our match. I did horribly, because I was worried about Debra's injured knee and I didn't use my powers as Ito thought I should have. I tried to use my combination ghost-walking and shield spell, and discovered to my dismay that my reflexes of moving quickly after casting a ghost-walking spell needed work, and also that the combination spell was more of a ball than form-fitting shield. One of Debra's force pushes glanced off the shield, and I was bounced around the gym like a billiard ball before I could deactivate the spell - including running over Adamantine when I ricocheted off a wall. And then I had to spar Adamantine, who was still quite pissed at having been run over. And then Ayla. Followed by sparring with Aquerna, who I might have held my own with, except I was getting tired, and she wasn't. That match was followed by a match with JJ, who beat the crap out of me. I was simply too tired to fight a speedster.
While I was suffering through humiliating match after humiliating match, Debra - who was mostly recovered - was sparring with other students, and giving them tips about what she'd learned in real-life battles with super-villains.
After class, I walked out of the gym with Debra. I was in a foul mood. "See?" I grumbled. "Ito makes me do that kind of shit all the time. I get beat up in class all the time like that."
"Then you shouldn't have gone so easy sparring with me," Debra suggested.
My eyes nearly bugged out. "But ... I can't!"
"You have to," Debra countered. She noticed Ayla coming toward us. "Nice match," she said.
Ayla shrugged. "I messed up a couple of times." I'd heard some of Ayla's self-critiques of sessions in the simulators so his self-disparaging comment wasn't completely unexpected. "Very interesting toys you have there. I wasn't expecting something with an energy field."
Debra chuckled. "Don - our devisor - is very good." She held up the mess of tangled web, "But these things are a bitch to repack. It's actually easier for him to dissolve the mesh and use his devises to create a new, folded, packed net."
"Would he be willing to discuss selling some of his ... creations?" Ayles asked.
Debra chuckled. "I'm sure he'd be willing to talk about sales. Of course, our team agreement says he has to charge a little extra to help cover our overhead."
"Naturally," Ayla replied, already dismissing that as a point of negotiation. "I wouldn't expect anything else."
I squeezed Debra's hand. "I've got to go to French class, so have fun talking business with Ayla. I'll see you after electronics?"
Debra made a kissy face at me. "I'll meet you at your classroom, and then we'll go to your special tutoring."
**********
Archery Range, late afternoon
The archery range was nestled between two hills like a natural amphitheater, a few hundred yards from the campus core beyond Laird Hall. I liked going there because it was generally peaceful, but as Debra and I walked, hand-in-hand over the crest of a hill, I saw that the normally-tranquil setting was anything but. I expected Mr. Two Knives, and perhaps Molly and Chou, but there were two other girls there as well. With a worried glance at Debra, I let go of her hand to minimize our outward displays of affection. I wasn't worried about Molly and Chou - they were winkte like Debra and me, and Mr. Two Knives was Lakota in the old tradition so he understood winkte and the need for discretion. But the two new people?
Pristine, Crimson, Molly, and Mr. Two Knives were working on standing bow, while Chou practiced from horseback. She was having a little difficulty with the Chinese horn bow her mentor Guan Yu had given her; I'd tried it and found the draw weight challenging, and I wasn't a baseline like Chou. She was managing, and no doubt as she continued practicing she'd build more muscles, but it was easy to see that she struggled a little at that point.
When she saw Debra and me, Chou called out cheerfully, "Hi, Kayda." She wheeled her horse toward us, stopping next to Mr. Two Knives and the other three girls and practically leaping from the saddle. "Up for a little challenge?" she asked eagerly.
"I'd hate to take advantage of you," I chuckled. Debra and I waited and watched while Mr. Two Knives corrected something that Pristine was doing wrong. I was impressed by her talent; she seemed to be a natural with the bow. Crimson, on the other hand, was doing like Chou originally had - fighting a habit of placing the arrow on the right of the handle. I suspected that she was also experienced with archery - and like Chou, had learned the 'wrong' way to fire a bow in combat.
"Let's have a little bit of friendly competition," Mr. Two Knives suggested when he saw us.
Pristine blanched at the thought, and Chou grinned. "Sounds like fun," she said eagerly.
"Um, I'm not sure ..." Crimson stammered.
"Competition inspires improvement," Mr. Two Knives said philosophically. "Five arrows slow fire," he continued, ignoring Crimson's reluctance, "and then five arrows rapid fire. One arrow at each person target in each round. Not more than fifteen seconds for all five arrows in the fast round. Five bonus points for firing all five arrows in less than ten seconds. The targets are scored like center-of-mass pistol targets - five points in center, four in the area outside that, and three points around the perimeter. No points for a miss."
Pristine nodded, looking uncertain, and Crimson flinched. Chou and I grinned; I still had the edge on her in rapid-fire, or at least I hoped I did. Molly simply nodded.
"You, too," Mr. Two Knives said to Debra, who frowned at being included.
The slow-fire round went pretty well, but I was outshot by both Crimson and Chou. Surprisingly, Pristine was almost as good as I, and Molly and Debra brought up the rear. When we got to the rapid-fire round, Crimson had serious issues, and didn't get off all her arrows in time. Neither did Molly or Debra. Pristine just made it in time, and Chou almost made the ten-second bonus. I got all shots within ten seconds, so I got the bonus, which was good, because I'd gotten one three-pointer and two four-pointers.
In the end, I won - by one point. Molly laughed at Debra when three of her ten shots hit below the hypothetical waist of the target. Both Chou and I flinched, knowing precisely what those shots would have done to a guy. "I guess being around Hippy rubbed off on me a bit," Debra whispered at me after retrieving her arrows. If I'd have been drinking something, I'd have spewed like a fountain since I burst out laughing. Pristine was in third behind Chou by one point, and Molly and Debra fought for last place. Chou shot me a look that said, "Next time, you're going down!"
Our arrival and the competition seemed to mark the end of Pristine's and Crimson's lessons, because they thanked Mr. Two Knives for the tutoring, promised to be back on Monday, and left the rest of us.
"Can I work with Kayda to try the magic arrows?" Molly pleaded immediately.
"Sure," Mr. Two Knives said with a nod. "Chou, back to the horse." He looked at Debra. "Do you want to try your hand at horse bow, or do you want to practice standing?"
Debra goggled at him for a second. "You're assuming that I'm here for more than just watching," she replied.
"You're a superhero. You can never train with enough different styles or weapons."
Debra frowned. "Ito must have put him up to this," she whispered to me. "Okay," she grumbled.
Molly showed me some arrows she'd set aside. "The arrowheads are enchanted," she said proudly.
"What do they do?" I hoped she hadn't done anything dangerous. Not until she knew how it would work.
"Just a light flash for practice," she answered. I stepped back while she picked up her bow and drew one arrow. After aiming, she let the arrow fly, and as soon as it hit the target, a brilliant flash encompassed the target, temporarily blinding us both.
"Wow! That was COOL!" Molly giggled gleefully.
I blinked, trying to clear the spots from my eyes. "Yeah. But I wish you'd have told me that it'd be like thirty-thousand flashes going off at once!"
Molly winced a trifle. "Sorry."
I realized that she'd taken my lighthearted comment as criticism. "No, it's okay. It's a good choice for demonstration. Besides, I can see again!" I mimicked being blind for a couple of seconds to further tease her, groping at the air and pretending not to see anything, and she caught on that I was just joking, giggling at my ridiculous acting.
She shot another one, and this time, we both knew to close our eyes as soon as she released the arrow. Still, it was quite cool. After that shot, she put the special arrows back in her quiver. Unfortunately, one arrow missed the quiver, and as soon as she released the shaft, it fell to the ground. Another blinding flash erupted, this time at our feet.
"What happened?" Molly asked, surprised.
"Um, what triggers the spell?" I asked hesitantly, blinking furiously to clear the stars from my eyes. I had an idea of what had gone wrong - and it was going to be a big problem if I was right.
"When it hits the target," Molly replied, and then her eyes widened. "But ... when I dropped it ..."
"... it went off, because the spell can't tell the difference between being shot and being dropped, right?" I asked.
Molly nodded, looking a little distraught. "I forgot about that."
"Hmmm. My uncle was in the artillery when he in the army. I'm sure they have similar problems. There's got to be a way to solve it."
"Do you think so?" She looked hopeful that we could figure out this little snag because it would really give her some nice distance weaponry.
Under the diligent tutelage of Mr. Two Knives, I practiced with my horse bow; while he was a thorough and demanding instructor, this was my favorite practice, because I got to ride Summer. In the first passing drill, I put five of ten arrows into five dummies, which left me feeling disgusted with myself. I thought I heard Chou laugh; she _would_ pay attention to how I was doing, since she was turning out to be quite competitive. Mr. Two Knives saw my expression, and knew he didn't need to say anything. I knew what I'd done wrong and was chastising myself for being so sloppy. The second drill, I put seven of the ten arrows, and by the sixth pass, I was putting nine of ten arrows on target. I moved five yards further back and repeated, starting off poorly again, but improving much more rapidly because the mechanics of bow-shooting were the same and all I had to do was adjust my aiming point.
At the end of the training session, Chou and I had another competition, this time on horseback. I tried razzing her about having to use a saddle and bridle, while I did things the hard way. If I'd hoped to psyche her out, though, it didn't work, because she was hitting her targets at a consistent rate. Still, having had more practice, I won but by a margin that wasn't as large as the previous competition, and I had a feeling that the contests were going to get pretty close - and a little more intense - _very_ soon.
We were joking as we walked back to the center of campus but there was a nervous edge to the banter. As soon as Debra and I separated from them, she stopped me. "You and Chou are both pretty competitive, aren't you?"
"Does it show?"
She nodded. "Yes. The two of you better figure out how to dial it back a bit, or it's going to create some tension neither of you needs."
I sighed. "Yeah, I suppose."
Debra squeezed my hand. "I know how it can be. Sometimes I get kind of absorbed in things, too." She suddenly smiled. "Let's invite Chou and Molly along with us to dinner and the movie!"
"What?"
"Sure," Debra said easily. "It'll give you guys a chance to interact in a non-competitive environment, which might help take the edge off your competitions. And we don't have to worry with those two, because they're winkte, like us." She waggled her eyebrows. "Besides, in the theater, we don't have to sit in a group. In fact, I'm sure Molly and Chou would prefer _not_ to!"
**********
Dunwich, evening
"So you want something that will act like a safety and arming mechanism," I explained to Molly. The four of us sat in the Dunwich pizza parlor.
"How?" Molly asked. "Like something that triggers when the arrow is nocked?" she asked
I thought a few seconds. "What happens if you nock an arrow, and then don't shoot it? It'd be armed."
Molly's face fell. "Oh, yeah." After a moment, she had another thought. "What if it is triggered by motion?" An instant later, before I could reply, she sighed. "But then, dropping an arrow would be motion, and that'd arm it, too."
I stared into the distance, my focus on mental images flitting rapidly through my mind. After some thoughts gelled, I grabbed a napkin. "Do you have a pen?" Puzzled, Molly fished a writing instrument from her purse. "Okay, what would be a good safety to keep the magic from being armed?"
Chou spoke up. "It should be nocked and held."
"And then something like motion sensor as another step so it's got to be held and nocked and _then_ fired to arm," Debra replied.
I thought a second, frowning and I considered the conditions. "If you released the initial arming step by gripping the arrow like you'd hold it," I mused, "and then nocking the arrow did the second arming step - hmmm. It'd have to be designed that if you released the grip _or_ the nock, it'd disarm." I winced as I considered the potential complexity. Almost automatically, I grabbed a napkin and began to sketch the tail of an arrow, highlighting where pressure would be when it was nocked and drawn.
"So?" Molly asked, puzzled.
Debra leaned toward Chou. "Definitely a gadgeteer," she chuckled.
I scribbled on the napkin some more. "Here's what an arming mechanism would look like. This," I indicated the tip, "is the firing pin, for lack of a better word. An impact here would set it off."
"But that's a mechanism, not magic," Molly protested.
Debra patted Molly's hand gently. "Bear with her. Kayda thinks of things in mechanical terms. It's how she can visualize components of a spell going together."
"Oh."
"Now this," I indicated another component which was blocking the firing pin, "is the safety. As long as this is here, it can't detonate." A few more jots. "These three points - they'd be the nock and the fingers squeezing on the arrow to hold it - are the latches to release the safety. If you put pressure on these three all at once, the safety can be released."
Chou frowned. "But as soon as you release the arrow, the safeties would re-engage, wouldn't they?"
I nodded. "That's what this piece is. It's an inertial mass. The acceleration of the arrow will push this back, locking the safeties off, so that when the tip hits, it can release the spell."
Molly fretted again, worrying her lower lip. "But ... how do you fit all that into the arrow?"
I shook my head. "This doesn't go into the arrow. This is how the trigger and safety spell would work." I saw her staring at the napkin drawing. "It's how I visualize things. Now that I can see how a mechanism would work, I can work with ... my mentor ... to design a spell to do the same thing."
"But then only you could cast ...."
"No, no, no," I interrupted. "Once I design the spell, then anyone can learn it and cast it."
"I haven't learned anything about designing spells," Molly fretted. "How do _you_ know?"
"My mentor is a pretty strict teacher," I chuckled. I saw her puzzled look. "No, it's not anyone at school. It's the spirit I channel who mentors me when I'm in the dream world." Time to share what I'd learned. "You know in magic class that they teach about spell slips, right?" Molly nodded. "A spell is a magical template to direct and shape the flow of essence. A spell slip is the same, with a bit of essence bound onto the slip, so that when it activates, the essence flows through the ... schematic. The pattern."
Molly nodded uncertainly. "That ... kind of makes sense."
"And designing a spell is all about designing how the magic flows and how you shape the essence to do what you want. It's ... like a machine. That's why I visualize spells like mechanical stuff - because I'm good with machinery and stuff."
"I wonder when I'll learn to start designing spells," Molly said with a sigh. "Probably never."
"How about if, when I work with my mentor on this, we get together?" I saw Chou's expression. "Both of you. I think you'll like my ... workspace."
"This isn't something you do ... down in the basement of Kirby ... you know, skyclad, is it?" Molly asked, blushing furiously. Many magic students _did_ work in the special rooms in Kirby - in the nude.
I blushed, too - thinking how embarrassing it would be to be with the two girls naked working on spells. "No."
"In case you forgot while you were wrapped up in drawing schematics," Debra said, making a show of looking at her watch, "the movie starts in about fifteen minutes."
"What are we seeing?" Chou asked.
I realized that we hadn't picked out a movie. "Does it really matter?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively. Both Chou and Molly turned red at that comment, while Debra leered at me knowingly.
There was a short line for movie tickets - almost all Whateley students, mostly couples. We got tickets for some romantic comedy, not that I cared. Once the house lights went down, I had no intention of watching the movie. From the way she brushed my hand, I didn't think Debra did, either.
The theater was quite old-fashioned, probably having been a playhouse a century earlier. It had a balcony, and more unusually, boxes on the sides - completely impractical for a theater, but they would have been luxury seating for plays or operas before the rise of movies. But one of the boxes was occupied; I couldn't quite focus on the two spectral figures, but my senses told me very clearly that they were there.
Debra sensed my alarm and saw where I was looking. "Oh, don't worry. That's just Statler and Waldorf."
"Statler and ... Waldorf?" I asked, astonished. "Like in the Muppets?"
"Yeah. They're apparently a couple of spirits that were bound to that box, and over the years, students started calling them Statler and Waldorf. All that psychic influence kind of molded them, so they actually look and act like Statler and Waldorf. Nobody pays them any attention once they get used to them. When the lights go down, you'll be able to see them better."
"Two ghosts - like the Muppet hecklers?" We sat down in the back of the theater, and as Debra had predicted, Molly and Chou sat apart from us. Once the house lights dimmed for the previews, Debra and I started kissing.
"These kids love this place." I looked up to see one of the spirits peeking over the railing. "It's just a sign." the other one said. "A sign? Of what?" The first one chuckled. "That kids gets dumber every year!" "Ohohohoho," the two chuckled together.
I shook my head at their corny joke - let alone that they were _spirits_ joking with the full look and feel of the Muppet characters who'd they'd come to resemble. Debra felt my movement. "They've been doing that for years." She leaned her head on my shoulder, her fingers intertwined with mine. "Now, are you going to cuddle through the movie, or pay attention to two old geezer spirits in the box?" I gave the two another glance, and then focused on Debra.
It wasn't long before the two were at it again. "This movie romance is like the Lusitania." "Why do you say that?" "The relationship is a shipwreck!" The two chuckled at their bad pun "Ohohohoho."
I glanced up again, and when I saw one of the spirits glance my way, I gave him a raspberry. He chuckled in response. "Those two aren't watching the movie," he said. His buddy chuckled, "That's understandable - no-one comes here to watch the movie!" "Ohohohohoho."
After a while, I put my head on Debra's shoulder, and her arm sipped around me, her fingers sliding down the front. I gasped as a shiver of anticipation went through me, and Debra halted. "Don't stop," I whispered, reaching up to take her hand and slide it down to my breast, then I slid my hand up onto her chest.
"Is he kissing her or giving her a tonsillectomy?" "Where?" " Down in the fourth row!" "Ohohohohohoho" At those words, I straightened up, feeling a little guilty, even though the spirits had been talking about some other couple. I glanced around and noted that many other kids straightened up suddenly, also feeling guilty about necking instead of watching.
After a bit, when the hero and heroine in the movie locked lips, I glanced up at Debra and saw that she was looking at me, the same hungry look in her eyes that I knew were in mine. We began kissing again, as if it would take the example on the screen to make me want to kiss her.
"I wish I was one of those two," one of the heckling spirits said, sounding a little wistful. I suspected he was talking about Debra and me. "One of those girls? So do I," the other said. "Ohohohoho!" I ignored them and kept kissing my girlfriend. They weren't ignoring us. "Trade places with that girl down there," one of the two demanded. "Why? You're too old to remember what to do if a pretty girl was sitting next to you!" "Ohohohohoho."
I don't know how long our kissing lasted, but it was several scenes. "Look! She's got to kiss him now!" one spirit chuckled. "Why?" "Her shoes are stuck on all the soda that's been spilled on the floor and she can't get away!" "Ohohohohohoho." That one was good enough that I glanced up at the spirits and gave them a thumbs-up. And then I turned my attention back to Debra.
While I didn't quite fall asleep on Debra's shoulder, I was really relaxed. The movie plot - eh, I don't really know what it was. And I didn't care. The credits started to roll, and we straightened up because the house lights were about to come up.
"Nothing like a good movie to spend a Friday night." "And this was nothing like a good movie!" "Ohohohohoho!" I glanced up and saw the spirits continuing to perfectly mimic the two Muppets. When the house lights _did_ come up, Debra and I stood, avoiding the strong temptation to hold hands because we didn't want to advertise.
Outside the theater, we met up with Chou and Molly. "Enjoy the movie?" Debra asked the two with a wry smile. Molly nodded shyly, her cheeks bright red, and Chou just smiled. "What was it about?" Debra continued with a wry grin. Molly's eyes widened and she glanced at Chou, not sure what to say. I couldn't help giggling. "I don't know, either," I whispered to Molly and Chou, which earned a wry smile from Chou and an embarrassed giggle from Molly.
From the shuttle-bus stop by Schuster, Molly and Chou walked toward Poe - where I knew they'd be able to kiss and cuddle without fear of gay-bashers, while I walked with Debra to the guest cottages where she was staying. It was Friday night; curfew was a _bit_ later than on school nights, but I wasn't planning on going back to Poe - at least not for quite a while.
**********
Emerson Cottage
Barry Linton, Sharpie, looked up from the drawing he was working on when he heard the room door open. "Hey, Mike," he said in a neutral, conversational tone to his roommate. He returned his attention to his drawing where, living up to his code-name, he was practicing control over the colors of inks he could exude from his fingertips. As powers went, it wasn't much, but Sharpie thought it was cool to draw without pens or pencils.
"Yo," Mike Reynolds - M2, but also known as Magic Mikey - replied, flopping on his bed. "'Sup?"
Sharpie shrugged. "Just drawing. You?"
"Nothin' much. At least," he continued, "nothin' you can help with." He absently retrieved an object from his pocket, fondling it as if it were the most precious gem in the world.
"You okay, man?" Sharpie asked cautiously, noting the morose tone. "You've been kind of ... distant."
Mike bolted upright, his eyes flashing with anger. "What do you mean by that?" he demanded.
"Whoa, man!" Sharpie held out his hands, palms facing his roommate. "Just asking, okay?"
Mike's eyes narrowed. "Nothing's wrong." He turned the object over in his hands over and over, feeling the magic coursing around the object and his hands, feeling it infuse into him. "Nothing's wrong at all." He scowled at his roommate. "Why?"
Sharpie read the mood of Mike. "You just seem ... tense, dude," he replied, trying to sound non-threatening and calm. "Ever since you found that _thing_." He gestured to the item Mike was holding and playing with.
"I'm not tense!" Mike replied angrily, clutching the object possessively.
"Dude," Sharpie replied, shaking his head, "you _are_ pretty wired." He thought of something which elicited a frown. "Does this have anything to do with all those phone calls you keep getting?"
"No!"
"Mike, if someone's threatening you or something, you _need_ to go to security or Carson. It's way against the rules for an outsider to threaten a student."
"Just mind your own damned business!" Mike shot back. Sharpie recoiled at the mask of rage on his roommate's face. For the first time, he was a little afraid of Mike. Something was going on with him, and he was getting scary. The shudder of fright brought a new realization to Sharpie - he was going to _have_ to talk to Mrs. Tolliver and see if he couldn't be moved. Mike was getting that scary-crazy.
**********
Eons and Eons ago
The writhing mass of malevolent energy, contained in the crudest of physical forms required to interact with the pesky, annoying beings, seethed with unnatural rage. These mere primitive, insignificant beings were _hurting_ it! Impossible as it sounded, their strange magic - so different from that of the Sidhe with which it was familiar - complemented the Sidhe magic, stinging sharply, much harder than it would have imagined possible.
The Bastard _had_ to get rid of the beings so they could no longer help the Sidhe. But how? His mind racing billions and trillions of times faster than the puny _humans_ arrayed before him, working in dimensions and in ways that would literally melt a human mind as he contemplated possibilities.
The humans were not nearly as powerful as the Sidhe, who would fall once their flow of magic was ripped from them. But the humans? Their magic wasn't tied to the mystical trees that harnessed and supplied the essence required by the Sidhe, and so they weren't as vulnerable to his tricks of interrupting the magic, no matter how painful that sometimes was. Though it was painful to touch Sidhe magic, he'd often tricked Sidhe that way, confusing them, making them easy prey, but these humans weren't so easily fooled. And to his total shock, the humans had responded to the Sidhe plea for help, sending their magic wielders and heroes to help the Sidhe in their futile defense.
The plan that emerged from femtoseconds of thought was brilliant. The being _knew_ precisely how to deal with the pesky, primitive humans.
In the blink of an eye, the evil force reached out and found spirits that were unanchored, floating freely about. He touched one psychically, and the foul stench of evil instantly corrupted the spirit, driving it insane and malevolent. The Bastard stole some essence from the Sidhe's trees, ignoring the excruciating pain of using their magic, using it to form and sculpt whatever was at hand into a frightening, powerful vessel, which he then placed the insane spirit into. Over and over, he repeated this movement, sending the newly-created monsters out, away from the battle with the Sidhe and the shamans, to hunt down the People from whom the shamans came, no matter where on Pangea, or what race or color. These human magic-wielders would quit the battle, fleeing home to protect their tribes and clans from the evil demonic beings the Bastard had just unleashed on them. Freed from the annoying but effective nuisances that were the shamans, he could finish off the Sidhe, and their magic that protected the world's very existence would be shattered.
A fresh sting of magic energy interrupted the Bastard's scheme, and he instinctively reached out to smash the puny magic-using shaman, but then, much faster than imaginable, he stopped himself, Instead of squashing the human like a bug, the Bastard reached out and touched the human, corrupting his flesh as the human's spirit withered and died, and then he shoved one of his evil, tainted spirits into the newly-arranged flesh. This one would be special. This one was attuned, by its very origin, to the energy of the shaman, and the utterly mad spirit within was given a special task. Because of the body, it would be immune to most shaman magic. And because of the spirit, it would hunt and destroy those who would bring magic against the Bastard. It was a shaman hunter. And now it was freed upon the People.
**********
Whateley Academy
Saturday, April 28; morning
No doubt I still had a morning-after glow as I walked down the stairs of Poe toward breakfast. I had my costume class, so Debra had chased me - quite late, mind you - back to Poe to get at least a little sleep before class. Eventually, the smile would fade as the day wore on, but for now, I was relishing the feeling.
"Good morning, Kayda," I heard a familiar voice behind me. "You're not sneaking out without escort, are you?"
I stopped, knowing that she was going to catch up to me anyway. "Morning, Rosalyn," I sighed. "I suppose you were waiting for me?"
Rosalyn's face fell, like my words had stung her. "No," she said in a small, hurt voice.
"I'm sorry," I apologized quickly. "I guess ... I was just so used to you flirting that ... I kind of expected it."
Rosalyn stopped and put her hand on my shoulder, causing me to turn to face her. "I'm ... sorry if I went overboard."
I suddenly felt sorry for Rosalyn. Her predatory nature was self-defense against being hurt again, and she hadn't allowed herself to truly love for fear of that pain. "I ... liked it some," I replied slowly. "You ... made me feel ... special. Wanted."
"Good," she replied. "That was what Debra was hoping for."
"What were _you_ hoping for?" I asked cautiously as we walked out of Poe toward the caf.
Rosalyn shrugged. "The same as always. Another notch in my bedpost, I guess."
I stopped and turned her toward me. "Thank you ... for distracting me." I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her, and then slowly, found myself kissing her.
After a brief kiss, we separated, with me quite confused about why I'd done that. "I like kissing you," Rosalyn said, looking straight into my eyes. "You're a good kisser." She read the look on my face. "And you like kissing me, don't you?"
I blushed and stammered out a denial, but the more I tried to deny it, the broader Rosalyn grinned. Finally I nodded. "Yeah. You're a very good kisser." One more thing crossed my mind. "Are we going to be okay - living in the same cottage, occasionally bumping into each other? It's not going to be ... difficult for you, is it?"
The doubt left Rosalyn's face instantly. "No," she said, quite assuredly. "It'll be okay." She waggled her eyebrows. "It'll let me see you from time to time, like escorting you around campus. And maybe seeing you in some hot-tub parties. And who knows," she added, winking, "maybe we can talk Debra into a three-way - for old times' sake!"
I almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor. There were a few things I was definitely going to have to talk to Debra about.
**********
Whateley Academy
Afternoon, by an outlying pond
The figure flicked another stone, watching it skip across the pond. On the second hop, he stretched out a finger toward the stone and let his energy catch it, stopping its forward progress. Directed seemingly by the direction the boy's finger pointed, the stone shot skyward, halted, and then smashed down into the pond, making a splash and wave that belied the stone's relative small size.
"Not bad," the second boy said. "But I doubt you asked me to meet you here so you can demonstrate your power."
The first boy snorted. "No, Eddie, I didn't." He stretched out his hand toward the speedster, using his gravity warping to lift the speedster off the ground. With a wicked grin, he dropped him from a couple of feet above the ground.
"Would you knock off that shit, Darren?" Eddie Rutherford - Quickdraw - snarled. "I'm not a damned regenerator, and if you get carried away ...."
"You know I'm just kidding around," Speakeasy - Darren Haskins - said snidely, as if it was obvious. From his actions, though, it seemed more obvious that he intended to intimidate the other boy. "You remember those favors you owe me?" Speakeasy asked cryptically. He _could_ mind-fuck with Quickdraw, using his other power - his esper power - to make Quickdraw a little more pliable mentally, but he knew he didn't have to.
"Not this again," Quickdraw complained. "I've paid back ..."
"You did a couple of small favors, and you want to call it even?" Speakeasy asked, his eyebrows arched. "I helped you with some spending money. I kept your ass from being tagged UV, or even getting expelled, and you think a couple of tiny favors are payback?"
Quickdraw sighed. "What's the job?"
Speakeasy grinned wickedly and put his arm around Quickdraw's shoulder. "We've got a little ... garbage here that needs to be taken out," he said euphemistically.
"I'm not following," Quickdraw said.
"It was bad enough with just _Heyoka_ here, but now that _she's_ here too, their stench sickens me!" Speakeasy snarled, not even trying to disguise the venom in his voice. "I can't take any more of their self-righteous crap! _She_ corrupted Mr. Lodgeman's Native American group now, too! Making it into some kind of cult that worships her or something!"
"Who?"
"Those Lakota scum!" Speakeasy ranted, almost frothing at the mouth.
"Wait," Quickdraw said, confused. "You're an Indian, too, so ...."
"I'm _Crow_!" Speakeasy spun on the other boy, practically screaming in his face. "They're ... scum! Their kind has always harassed and killed my people!"
Quickdraw looked puzzled. "I thought the girl was off limits because of heavy security!"
Speakeasy shook his head, leering. "She is - sort of. I've got an idea to take care of _both_ of them."
"What's ... what's the plan?" Quickdraw asked curiously. Truth be told, Quickdraw liked having power to hurt people after having been a runt on the receiving end of bullying.
"Something right up your alley," Speakeasy chortled, his voice echoing with madness.
**********
Vehicle Lab
"Don't worry," Lanie said as we walked into the vehicle lab. "Ah'll introduce ya t' Mr. Donner. He's really nice, and he'll be interested in your car ideas."
I winced. "I'm not so sure. I've got a very busy schedule, with the tutoring, electronics, and my Lakota training. I'm not sure I'll have ...."
"Nonsense," Lanie said with a grin. "If y'all think Ah'm goin' to let another gearhead get away from the labs, you're crazy." She fanned herself like a Southern belle "We ladies are outnumbered here by the less civilized males of the species. We _have_ to stick together."
"This isn't just because you saw me naked in the hot tub and you want me nearby so your imagination can continue to run wild, is it?" I whispered, trying hard not to giggle - and failing.
Lanie chuckled. "Well, Ah'd be lyin' if Ah said there weren't fringe benefits to having you around." She led me to the office. "Mr. Donner?" she said as she peeked through the door, "Ah'd like you to meet Kayda, a friend of mine and a potential Gearhead."
Mr. Donner rose from behind his desk, where he'd been looking at an on-line parts catalog from what I could see of his computer. He seemed to keep rising; he was quite tall, and I gulped at just how physically imposing he was. He reached out a beefy hand that was permanently grease-stained, just like those of the men who worked in Dad's dealership. "You're Pejuta, right?" he asked as he shook my hand.
"Yes, sir," I replied, trying not to tremble with fright.
"Elaine says you were working on diesel trucks and tractors from an early age, and that your current project is a fifty-seven Nomad?"
I nodded meekly. He already knew a lot about me. "Yes, sir."
"Please," he implored, "knock off the 'sir' stuff. This isn't the military, and I'm sure as heck not an officer!" He gestured to the chairs opposite his desk, grinning lopsidedly in a way that seemed to be a permanent facial feature. "Have a seat." As Elaine and I sat, he continued. "What are you planning to do to the Nomad?" he asked.
One of the guys stuck his head in the office. "Sorry, Mr. Donner," he said, interrupting. "Loophole, have you got a free hand for a minute?"
Elaine glanced at me, and when I gave her a tiny nod, she stood up. "Sure. What's up, Ringo?" she asked as she strode confidently from the office to help a fellow Gearhead.
I looked back at Mr. Donner, still surprised; I'd expected questions like 'why do you want to be a Gearhead' or 'what do you know about mechanics' or the like. "Um," I gulped, a bit taken aback. "Like I told Elaine the other night, I want to modify the rear suspension to be independent instead of a live axle, and if possible, I'd like to replace the entire front suspension with something like a multi-link McPherson strut setup coupled to front-wheel drive components of a four-wheel-drive system."
Mr. Donner's eyes widened. "That's a serious set of changes."
"Yes, si ...." I caught myself before I completely said 'sir'. "I've been working on a four-hundred small block to couple to a four-speed Muncie," I said nervously, "and using a variant of the Torsen differential I made into a transfer case for one of Dad's tractors, I think I can make a good variable-torque-split transfer case to get power to the front." I shrugged. "I'd prefer a six-speed manual, maybe with flappy-paddles for faster shifting, but ...."
Mr. Donner chewed on that for a bit. "It'll be hard fitting a four-wheel-drive under that engine and cross-frame."
I nodded, still nervous. "But if I use a dry-sump oil pan and reservoir, and rework the entire front frame, I'm pretty sure I can get it to fit. It's got a long engine compartment, and I figured I've got about half an inch clearance over the front-drive system of something like a Lamborghini Gallardo or a Mercedes 4-matic." I shrugged. "And if I go to multiport injection, I can get maybe another three-quarters of an inch lift on the engine mounts without having to alter the hood if I don't have carbs sticking up out of the manifold."
Mr. Donner nodded. "You're going to have a lot of fabrication to do with that."
"I know," I answered, starting to feel a little more confident. "About the same as I did making a modified Torsen differential as a four-wheel-drive variable power splitter and transfer case for Dad's 6300 tractor."
Mr. Donner looked at me for a moment, and then his grin almost split his. "You _are_ a Gearhead!" He looked evenly at me. "I _hope_ you're on the tech track!"
I winced. "Well, that's the thing. My spirit is a magic type, so I'm on the magic track ..."
"But you also have a high Gadgeteer rating," Mr. Donner finished. He saw my stunned expression. "What, you think I wouldn't look up information about a student that's recommended for the Gearheads?"
"I'm ... just in electronics this term," I confessed. "And with what I need to learn for my magic, tech electives might be tight."
"But you _are_ interested in tech electives, aren't you?" he asked, sounding hopeful.
"Yeah," I answered. "But my car is back home, and ...."
"We've got about five weeks of the term and finals left," Mr. Donner countered. "And even if you can't get your car out here this term, there are always projects to work on - like my Ford 730 Deluxe, or you could work on designing your modifications and maybe using some of the workshops to start fabbing parts."
"Uh, yeah," I answered hesitantly, "I guess so."
"Were you planning on rebuilding the entire frame, or just replacing sections of the existing frame?"
"I hope I can replace the whole frame," I answered. "Less chance of weld cracks at the new joints." We talked for another half hour, with his questions getting more and more involved into the mechanics of what I was thinking. And he had me sketch out the modified Torsen differential I'd done as a transfer case, and hoped to use on my car - when I got it to the shop. I realized only after we'd left that while he'd been asking a ton of questions, he'd never once tried to tell me what to do or how to do it. Instead, he asked leading questions to get me to think about my design ideas and come up with my own answers.
Elaine and I left after I'd filled out the minimal paperwork to join the Gearheads, plus more paperwork to get a car to Whateley. It wasn't easy; the limited lab space and parking really put a damper on who got cars on campus and who didn't. As a Gearhead, I'd be able to get a car on campus and into the shop.
While I'd been in costuming class and meeting Mr. Donner, Debra had been on the phone with her family. As soon as I saw her, I could tell something was wrong. "What's up?" I asked when she met me for lunch.
Debra sighed. "It's Aunt Kathleen," she said morosely.
"The one in Boston?"
"Yeah, Mom's twin sister. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and she's having a rough time with her chemo."
I put my hand atop hers. "I'm so sorry. Is she ...."
Debra shook her head. "No. She's just having a real tough time, so Mom's driving in from Pittsburgh, and Aunt Penny flew in last night. Aunt Penny asked me to come down to help Mom."
"Oh."
"So I'm going to drive down to be with them." She saw the look in my eyes. "I know you'd rather have me here with you, but ...."
"I know," I said, trying to be selfless. "You have to go. It's your family."
"But you're my love," Debra countered. "I promise I'll come back up here so we can spend more time together before I fly back to Sioux Falls."
After saying goodbye at the guest cottage - which I really, really hated, I went back to my room. I had a tough assignment in magic class, and I wanted to work on some of my advanced math. I'd barely sat down when my phone rang. "Hello?"
"Kayda, honey," Mom's voice said cheerfully. "How are you doing? How's Debra enjoying her visit?"
My eyes felt like they popped out of their sockets. "You _knew_ Debra was coming out to visit?"
"Of course," Mom said cheerfully. "I paid for her ticket."
"What?!?"
"I figured your sixteenth birthday was a very special day for you, so after talking with Debra, we figured she could fly out and surprise you."
My jaw flapped for a bit, trying to figure out what to say. "Um ...."
"Did you have a nice birthday, dear?" I could practically hear her smiling. "Was it as good as you hoped it would be?"
"Mother!"
"Now, now, Kayda," Mom said to soothe me.
"But ... you paid for Debra's trip - so we could ....?"
"Have sex? Yes. So?" She chuckled. "You were going to sooner or later - there's no way your father or I could have stopped it - and since you were sixteen, it was legal. And we were worried that you might be tempted by some of the good-looking girls out there."
"Mom!"
"I was there, dear," Mom said, "and I saw them. To be honest, if I swung that way, I'd find it a very tempting place."
I wanted to crawl under a rock; it was a good thing that Mom couldn't see how brightly I was blushing. "Debra had to drive down to see her mom and aunt," I said to change the subject. "Her aunt is having a real hard time of things with chemo."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Mom replied. On the one hand, the new subject was rather sad. On the other hand, it got away from talking about my sex life with my mother. "Will she go back to Whateley before she comes back to Sioux Falls?"
"Yeah. She figured Tuesday or so. She's only got so much vacation time because she used a bunch of it on spring break." We talked for a while longer, and then I excused myself. I had homework I had to do. "Love you, Mom."
"Love you too, dear. Keep up your studies. I'm looking forward to seeing you at home in a little bit. Goodbye." The phone clicked off, and I turned back to my magic - just in time for Evvie to return.
"What's up? Who was on the phone?" she asked curiously.
"Just Mom," I answered, still shaking my head in disbelief over that conversation.
"What?" Evvie asked. "Spill it!" She knew me well enough that I couldn't really keep a secret from her.
I sighed. "Promise not to tell anyone?" She nodded somberly, so I continued. "Mom ... paid for Debra's trip out here."
"That was nice."
"So I could satisfy my curiosity!" I blurted out the rest.
Evvie goggled at me in disbelief for a moment, and then she literally collapsed onto her bed laughing. When she could speak again - sort of - she wiped the tears of mirth from her eyes. "Oh, that's too good!" she guffawed. "The girls aren't going to believe this one!"
"You promised!" I blurted out, horrified at the thought of how all the girls would react. I'd be the butt of a lot of jokes, a laughingstock among the Poe girls.
"It might take a little something to help me remember that promise," Evvie teased. "I might need reminding off and on!"
"That's ... that's blackmail!"
Evvie rubbed her hands together while chuckling evilly. "I prefer to call it ... capitalism!" she cackled. Seeing my look of horror, she decided that she'd teased me enough. "Relax," she said, suddenly serious. "I promised, and I won't tell." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Besides, who'd ever believe a story like that?" She flopped back on her bed. "Will it bother you if I turn the stereo on?"
I shook my head. "Nah. I'll go to the study room. I'm working on this stupid magic homework, and maybe the view of the outdoors will inspire me." I picked up the massive tome I'd checked out from the library and trudged to the study room. As expected, it was empty this time on Saturday afternoon - everyone was out enjoying the spring weather.
Sitting on the floor with the book open, I was trying to follow along with the fiendishly complicated hand motions of the particular magic style when I realized that someone was watching me. I turned.
"Boy, Ah hate it when Ah have an itch Ah can't quite scratch," Lanie said with a wicked grin.
"It's homework for Ms. Grimes," I explained. "Western Occult Tradition and its stupid finger movements." I slammed the book shut. "What's up?"
Lanie shrugged, glancing around. "Ah come with an invitation."
"Is this the setup to a bad joke, 'beware redhead Irish girls bearing invitations?" I saw her smile. "If it involves hot tubs and nakedness, I try to limit those to once a week."
"If only," Elaine replied, waggling her eyebrows. "There'll be boys present, so we'll try to keep everyone's clothes on."
I felt a shudder at that mental image, but at least it wasn't threatening to become a full-fledged panic attack. Lanie noticed. "No, it's a lot more dangerous. Worse than the Class X problems you've been having."
I goggled at that. "You have my undivided attention." I glanced around. "But not here. This isn’t a good place for _those_ types of discussions." I led Elaine back to my room. "Evvie, can I have the room for a bit?" I asked as we came in.
Evvie's eyes bulged. "Rosalyn is going to be soooo jealous!" she giggled. Seeing my reaction, she grabbed her jacket and darted to the door. "I'm going, I'm going!"
At Lanie's confused expression, I smiled. "Relax. This is going to be a little weird for you the first time." We sat down and I incanted the words Wakan Tanka had given me and touched her forehead.
Suddenly the two of us were in my dream space, looking out over a vast herd of grazing bison. I was surprised to see Lanie attired in primitive garments with geometric tattoos on her arms and a bow in her hand. "I didn't know ...." That was as far as I got when she turned to face me. She was wearing what I first thought was war paint, but then I realized it was something completely different. Lanie chuckled and explained about her garb being a symbol of her Pict ancestry - Pict, of course, as she explained, meaning 'painted people'. And the tinted mud she had on her face was called woad or something like that.
"You scared the woad out of me!" I chuckled.
>Lanie laughed aloud. "Ah should sic Rosalyn on you for that." She cocked an eyebrow. "Are you two ... you know?"
"Let's just say we have an understanding and leave it at that, okay?" I doubted that was going to satisfy her curiosity, though. As I explained my dream world to her, I saw her eye me head to toe, her eyes dwelling for a second on my cleavage visible through the very low-cut beaded dress. After the kiss we'd shared at the hot-tub party, I felt a shiver of something at her appreciative stare.
I thought of a setting and we were instantly in Wakan Tanka's village and I was brewing some tea. "What's this about?" I asked her as we sipped the beverage.
If I'd been frightened by Wakan Tanka's talk about Unhcegila, what Lanie told me about was worse. Far worse. A creature called the Enemy of Life. It had apparently shattered Atlantis and the Five-Fold Court, destroying the Sidhe and most of humanity and wiping out the World Trees that were the source of so much magic in the world. And it was waking up.
"Why don't we talk to Mrs. Carson? Or the other members of the faculty?" I asked the obvious question.
Lanie snorted with disgust. "How much help have they been to _you_ with your Class X problems?" She shook her head. "By the time they take it seriously, it'll be too late."
"Can we stop it?" I asked nervously.
"If we can't," Lanie said somberly, "Ah promise you won't care." She was dead-serious, and I felt a cold chill.
Tatanka chose that moment to arrive. "She speaks the truth, Wihakayda," he said to me. "Raven saw the breaking of the world and the great battle. He saw that the enemy wasn't defeated, but merely put to sleep."
I glanced at Tatanka and then looked at Lanie, at the serious expressions both of them bore. "I'm in," I said simply. There was no other choice. It was an end-of-the-world thing. I had a sudden thought - perhaps Wakan Tanka had foreseen it and had manifested in me specifically for this role? Another cold shudder chilled me - was I up to being part of such an undertaking?
Satisfied, Tatanka stood. "I'll leave you alone. The discussion of women does not interest me."
Elaine frowned. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she demanded.
Tatanka stared at her, cocking his head toward me. "She denies herself because she fears her nature. You indulge your nature and thus fear yourself. Give in to what you _are_ and do not be afraid here. Be honest, or she can't help you. Drink. Your. Tea." He lumbered away from the camp.
I refilled our cups and handed one back to Lanie. As she took it, our eyes met and I felt something trying to hold my gaze upon her, some kind of unspoken, unconscious desire. It took me a moment or two to regain my concentration and look away from her sparkling green eyes. "When he says something like that," I said slowly and nervously, "he means that I'm ... resisting ... being a woman. That I'm not acknowledging what I've become."
Lanie blinked slowly. "Ah guess that means you ...?
I nodded, wondering if Tatanka's advice was going to steer me wrong this time and afraid of losing a new friend because of my status as a changeling. "I wasn't always one." I looked down, nervous. "I ... changed when I manifested. I ... used to be a ... boy."
"Ah see! Now some of your aversions make so much more sense. Ah'm not judging you," Lanie said quickly enough that it startled me. I looked up, straight into those captivating green eyes again, and I saw that she was speaking the truth. "And Ah probably would never have known if you hadn't told me, so don't worry about that."
I smiled, grateful that Lanie was so understanding. "Tatanka said I'm supposed to be helping you. So why don't you drink, relax, and tell me what's up?"
I would have never expected to hear what Lanie said next. "Ah'm a whore," she began bluntly. It was like saying those words pulled a stopper so that she could really open up about her troubles. Despite her brave talk at the hot-tub party of not wanting a rebound, when Wyatt had told her about the Enemy of Life, she slept with him - and she didn't regret it one bit. And the worst part was that she was afraid that it wasn't her own true feelings, but that Wyatt's spirit the Kodiak had put those feelings in her head. She thought she was very much in love with him, but was terrified that the feelings weren't real - and despite that, she still wanted to be with him.
I shuddered, trying to suppress my fears. Perhaps Tatanka had insisted that Lanie drink her tea because he knew that I would have more as well and it would calm me so I could help my friend. As all of her fears and hopes and doubts came out, she collapsed into a blubbering mess crying on my shoulder.
And then two bear spirits approached us. When Kayda saw them, she was on her feet, an arrow nocked in her bow and drawn. "You!" she screamed.
Slowly, the bears stood, and then their figures melted to the form of spirit-guides - half-bear, half-human. The Kodiak looked foppishly medieval, and the other was the physical embodiment of womanhood - tall, powerful, strong, and yet radiating tenderness and sexiness. She, like me, wore a beaded buckskin dress, but she filled hers out far more than I did. I couldn't help but glance down - feeling meager and not at all sexy compared to the shapeliness of both Lanie and the she-bear. "She hates you," the she-bear said to the Kodiak. "I like her already."
"We are honored to stand in the presence of the Ptesanwi," the male bear said, bowing. "May we join you?"
Their presumptuousness pissed me off. "You have _no_ right to enter our dream space!"
"And that is why we ask permission," the Kodiak replied.
That only made me angrier. "For asking permission, you're awfully damned far into my dream space already!
"Well," the big bear said, leaning forward to eye-level with me, "I wouldn't want you to feel that I penetrated too far."
The blood drain from my face and I stumbled back at the obvious innuendo, memories clawing at me, trying to pull me back into my nightmare. Lanie rushed to my side, holding me to give me comfort, glowering at the bear. "It's the Kodiak," she snarled.
I forced myself to be steady, trying hard to quell my inner demons. "We know. We don't trust him. Not after our last dealings." I was shaking and my voice trembled despite manifesting Ptesanwi.
The she-bear held out a paw to me. "Cante waste nape ciyuzapo," she said in formal greeting.
"Wakan Takan kici un," I answered, feeling a lot less hostile toward the she-bear than I did toward the Kodiak. "Please, join our circle and be welcome." I stepped in front of the Kodiak and scowled up at him. "If you bring discord you are not welcome."
"Actually," the Kodiak replied, "I bring a solution to the problem you ladies were just discussing. Grizzly, my wife."
It took a few seconds for Lanie's astonishment to abate to the point she could speak. And then she noticed that I had manifested Ptesanwi, which added to her confusion. And _then_ the Kodiak told Lanie who my spirit really was. I was actually surprised that Lanie didn't faint from the number of shocking revelations she'd received in the past few seconds.
The Grizzly's proposition to Lanie was very unusual and pretty direct. She would bond with Lanie in the same way spirits bonded with avatars - granting her protection, especially from the Kodiak's mind-messing. And then she told Lanie that a person's hallow, which held that person's own spirit, could be expanded through shaman rituals, that one didn't have to be an avatar to host another spirit. Lanie gawked at me.
I flinched slightly. "There is a ritual done for shamans," I explained. "It's ... complicated and not something to be done lightly. I'm not sure I'm ready ...."
"Whoa!" Lanie declared. "Ah don't trust _him_ in mah head! How would you help that? And you want me to invite you into mah head and mah body just on your say so? Do Ah look like Ah have stupid written on mah forehead?"
Grizzly grinned. "Now I'm _certain_ I like you!" She nodded. "Trust should be earned."
Elaine considered the offer for a moment. "Why can't mah life be more boring? Lots and lots more boring?"
Lanie and I came out of dream space and she shuddered involuntarily at the transition. "Is it like this for you every time?" she asked. "'Cause Ah'm not sure Ah could get used to doing that all the time."
I chuckled. "I'm used to it. Which is a good thing," I added, "because sometimes if I have a question or if Wakan Tanka or Tatanka need to tell me something important, I can switch into dream space in the middle of class, or when I'm eating - really, anytime." I stood and offered a hand to help her up. "I know you're busy but I've got some free time since Debra had to go to a family emergency in Boston, so I can do a little research on the whole shaman-hallow thing - if you want me to."
Lanie shuddered nervously. "Ah'm not sure if Ah want to do that," she said, "but Ah'm more scared of what could happen if Ah don't."
I sat down on my bed, and guided her down beside me. "It's no big deal. Wakan Tanka wants me to learn more about magic anyway."
Lanie nodded, and for a brief moment, she looked confident, but that confidence broke and her lip trembled. "Ah'm terrified that somethin' might mess with mah mind again!" she whispered in a tiny, frightened voice. "Kodiak did, once before, and it made me a monster to .... " she looked at me and I saw a kindred spirit, someone who was wounded and needed to share something bad to get it off her chest. "...to a girl who loved me. He made me believe things that weren't true, and Ah did something terrible to her because Ah thought she'd hurt me, but it was all because of what Kodiak had done to mah memories. Ah really don't know if Ah love Wyatt or if it's still because of him messin' with mah mind, but Ah know Ah don't want that to ever happen to me again. Ah don't want to ever be manipulated into bein' a monster again!"
I pulled Lanie into a sort-of hug, one arm around her and leaning against my shoulder. "I ... think I understand," I said softly. "When Wakan Tanka and Tatanka offered to help me if I would accept them," I admitted something to her that I'd only told Debra, "I was terrified that they'd control me." I let her sit up and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Tell you what. I'll check with Wakan Tanka to learn more about the whole thing. She'll know if there are contracts and bindings and such to keep a spirit from harming or possessing a person. And I'll find out about the hallow-expanding thing. After I get more data, I'll tell you what I found out. Then you'll have the data to make a logical decision."
Lanie nodded, gratitude brimming in her eyes. "Thank you, Kayda," she said, giving me a hug. "Ah don't know what Ah'd do without mah friends helping me."
**********
p>Nervously, I strode into the village, the empty one that was Wakan Tanka's personal refuge. She was sitting by the fire, and as soon as she saw me, she started brewing tea.
"Am I getting _that_ predictable?" I chuckled.
Wakan Tanka smiled at me. "No. You're getting that _polite_. You're learning that even simple habits and rituals - like brewing and sharing tea - help put people at ease, reducing their worries."
"Oh."
"Like with your friend Elaine. I am proud of how you calmed her from all her worries and fears. And it started with a simple cup of tea to help her feel welcome and normal." She smiled at me.
"One of these times, I'm afraid _you're_ going to be the one coming into the village after you make _me_ wait, and you'll expect me to serve you tea!" I fussed, but in jest.
Wakan Tanka's eyebrows rose. "That is a good idea, Wihakayda!" She handed me a cup of tea in a fired-clay cup. I noticed that she used whatever was at hand to serve tea - gourds, fired-clay cups. And I noticed how she brewed the tea, because I _knew_ she was going to make me do the same. In a large, hollowed-out gourd, she put water, and then put in a rock that had been really heated over a fire. It was the same trick used in the sweat lodge. No doubt she'd expect me to demonstrate mastery of these techniques.
"What troubles you?" she asked after taking a sip of the tea.
"My friend Elaine is worried about spirits like Kodiak altering her memories and tricking her. Apparently he has already done so once."
Wakan Tanka snorted in disgust. "I'm not surprised. He's done that trick many times before."
"Well, his ... ex-wife, I guess, Grizzly offered to bond with Elaine to protect her."
"And the Pict girl is nervous, correct?" I nodded. "She should be. She doesn't have a large hallow, so it would take a ritual to expand it so she could hold Grizzly. And the spirit of Grizzly, like that of Kodiak, is powerful, and might overwhelm her."
My eyes widened. "Like ... possess her?"
"No," Wakan Tanka assured me, smiling. "It would be a shock to her to accept such a spirit.
"So ... it's dangerous and she shouldn't do it?"
"No, it can be done. But as you know, accepting a spirit can be difficult."
I sighed. "What do _you_ think?"
Wakan Tanka chuckled softly. "What she seeks is to have one spirit protect her from another. It has been done before, but the ritual is intended so that a shaman can accept an animal spirit, not to protect from the meddling of other spirits." She smiled at me. "And yes, your friend is right to be wary of Grizzly's offer. And she is right to fear being hurt - and hurting others - like the Kodiak caused her before."
My mouth dropped open. "You ... you listened?" She nodded with a smile. "Why didn't you come to talk to her yourself? To answer her questions?"
"You know the answer to that," Wakan Tanka chided me. "She was hurt by a spirit. She doesn't trust spirits completely. If you were in her position, would you feel like listening to another spirit extol the virtues of being an avatar, or would you be suspicious that you were once more being manipulated?" She saw my startled expression slowly turn to comprehension. "Now, let us speak of the ritual and what it involves. And what it can mean to the one whose hallow is made larger."
**********
Sunday, April 29, 2007, Mid-morning
Crystal Hall
I slid the papers to one side and took a long drink from my coffee cup, wincing at the taste. Despite putting in three sugars and two creams, I still didn't like the taste, but it was necessary to try to keep awake. Setting down the cup, I pulled my sketches back in front of me. Anything to try to distract myself. After last night, that was proving hard. Wyatt had been pretty explicit in his description of the task ahead of us, and he laid out the odds - which weren't good. It was so disturbing that Poise even became sick to her stomach thinking about the Bastard, the Enemy of Life. I hadn't been comforted at all as the meeting broke up when Wyatt and Lanie asked me to hold back a moment. We went to Wyatt's apartment for privacy and then dream-walked, talking extensively with Wakan Tanka to learn what she and Tatanka knew about the Bastard.
I was going to have to learn to be a battle mage; there were no two ways around that simple fact. Worse, the group was going to have to rely on my shaman magic far more than any other mage, because the Bastard had proven more vulnerable to the nature magic of the People and the shamans than to the magic of the Sidhe. And without Fey, the group was starting out crippled in the area of magic.
Debra wasn't in my dream space; she'd called and let me know that they staying up late with her aunt because she was finally a little better, so the aunt wanted to talk and enjoy family company before she had to go for another round of chemo and get all messed up again. That meant an all-nighter for Debra, and she'd nap during the day. After the meetings, I desperately needed to cuddle with Debra, even if only in dream space. And even I hadn't been able to completely dream-walk because of the nightmares of dealing with a creature so powerful that it made Snakey-junior look like a worm in comparison. I hadn't slept well at all.
I yawned, and then turned back to my drawings. At least doodling and sketching ideas for my car's frame was keeping me occupied - a little. About four that morning, unable to sleep, I'd taken my laptop down to the study room and done some Internet searching, finding design drawings and measurements from the '57 Nomad. With that data in hand, I could at least kick around ideas to see what might fit under the body.
A shadow passed over my drawings and I closed my eyes momentarily, not quite sure if it was my fatigue or something real. Opening them again revealed the continued presence of the shadow. I looked up - right into the smiling face of Elaine. "Oh, hey Lanie."
She was grinning as she quickly looked over the pages of scribbled notes and drawings, but there was something in her eyes that said she was uncomfortable about something. "Hey, Kayda, got a minute? Ah'd like to talk to you, if Ah'm not interruptin' anythin' important."
I put on a weary smile. "Pull up a chair."
"Um," Lanie said, wincing slightly as she hesitated, "Can we go somewhere ... else?"
"Oh!" I mouthed, my eyes widening. "One of those talks? Not a problem. I was just ... doodling." I gathered up my papers and shoved them into my backpack.
"Right," Lanie chuckled. "Just doodling. Is that the frame you want to put under your car?"
I sighed heavily. "Yeah. I got the specs on-line, so I know how much room I have to work, and it's turning out to be a real bitch. I've got all the room I could dream of up front, but the rear is really tight if I want independent rear suspension. I don't know what I'm going to do for springs."
"Well," Lanie said thoughtfully, "if you're not married to an independent suspension, you could just swap out the rear axle. Mah Daddy did a job for a guy with a fifty-six that needed a better diff, and that's how we tackled it. It's a bolt-on swap."
I shook my head. "Nah. Independent suspension should make it handle a lot better, especially with what I'm planning for the front suspension." I stood and smoothed down my dress, which had ridden up a little. "Lead on, oh great one."
Lanie scowled at me, or at least tried, but she couldn't hold it and ended up chuckling. "Ah see it doesn't matter how many times Ah ask you not to do that, because you seem to get a kick out of teasin' me!"
I chuckled. "Moi? At least I'm not walking in front of you scattering flower petals for your feet and demanding that all bow as the Gadgeteer Goddess passes!"
Lanie slapped my arm playfully. "If you ever do that, Ah _will_ get back at you!" she chuckled. As we walked, she gave me a peculiar glance; I was getting that a lot because whenever I could, I wore my buckskin dresses and I always wore my In'oka paint. We walked toward the vehicle lab down in the tunnels beneath Kane Hall.
"Ah hear you had an interesting birthday surprise after Ah left," she said out of the blue. She glanced and saw my cheeks flushing, which caused her to chuckle. "So there _is_ some kind of story there! So ... are you and Rosalyn ...?"
I needed to change the topic of conversation. "How about we drop it, okay?" It was going to take a bit for my beet-red cheeks to fade back to their normal ruddy color.
"You're just piquing mah curiosity," Lanie chuckled. We got into the elevator, and if I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that she was checking me out from the way she kept glancing at me. "Ah _will_ eventually find out what happened, so you might as well tell me now."
**********
Outside Crystal Hall, Late Morning
"There goes that Lakota bitch!" Darren grumbled bitterly as his eyes tracked Kayda walking with Lanie out of the cafeteria.
Quickdraw snorted. "If she's really getting tight with Loophole, it's going to be a lot harder to get rid of her. Loophole _is_ boffing Kodiak, and he's head Alpha."
Darren sighed. "Which one - Heyoka or her?"
Quickdraw glanced after the two girls walking. "It'd be a shame for it to be such a nice looking piece of ass," he said wistfully.
"She's a fucking Lakota cunt!" Darren snarled angrily. "The women are filthy whores!"
"Pretty harsh, dude," Quickdraw said critically.
"So it's her," Darren said with an air of finality, scowling. "And if you help out, you can do whatever the hell you want first."
A grin of pure evil spread across Quickdraw's features. "Works for me."
"But ... we've got to make sure that no matter what happens, there is _no_ alibi. No excuses. None whatsoever!"
"Dude," Quickdraw cautioned, "there are _always_ clues!"
"Xanatos Gambit," Darren said with certainty. "No matter what happens, even if they skirt getting the blame, the alibi has to be so humiliating that they leave in shame or get expelled."
"I don't know about that," Quickdraw mused. "Carson didn't expel the Don or Tansy, so it might be pretty hard to ensure that thorough of a frame-up, and it'd have to be for something so serious that she'd couldn't avoid expelling them."
"So we have to plan very carefully. What would be totally humiliating to be caught in?"
Quickdraw started to reply, but Darren cut him off. "Shhh," Darren said quickly as he spotted a girl walking from the caf who'd pass very close to them. He didn't want to be overheard plotting something like this.
Amber Prentice was staring at the ground, lost in thought, as she walked back toward Dickinson. "Hey, Amber!" The call startled her, and she looked up sharply to see who was talking. "Oh, hi, Speakeasy. Quickdraw."
"Nice day, isn't it?" Darren said conversationally. He noticed how distracted she seemed, and he smiled inwardly. Maybe Mike had contacts inside the new Native American group that could get the straight dope on the two Lakota students. Darren avoided the group because of the two so he didn't have good inside sources. And if Mike knew anything, Darren might be able to leverage the data from Amber. "What's Mike up to these days? We haven't seen him around for a while."
Quickdraw leered at her. "Unless you've been wearing him out so he never has any energy to get out!"
"Fuck you!" Amber snapped at him. "That's none of your business, you ... asshole!"
"Why is Mike taking such an interest in that ... Lakota ... girl?" Darren said, struggling to keep the hatred from his voice. He projected empathy toward Amber, nudging her to feel that Darren was sympathetic and helpful, and that he was someone she could safely talk to about her boyfriend's problems with Native Americans.
Amber glanced around nervously for a moment. "He's been on the phone a lot with some shaman," she admitted, "so I know he's ... up to something."
A little more sympathy and a bit more emotional prodding, and Amber confessed that she thought Mike was getting way too emotionally involved with whatever the shaman wanted, and she was certain it had to do with the Lakota kids. Inwardly, Darren was gleeful about this source of information; it might be _very_ useful to his plans.
After Amber left, convinced that she had a new, supportive friend, Quickdraw and Darren sat back, Darren with a wicked grin on his face.
"What?" Quickdraw asked simply, puzzled by Darren's newfound confidence.
"It's _perfect_!" Darren chortled.
"I'm not following you!"
"They're both avatars, right? Both of them are supposed to have important spirits, right?" He smiled. "We can play the 'jealous spirit' angle. One of them thinks the other isn't respecting the first one's spirit appropriate - and vice versa! Behold - a reason for a bitter rivalry and even a serious feud and fight!"
"I thought you said ..." Quickdraw was puzzled.
"They don't _have_ to actually fight each other - as long as it looks like they did, and one of them ends up really, really messed up! So bad that Carson has to expel the other one." He read the confusion on his friend's face.
"So we want to get rumors going that the two are having a serious feud?" Quickdraw asked, finally catching on. "Is _that_ what you were suggesting to Amber?"
Darren nodded. "Yup. So we spread rumors and fuel speculation that the two hate each other. And I've got some ideas for doing _that_, too!"
"There _is_ the issue of them having an alibi," Quickdraw reminded Darren.
"Yeah. Hmmm - I wonder ....." Darren had a far-off look. "What if the only alibi they could give was so embarrassing that they'd rather be expelled than humiliated?" He grinned wickedly. "Like being in the middle of a love triangle? And if they admit it, they have a jealous lover to deal with, as well as humiliating the other participant?"
Quickdraw nodded, understanding. "And if the little lovers' knot involved a friend, so much the better!" He laughed. "And if it got out, they'd lose a lot of respect among their friends and such."
"Yup. Enough that even if they don't get expelled, or killed or beaten by a jealous friend, or leave from humiliation, they'd lose all their friends and their reputation is totally ruined!"
"Problem, though."
"What?"
"How do we _make_ someone participate in an affair?" Quickdraw asked, frowning. "If it's just a rumor, they could deny it. Might even have an alibi for _that_!"
"Hmmm, you may have a point," Darren replied. "A rumor alone might not be enough. We'd need _proof_. Maybe ... maybe we can find something magic?"
"That rules me out," Quickdraw said in disgust at his apparent impotence to help the plot. He _liked_ violence.
"I'll go do some research," Darren said. "There _has_ to be something. Meanwhile, Amber said that the girl has a rival in the Native American group, right? Wind Runner? I think we need to go have a little chat with her, and see if I can't _persuade_ her to help with some nasty rumors!"
**********
Vehicle Lab, Beneath Kane Hall;
Afternoon
In the lab, we walked past a number of stalls with project cars, including Lanie's own Mustang, her "Baby Girl", and the newest project car of Mr. Donner, the Ford 730. To my surprise, Lanie took out a key and opened Mr. Donner's office door, flipping on the lights as she went inside. She must have read my astonishment. "As long as Ah don't abuse the privilege, Mr. Donner lets me use his office."
I sat down in one chair, half-facing Lanie as she sat in another. "So what's so hush-hush?"
Lanie winced, hesitating. "Putting it bluntly," she blurted out, "what's it like to have a spirit in you?"
I felt Ptesanwi manifest in me, and then we touched Lanie on the forehead, drawing her with us into our dream space. We sat by the fire and Wakan Tanka made _us_ brew and serve tea. We talked about having spirits and Wakan Tanka explained that some spirits are _in_ a person, and some are _with_ a person - like she was with me, but Ptesanwi was in me.
Lanie winced nervously. "Ma'am," she said politely and formally, "Ah'm a bit nervous about havin' a spirit inside me."
Wakan Tanka nodded. "Too powerful a spirit can control a person, or harm them physically."
"That's what Ah'm afraid of." She glanced nervously at the tea cup. "Ah'm afraid that Grizzly will be in contro, and that Ah'll be lost. That's why Ah wanted to talk to Kayda, to understand what it's like to have a spirit in you."
Wakan Tanka smiled pleasantly. "You are wise to be cautious. But with spirits, there are precautions one can take, and one can make a binding pact with the spirit."
"Ah ... Ah'm not an avatar!" Lanie protested. "How can Ah host a spirit?"
"There were shamans _long_ before there were avatars," Wakan Tanka explained. "There are rituals that will stretch a hallow to make room for a spirit. If Grizzly can't help you prepare, Wihakayda can bring you here and we will perform the ritual if you desire."
With those words, we snapped back to the real world. Lanie shook her head. "Ah don't think Ah'll ever get used to that!"
"So you have questions," I said plainly. "Ask away, and I'll answer as best as I can."
Lanie looked nervous as we talked; I explained that yes, Tatanka _did_ know both Grizzly and Kodiak. And then I explained what it was like to have Ptesanwi and Tatanka in me, how they'd helped me, including protecting me from The Don and Tansy's mind-fuck attempt. And then she asked me if I'd do it again, if I had the choice.
Funny thing was that I hadn't really thought of that question. It was so natural to have my spirits with me that I barely noticed them. They were friends, companions, always protecting me.
Lanie's next question shocked me - could I push the spirits out? It took me a few seconds to get my jaw working again. "I don't know," I replied. "And I don't _want_ to know. They're ... part of me. If I lost them, it'd be a hole in my very life. And yes, if I had to do it over, I'd do it in a heartbeat."
Lanie seemed satisfied with my answers, so she turned her attention to my drawings. "Is that a four-wheel-drive setup?" she asked as she scanned the drawings.
I nodded. "I figured that I could make a variable power-split four-wheel-drive system based on a design I did for one of dad's tractors. It's based on a variation of a Torsen differential."
Lanie's eyebrows rose. "Really? Ah'd like to see that." She got another mischievous grin. "And Ah really want to hear about what happened on your birthday."
I blushed furiously, giving her yet another hint that there was a story behind the hot tub party goings-on after she'd left. But I wasn't going to tell her. No matter how much she asked. I had a sudden thought that popped into my head. If she kissed me again like she had at the party, I'd probably sing like a stool-pigeon. That made me blush again, which elicited another chuckle from my redheaded friend.
**********
Simulation Briefing Room, afternoon
Gunny Bardue looked around the room, shaking his head. "I'm giving up my weekend - for this?" he scowled.
I glanced around and resisted the temptation to chuckle. We were a rather motley-looking group; seven Native American students from the Nations - myself, Mule, Stonebear, Pristine, Flux, Lupine, and Thunderbird. Mule, Stonebear, and Thunderbird looked like they knew what they were doing but the rest of us were wide-eyed and innocent about the workings of the holo-simulators.
"Mr. Lodgeman said that we _could_ use the simulators because ...."
Gunny glared at me. "Yes, I know. You're a sanctioned school group. But ... this?" He turned his attention to Mule. "Are you in charge of this little ... war party?" he growled.
"Yes, sir!" Mule replied back enthusiastically.
"You four -" he was looking at me, Pristine, Flux, and Lupine, "the first twenty minutes will give you a chance to get the feel of the sim suits. Then we'll proceed to your little ... adventure. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!" everyone echoed in chorus; every single person had experienced Gunny Bardue, or knew someone who had.
"Have you read the simulator instruction manual?" he demanded.
The four of us nodded weakly; Gunny was just too intimidating to appear confident in front of. He read confidence as arrogance and bored in to make sure the person wasn't getting cocky.
"Go to your sim suites," he ordered. We all rose; I was tempted to snap off a salute, but I resisted because I knew that would get me in a world of trouble.
"What's this world coming to?" I heard Gunny talking to Samantha Everhart as we followed Mule to the individual sim suites.
The four of us newbies were in borrowed sim suits, and the three vets helped us get seated and plugged in. It was a little disconcerting when the helmet closed over my eyes and left me in pitch blackness, but as I'd been hunting in dream space on moonless nights, I didn't feel too claustrophobic.
"Going active in five," Gunny's voice called over the headset built into my helmet.
I silently counted down, and suddenly I was attired in buckskin, like the other six around me, weapons at our belts, a warm prairie breeze in our hair. I glanced around, feeling positively delighted at the sensations and realism of the simulator. I felt alive, free. I tilted my head back and let out a war cry, and two of my comrades joined in. The ululating, primal scream rolled over the hills.
***********
Control Room, Arena 99 Simulators
Gunny Bardue was still shaking his head. "What the hell is that supposed to be, some kind of war cry?"
The sim technician shrugged; he knew what kind of moods Gunny could get into. "I don't know."
Gunny looked at the monitor which showed the scene inside the sim. "Okay, they want a war party and war cries? Let's give it to them." With a malicious grin, he began to set parameters of the simulation.
**********
Sunday, April 29, 2007, Dinnertime
The Quad
"Hey, Wind Runner!" Darren called when he spotted the Navajo girl. As he fully expected, she was on her way to dinner with a few of her friends, and it wasn't a random encounter; he'd been waiting unobtrusively for her to appear at the door of her cottage.
Doli Peshkali turned at the sound of her code name, looking around warily to find who was calling to her. She spotted Darren quickly. "Oh, it's you." Her tone left it clear that Darren wasn't one of her favorite people.
"How are things with the group?" Darren asked conversantly. He _knew_ the answer; he had to use it as a hook for the conversation and what he planned to do. "I've been meaning to come to a meeting, but I keep getting behind in homework."
Wind Runner's face clouded. "It's okay," she mumbled in an angry tone, "I guess."
"You ... guess?" Darren sounded surprised, even though he wasn't. He had a source or two for information. "Problems?" Darren asked. "You had it running so well." A little psychic pressure to go along with his flattery and fake concern, and she opened like a budding flower. And as she gave vent to her emotions about "that usurper bitch", Darren gave her a little psychic nudge here and there to reinforce her dislike of the girl. And he asked - again seeming innocent - about how the two Lakota kids got along, influencing her to see problems that weren't really there.
He left her at the cafeteria to join his own little clique, knowing that she was now putty in her hands, another tool to spread disinformation about Kayda, and more importantly, about growing friction between the two Lakota kids with competing, mutually-antagonistic spirits.
Things were going just like he wanted. Except for one little problem to solve, he knew the campus would soon be rid of the filth that infested it.
Sunday, April 29, 2007, Early afternoon
Debriefing Room, Arena 99 Simulators
I didn't know whether to scream in anger or cry in frustration as we marched to the debriefing room. Mule had an unreadable expression on his face, while Thunderbird and Stonebear looked a little disappointed. Lupine, Flux, and Pristine, though, looked like I felt, which is to say lousy. We sat down, with Mule and Stonebear sitting toward the front of the room. I just slumped into a chair, wondering how the hell the three guys could be so nonchalant after the debacle of a sim.
Gunny walked in, and Mule practically broke his own spine snapping to a very attentive position in his chair. Stonebear, Thunderbird, and Pristine, too, sat up a bit straighter, attentive to Gunny. I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to slouch in my chair, a subconscious protest against Gunny and what he'd done to screw up our introductory simulation.
"That was one of the biggest fuckups I've seen in these simulators this term!" Gunny spat, looking thoroughly disgusted. He spun to Mule. "What happened?"
Mule winced. "We were surprised by overwhelming numbers outside the enemy's camp. Somehow, we lost the element of surprise."
"You were the team leader, correct?" Gunny demanded. "So why the hell weren't you leading? Where was your recon? What was your plan?" He didn't give Mule a chance to respond. "It was a simple stealth mission - reconnoiter, sneak in, liberate a few horses, and make a fast retreat. And you guys couldn't even do that?"
"This was _supposed_ to be an easy exercise to practice," I snapped at Gunny, thoroughly pissed. "Most of us haven't used the simulators before. But then someone fucked with the scenario." My glare was most unpleasant and my words put the blame for the fiasco directly on Gunny.
Admiral Everheart stepped forward. "And precisely _when_, Pejuta," she countered sternly, "does combat go as planned? When do you get to pick and choose how many enemies and what their strengths and weaknesses are?" While she had me flinching, she continued. "That snake-demon you fought twice didn't play by some nice set of rules, did he?" She looked around. "With one exception," she glared at me momentarily, "all of you have had combat finals, and several of you have been in simulations. And even the exception," she was looking at me, "has had numerous combat experiences. You all should have known better."
"My shaman magic wasn't working," I complained.
"What happens when your magic and your spirits fail in a real fight?" Gunny barked at me. "Do you expect to call 'time out'' while you recharge your magic or find your spirits?"
"You have to learn to fight even when your powers fail you," the admiral noted dispassionately. "I _assume_ that Ito is still teaching that concept, right?"
Gunny's eyes bored into me. "This simulation was your idea, right? Why did you put Mule in charge?"
I squirmed uncomfortably. "Because he's got the most team leadership and simulation experience through ROTC," I replied hesitantly.
"And what's his ethnic background?"
"Um, part Seminole?" I sensed that Gunny was about to jump on me about something.
"And you were raiding where?"
"Crow Indians, on the plains.
"How similar are the swamps and forests of Florida to the fucking Great Plains?" Gunny demanded. I felt my eyes widen in surprise. "Who knows the cultural aspects and lore of the setting best?" he demanded.
"Um, me," I squeaked nervously. "And Lupine," I added.
"Then why the hell weren't one of _you_ two in charge?" Gunny demanded. "Or at least acting like a strong deputy? You were asking Mule to lead in an unfamiliar situation, while _two_ of your team members had knowledge of the setting and situation!" He paced back and forth a couple of times, a deep-seated scowl on his face. "Okay, Mule, you were in charge. What went wrong?"
"We walked into a trap." He glanced sideways at me. "When our shaman's magic didn't work, we didn't get a good read on the enemy. About the time we reached the horses, one of the sentry dogs barked and the enemy attacked us from behind."
"That wasn't a dog barking," the admiral retorted, stern-faced. "It was a signal from a warrior to attack you guys. Don't you know that Native Americans use animal sounds as signals when stealth is required?" I felt like sinking through my chair and the floor. It was an important detail I'd overlooked. To be fair, so had Mule and Lupine.
We put up with Gunny's yelling and Admiral Everheart's stern correction for another twenty minutes, and then we were ordered back into the simulators for another try. This time, we knew that the two of them were going to be out for us, and that the 'introductory' simulation wasn't going to be a cake walk.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Damn, that was fun!" Stonebear grinned enthusiastically. In the second simulation, he'd single-handedly dispatched twelve Crow Indians.
I nodded, having mixed feelings about the day. While the first simulation had been a total cluster-fuck, the second had been better, but still not what I'd expected. "That was a great idea, Lupine, to use your wolf form to scout for us."
"If we're going to do this often," Mule interjected, "we'll need to develop an adequate signaling method. Hand signals at night are almost useless, and talking would give us away instantly." He sighed. "Moonless nights would give us the most cover, but they'd also make signaling nearly impossible."
The rest of us nodded. That had been our single biggest weakness in the second sim run. "At least you, Pristine, and Flux got away with a dozen horses," I observed.
"Yeah. But the losses were too high," Stonebear said with a shrug. He glanced at me. "If I'd have gotten that one enemy, you wouldn't have gotten hit from behind."
I nodded, disgusted with myself. "I wouldn't have been hit if I could have read the sky and earth spirits."
"Even then," Lupine noted, "you took out a lot of the enemy."
I hung my head a bit, feeling embarrassed. I'd had a panic attack when one of the enemy warriors had grabbed me, going into what was essentially a berserker rage. I wasn't sure, but in the close-quartered, frenzied, dark battlefield, it might have been _my_ tomahawks that had dispatched Lupine. I really didn't remember a lot of the action. And then there was a sharp pain to my neck, followed by the simulator going dark.
I'd never had claustrophobia before, but with sudden, total darkness while in the midst of a full-fledged panic attack, it had taken Admiral Everheart almost twenty minutes to get me calmed down. I'd missed a lot of the debrief, and I was still quite rattled when I _did_ finally get to the briefing room.
But Stonebear was right. "Yeah, we have a few things to work on." I noticed that Lupine and Pristine gave me sideways glances at that comment. "But it _was_ fun." Lupine raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Well, mostly," I added quickly. "Although I could do without writing essays analyzing the sims."
Mule chuckled. "It comes with the territory. If we want to play in the simulators, we follow _their_ rules - including brutal post-sim debriefs and essays."
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday, April 29, 2007, afternoon
Whateley Academy, Remote Tunnels
Hekate's Master watched Amber, permitting himself a smile of anticipation as she came toward him. He was starting to see a way that the pathetic, amateur plots of those idiots Speakeasy and Quickdraw could be made to work to fit _his_ goals. That Lakota girl had the potential to cause him serious problems. Well, not so much her, but those two spirits of hers - especially the powerful one she channeled. Easier to get rid of her than to try to deal with yet another unknown. And better still to have unknowing stooges do the dirty work.
"What new can you tell me?" he asked Amber as they ducked through a door into a relatively isolated room.
"Speakeasy and Quickdraw are getting rid of the two of them," she reported diligently.
"Interesting. Tell me more." The evil magic-user was pleasantly surprised that they were already at the step that he thought he'd have to nudge them toward. These two - Darren Haskins with his irrational racial bigotry and Eddie Rutherford with his borderline pathological love of violence - were perfect puppets.
"Speakeasy is working on a plan so that even if the attacker wiggles out of blame and isn't expelled, they'll be so humiliated at the alibi that they'll leave, or get run out in shame. In any case, they'll both be neutralized."
"How?"
"The idea is to use a lust spell on one of them - the one they'll frame as the attacker - so they can't help but get into the middle of a very nasty love triangle. Darren plans to record it for evidence if he needs it," Amber explained, sounding more than a little robotic. It was a side effect of the mythos magic on the charm he had given the girl, not that he cared. "It'll either add to their humiliation, or can be used by the administration to expel them for blatantly violating the rules about carnal contact."
The plot unfurled in the wicked one's mind in a heartbeat. "So - they don't have a good out. And if the target of the affair is chosen correctly, there will be a very jealous third - who might do some serious violence!" His mental gears spun as he silently assessed the options and sub-options, narrowing down to a plan that was most favorable for him. "I can make this rid me of _two_ of my problems!"
He turned back to the girl. "Meet me here tonight, and I'll give you something to plant and instructions _where_ to put it. And I'll tell you _exactly_ what you need to tell Speakeasy. Of course, you'll forget you talked to me. Now go." He effectively dismissed her as he crossed to an old desk and unlocked the roll-top. He had plans to make.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday, April 29, 2007, after dinner
Poe Cottage
I met Lanie in the lobby, giving her a quick hug. "Are you sure about this?" I asked hesitantly. _I_ wasn't sure, and I wasn't the one who'd be on the receiving end of the rituals.
Lanie tried to nod confidently, but I could see her trepidation. "Ah'm ... Ah'm pretty sure," she said, her voice quavering a little bit. "Ah ... need to do this," she added, her voice more firm. "You know why."
I nodded slowly, knowing only too well why Lanie felt that she had to go through with the rituals. "Okay. Let's go up to my room. We'll need somewhere peaceful and quiet."
"Poe Cottage? Peaceful?" Lanie chuckled, although her laughter sounded a little forced.
"Evvie," I said to my roommate when the two of us walked into my room, "I need the room for a bit."
Evvie looked at me and cocked an eyebrow. "You two are making a habit out of needing privacy in here. Is there something I should know about?" Her voice had a mischievous, playful tone, despite the innuendo in her comment.
I scowled at her. "You know Lanie and I are just friends. We need someplace quiet for doing some magic."
Evvie laughed aloud. "Yeah, and I saw the 'magic' between the two of you at the hot-tub party the other night!" I grabbed my pillow and launched it at her. "Okay, okay! I'm going!" she said, grabbing a book and scampering out of the room. "I hope you have a 'magical' time," she chuckled just before closing the door behind her.
Lanie put her hand on my shoulder. "Ah hope you aren't embarrassed by all the teasin'."
I turned from the door toward her and I gulped when I looked up into her soft, green eyes. "Um, no," I stammered, looking away quickly. "Not really." I hastily opened my medicine pouch and began to arrange the contents so I wasn't looking at her enchanting eyes. Why, I asked myself as I set out my stuff, why did Lanie seem to hold such power over me? What was it about her that was so captivating? A shudder went up and down my back, and I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
"Ready?" I asked as we sat cross-legged on the floor. I couldn't help but notice the valley of cleavage under her low-necked knit shirt, the fabric pulled tightly across her generous mounds. I could mentally picture, from the hot-tub party, her delicious curves, the nice flat stomach and narrow waist flaring into her wide, curvy, luscious hips. With her knees spread as she sat, I could almost picture .... Once more, I shook my head to clear those unwanted, intrusive thoughts. Why was I nearly obsessing over Lanie? I had Debra! And I'd had Debra, and she'd had me - many times! Thinking of that pushed thoughts of Lanie from my mind and I was able to focus once more.
"I'm going to be going back and forth between here and dream-space," I cautioned her. "So don't be surprised if I zone out for a moment or two. I've got to have my spirit teach me the spell and guide me through it. But I won't draw you into my dream space. I have to do the spell in our real world."
"You can't do it in your dream world?"
I winced. "A spell like that - in dream space - can cause ... complications."
Lanie's eyes narrowed. "What sort of complications?"
No matter how embarrassing, I knew I had to tell her. "A significant spell in dream space can create ... a bond ... between the shaman and the patient," I said softly.
"Ah see. Like a Vulcan mind meld?" she asked.
I gave a half chuckle. "That's exactly the way I described it to Debra."
Lanie's eyes widened, and then she nodded knowingly. "So you and Debra ...."
"She was badly injured in a fight. Her regen wasn't working because of the nature of the injury, so I had to use shaman magic to do some very major healing spells on her. We weren't ... ready."
"Ah see. So you're sort of bound to her?" She nodded in understanding. "And if we did this ritual in your dream world, Ah might be psychically bound to you, too?" I nodded affirmation of her guess. "Well, that might not be so bad," she mused with a grin, "if Debra liked redheads and the two of you were into three-ways!"
It took a second for me to pick my jaw off the floor, and then I realized, from the twinkle in her eyes, that she was teasing me. "You .... you're bad!" I said, playfully slapping her arm.
Lanie grinned at me. "No, I'm _good_! And you just want to find out _how_ good I can be!"
I blushed, trying to ignore her joke that she knew would embarrass me, and I slipped quickly into my dream space to consult my mentor.
"Are you certain your friend is willing to undergo the ritual?" Wakan Tanka asked as we walked through a cool mountain meadow.
"Yes." I glanced at her. "Why the change?"
"Paha Sapa has powerful magic. We must use some of that magic in the ritual," she explained. "First, brew some tea, and both of you must drink from the same cup. This will attune you to her spirit and hallow so that you can perform the ritual."
"Wait," I halted suddenly. "Won't that bond me to her?"
"No," Wakan Tanka assured me. "The first part of the ritual will protect you two from being permanently attuned to the other."
I brewed the tea and then we both drank of the cup. Lanie eyed me cautiously; no doubt she was concerned about this mystical bond I'd warned her of and was wondering if the tea was going to foster such a bond.
"As we go through the ritual, you're going to be in sort-of a trance," I warned her. "You're going to feel a little bit of ... tugging, and stretching, as your hallow expands," I explained, "but Wakan Tanka assures me that it won't hurt. Now, take off your clothes and lie down."
Lanie's eyebrows lifted again. "Y'all better not take advantage of me while I'm lyin' here helpless and naked and in a trance!" she warned, but then a grin crept over her face. "'Cause if you _do_ take advantage of me, Ah want to be awake to enjoy it!"
I couldn't help but chuckle. "If I can't control myself, I'll be sure to wake you up," I assured her with a giggle.
Guided by Wakan Tanka, with many short trips to my dream space, I mixed a sweet-smelling brew, feeling my magic infuse the concoction. Lying in a trance, naked, Lanie looked innocent and sweet and so delectable that it was difficult at times to concentrate. But I managed - constantly chiding myself for allowing myself to be distracted. I had Debra. I didn't need another girlfriend - or a fling. And I valued Lanie's friendship.
Chanting as Wakan Tanka directed me, I painted some sacred symbols all over her body as I invoked the magic. Her body convulsed in a great spasm as I finished the spell and felt the magic rush from within me into her. I watched her nervously for a few minutes as her body twitched and her expression reflected a small amount of discomfort. Eventually, though, peace returned to her face, and her body lay motionless.
I was just touching her forehead and incanting when the door opened. "Hope I'm not interrupting, because ... eeep!"
I spun around, startled, to see Evvie standing in the doorway, her eyes wide as saucers as she beheld the sight before her. "Um, it's not what it looks like!" I protested instantly and frantically.
"Oh?" Evvie asked. "Just what _is_ it?"
"I'm ... doing a special ritual for Lanie," I explained hastily.
"Uh, huh!" Evvie snorted. "If _that's_ what you want to call it ...."
"Honest!" I protested. Evvie and the girls had seen the way Lanie and I were making eyes at each other at the hot-tub party, the way she'd practically enchanted me, the passion with which she'd kissed me. No doubt rumors were going to be flying. I turned to Lanie and incanted as I touched the markings I'd painted onto her forehead.
Lanie's eyes fluttered and she gasped for a moment. She tried to sit up but winced and clutched her head lightly. "Whoa!" she said.
"How are you feeling?" I asked, concerned and ignoring Evvie's stare.
Lanie frowned and then nodded. "Ah'm okay, Ah think." She winced slightly. "Ah've got the strangest headache, though."
"Oh?"
"You know how most headaches feel like your head is in a vise, being squeezed? Well, this feels like mah head is being pulled apart a bit, being stretched. And Ah feel some of that in mah chest, too."
Evvie frowned. "You really _were_ doing a ritual!"
"Yeah," I replied.
"Dammit. That spoils one hell of a piece of juicy gossip!" She chuckled and walked to her desk beside Lanie who I was helping up from the floor. "Although, I could still tell the girls that I came in and Lanie was lying naked on the floor with you hovering over her!" She read the expression on Lanie's face. "Just kidding!" she said quickly.
"Good," Lanie replied, smiling. The pain must have been gone for her to smile like that. "Because you remember what happened to Tansy when Ah put mah mind to dealin' with her, don't you?" When Evvie goggled at that little comment, Lanie grinned. "Ah'm just kiddin', too," she chuckled as she began to pull on her clothes, but then she realized she had sticky-sweet herbal markings painted all over her from the ritual.
I knew what she was thinking. "Here," I handed her my robe. "You can go take a quick shower to clean all that off." After she put on the robe, I handed her my shower caddy as she walked out the door. "Don't get too distracted by the showers," I called after her.
Evvie flopped onto her bed. "You _know_ someone is going to see her showering with _your_ robe, don't you? The rumors _are_ going to fly fast and furious!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday, April 29, 2007 - evening
Near the Grove
"That's a very interestin' set of showers y'all have in Poe," Lanie observed as we squished through the mud on what had become a well-worn path due to the service for Aunghadhail. A nearly-constant rain all day had saturated the ground and made it soggy. "It's almost enough to persuade a girl to move _into_ the nuthouse!"
I chuckled. She'd returned from the shower looking quite blissful; no doubt as a gadgeteer she'd found a compelling need to experiment with the non-standard plumbing.
"Yeah, it's only on our floor and it's a secret, too, so you can't tell anyone," I cautioned her.
"Ah've kept the secret of Poe," Lanie said with a smile. "Ah think Ah can keep the secret of the Freshman girls' plumbin' fixtures. Although Ah might have to check them out from time to time to make sure they're workin' right!" After walking a little ways more, Lanie sighed. "Ah hope Ah'm doing the right thing."
I paused, grasping her shoulder so she turned to face me. "This is _your_ call. I'm only going to do this if you're one hundred percent sure."
Lanie nodded to me. "It’s the only way Ah can be sure. Ah want to be with him. Ah have to know it's what Ah want, not that meddlesome bear spirit messin' with mah mind!"
I nodded, and we continued to chat as we walked. She'd broached the subject of being with Wyatt, and why she felt the need to continue being with him, which made me extremely uncomfortable, but Lanie was very supportive, hugging me when she saw I needed a hug.
After a pause, Lanie chuckled. "Are you going to tell me about you and Rosalyn?" She smiled as I felt my cheeks burning. "Ah guess the White Buffalo Calf Woman has been picking Blackroses! Watch out for thorns!"
I swatted her arm playfully. "Stop! You're assuming that my understanding with Rosalyn is physical." For a brief moment, I thought of Rosalyn and the heartbroken, fragile expression on her face as we'd talked in Mrs. Horton's apartment. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her; how much of her self-confidence and assertive manner was really her, and how much was a facade compensating for past hurt?
Elaine regaled me with the tale of her first time with Wyatt - which though it made me nervous, was still amusing. They'd gotten into a serious fight in an arena - her in her armor - because she had to know that he'd respect her. She'd gotten a black eye out of the deal - and some serious passion. And she was still worried that she was just a whore for him, that he didn't respect her? After fighting him to a draw? I adamantly assured her that if she fought him to make sure he respected her, she didn't have anything to worry about on that front.
When we got to the Grove, Lanie rubbed her shoulder briefly like it stung or tingled - in the spot where the night before, in Melville, the Kodiak had marked her. It was supposed to be something that gave all the students in the league protection and succor from the Grove. I hadn't been marked, not that Kodiak didn't try, but Wakan Tanka made me manifest Ptesanwi and assert - very strongly - that we were marked by Wakan Tanka and could never, ever bear the mark of another. The Grove knew us, and we knew it. It would protect us. When Ptesanwi de-manifested, I was on the receiving end of a _lot_ of very puzzled looks.
Tatanka joined us as we approached the spot that bore the charred remains of Aunghadhail's funeral pyre, and Grizzly, in her primal bear form and skyclad, waited for us in the center of the clearing. We manifested Ptesanwi again.
"We are here to ask you to bear witness to a contract under the Seal of Solomon, blessed by the Great Spirit, between Elaine Ethel Nalley, daughter of the Emerald Isles, and Grizzly, the Spirit of the Shaman, Medicine Woman, Pipe Holder of the Council of Spirits."
"It is good that the spirits once more walk among the children of men," the Oak tree rumbled to me before he turned to Lanie. "Come forth, Pict Daughter."
A gentle breeze blew, and I felt magic coursing through the Grove, and suddenly Lanie was clothed in the Pict garb she'd worn in my dream space. Strangely, her clothing - the Georgia Tech jacket, shirt, and pants, were stacked neatly behind her.
The tree spirits looked skeptically at Lanie. "You are far from your homeland."
"Ah'm from these lands as much as Kayda," she said defiantly, before reaching down took up a handful of soil. "This is the dirt of mah homeland and Ah don't need a Tribal Card to be Native American. Ah came from this," she said, gesturing to her clothing, then turned and pointed at her jeans and Georgia Tech jacket. "That is who Ah am."
"Well spoken," rumbled Oak. "Now, tell us what you and this good spirit shall contract for."
Grizzly stepped forward and stood by Lanie. I will protect this girls mind. I will share my strength and my skill with her and teach her how to control the fire within her and I pledge that never again will another human have power over her.
"Ah will be a hallow for this spirit," Lanie said, her voice trembling with uncertainty but her eyes burning with determination to complete the ceremony. "Through me will she walk the earth once more. Ah will share mah life with her and protect her from any who would entrap her spirit, steal her power, or enslave her by magic or charm. Through me shall she have voice for teaching the people once more."
I swear that never again will you be a prisoner in your own body, Grizzly proclaimed. Nor will you come to harm that is in my power to prevent.
"Is the contract satisfactory?" asked Troll.
A shudder passed through Elaine. "Ah am satisfied."
I am satisfied.
"Grizzly," intoned Oak. "Tell your host your True Name."
The huge bear spirit sat on her haunches, leaned forward, and whispered something to Elaine. I knew it was Grizzly's True Name, the name which could give a person huge power over the spirit and which was carefully protected. I, of course, knew the true names of my spirits Tatanka and Ptesanwi, although I didn't know - and didn't _want_ to know - the true name of Wakan Tanka. I wasn't sure that I could handle such knowledge.
"Ptesanwi," instructed Willow. "Bind the spirit to her host."
We took a vine-like leaf and a branch from Willow and went back to Lanie and Grizzly. "Elaine, Grizzly, we have witnessed your contract and we are glad to have a closer binding with the Spirits of the Land and the children of men." We wrapped the vine around Elaine's left hand and Grizzly's right paw, tying them together. "In the name of Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, we bless the binding of these two spirits into the hallow of Elaine Nalley."
Elaine's eyes widened as she saw that the branch wasn't really a branch, but a massive, needle-sharp thorn as thick as a thumb. Before she could chicken out, we continued the ceremony - knowing what was to come. "We see the birth of a new being, and birth means pain, but in that pain and trial life enters the world. Here a new life enters, and by the laws of the Creator and the Contract of Solomon, life is blood. You are tied together," we said, lifting the thorn. "Now, you are born."
We plunged the thorn down, through the paw and the hand, completing the ritual. Grizzly roared in pain, and then vanished, while Elaine cried in pain. She stared at her hand, and then she convulsed, her eyes widening before they rolled over to the whites and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
We stood, looking, confused. This wasn't the way of a spirit-binding, at least not what Wakan Tanka had told me!
"Something is wrong with the binding," the Oak tree said in concern. "Ptesanwi, you must get help for the girl."
Suddenly, Ptesanwi vanished, and I felt the spirits fading in strength as they left. I lifted Lanie, cradling her tall, inert body, and ran out of the Grove as fast as I could, thankful that I had _some_ Exemplar strength so that I _could_ carry her, even though it was tricky to balance her. I'd done the ritual, and something had gone wrong. My friend was hurt now because I'd messed up. Tears were pouring down my cheeks as I ran.
A beeping sound behind me finally caught my attention. I turned, half-blinded by lights of the golf cart which rolled up beside me. Mrs. Carson leaped out before it was stopped, grabbling Lanie from my arms, suddenly in her Lady Astarte outfit. Without waiting, she flew off toward Doyle Medical Center, cradling the stricken girl.
"Get in, Kayda." I recognized Ms. Grimes stern voice. Numbly, still crying at what I'd done to my friend, I staggered into the golf cart.
"Ms. Grimes, I …."
"Not. A. Word." She said very sternly through clenched jaw. "Not. One. Single. Word."
I shrank down in the chair, realizing at that moment that Ms. Grimes and probably Mrs. Carson were _extremely_ pissed at me. I'd fucked up royally. I was in very deep trouble, and that was to say nothing of the harm I'd caused my friend. I started to tear up and then to openly cry.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007. 1 am
Schuster Hall.
I sat numbly, barely aware of the student who seemed to always be doing clerical work in the office. Two security guards in full kit flanked me as the minutes turned to hours and we waited. Ms. Grimes had been furious when she dropped me off, so angry, in fact, that words failed her. She just turned me over to the two guards to 'escort' me into the waiting area outside the headmistress' office.
The longer I waited, the more I worried about Lanie, and the more helpless I felt because if something bad happened to her, it was _all_ my fault. Tears continued to flow freely.
Mrs. Carson barged through the outer door, scowling angrily, and stormed to her office. "Bring her in," she barked to the guards. I winced; she was so angry that she wasn't speaking to me.
The two guards took my elbows, none too gently, and hoisted me to my feet. Still holding me as if I was some fugitive who'd flee if they let go, they led me into Mrs. Carson's office. At her nod, they let go and departed, pulling the door shut behind them.
Mrs. Carson faced away from me, her fingers working furiously on the keyboard of her computer. I waited for her to direct me to sit or something but so far she wasn't even acknowledging my presence. Presently, she turned around slowly.
A couple of days earlier, I'd seen a motherly, caring side of Mrs. Carson. Now, though that image was gone; instead, she looked like an avenging angel and I was the target of her wrath. She glowered at me, taking two or three deep breaths. "Tell me why the hell I shouldn't turn you over to the DPA _right now_?" she demanded.
I started to tremble with fright. "I ... I was just ...." I couldn't get words to come out the way I wanted them to. "Lanie ... asked me ...."
"Do you have _any_ idea of what you've done?" Mrs. Carson interrupted me.
"Lanie was afraid ... after Kodiak mind-raped her ..." I stammered.
"And _that_ gives you the right to use untried, untested magic to bind her to a spirit?"
"It's ..... Wakan Tanka said it was a normal spell for shamans," I said through trembling lips, not even trying to dry the torrent of drops on my cheeks.
"But you're not a shaman, are you?" she countered angrily. "You might have bound her to a malevolent spirit," she continued, "or to a spirit that's too powerful. Did you think of that?"
"But ... but we _met_ the spirit!" I protested weakly. "Kodiak introduced us to her!"
"The same Kodiak that messed with her mind last year?" My jaw dropped as the implications of Mrs. Carson's question hit me. "You know _nothing_ about the spirit world! Spirits are every bit as deceitful, double-dealing, backstabbing, manipulative, and conniving as humans. Worse, in fact," she added, "because they have access to things in the spirit world that can literally melt a person's mind!" She glared at me for a few seconds while her words sank in. "_That's_ what you exposed Elaine to!"
I started to bawl, realizing that if I'd thought it was bad before, it was much, much worse.
Mrs. Carson showed not the slightest bit of sympathy for my distress. "The _only_ thing the doctors can tell me right now is that Elaine is stable physically. She's _no longer_ in danger of dying. But her mental activity is ... even Louis can't get a clear understanding of what's happening inside Elaine's head." She watched me goggle at that news. "If a spirit is too large for a hallow, an avatar can be crippled mentally. Or killed. Or possessed. _That_ is what you may have done to Elaine. Didn't they cover that in your avatars class?"
She let _that_ bit sink in so I'd realize just how serious a threat my rituals were to Lanie. Lanie might die. She might be crippled so badly that she'd just as well be. I might have caused her brain damage, or been tricked into binding an evil spirit to her. And it was my fault!
"When you're not in class, eating, or doing work-study," Mrs. Carson snapped, "you're confined to your room. If - and that's a huge if right now - _if_ Elaine isn't harmed, you're in line for the mother of all detentions. If she is ...."
I realized as she sat in her chair glaring at me and taking slow, angry breaths, that I was about to be expelled. And if anything happened to Lanie, I was going to be turned over to the DPA for prosecution. Or the MCO. My trembling increased until I was shaking like a leaf. Slowly, the room started spinning, fear clutching at my throat, my chest so tight that I felt like I couldn't breathe. My vision tunneled, the periphery becoming gray and then black, and then things went completely dark.
* * * * * * * * * *
I turned around, trying to get my bearings; it was a hallway in one of the buildings but I didn't recognize which hallway in which building. I didn't know how I got there. The last I remembered ... was Mrs. Carson's office. As I turned once more, I saw Lanie in the hallway, and with my heart skipping a beat with relief and happiness, I dashed up to her. "Lanie!" I cried out in greeting.
She turned to me, and though she had her normal smile, there was a haunted look that flashed in her eyes before they turned blood red. As I watched in horror, her body stretched, growing an extra set of arms, while her skin turned crimson and her fingers morphed into razor-sharp claws. Her lower jaw moved forward hideously, and long, vicious fangs sprouted upward outside her upper lip. Taxed beyond their limits by the large and growing demonic form, her clothes gave up and ripped, falling away from her body in tatters.
A girl near her screamed, and the Lanie creature turned instantly, her long arm slashing claws across the girl and disemboweling her in one swipe. Another screamed, and the tail that had sprouted from her rear poked out like a spear, impaling the second girl. She turned to me, a vicious grin on her face, and began to stalk toward me. I backed up hastily, away from the abomination that had been my friend, but she had me pinned in a hallway corner with nowhere to run. "You!" she hissed in a guttural, hideous voice. "You did this to me!" She sounded quite insane and enraged.
Panic rising in my throat, I tried to cast a shield spell, but a slash of her claws, the tips crackling with energy, tore the shield apart. "You're mine, bitch!" the Lanie creature hissed. I looked down as the thing slid its sharp claws under my dress, and my clothing parted as if cut by razors, leaving me naked before it. One wickedly-clawed hand reached down toward my waist while I felt hard, sharp claws against one of my breasts.
Its eyes - the once sparkling green eyes - were full of hatred and ... lust! I finally managed to croak out a scream for help as it pressed against me.
* * * * * * * * * *
I woke up dripping with sweat, panting for breath, and trembling uncontrollably. At least I thought I was awake, struggling mentally to put the pieces together. I'd been in Mrs. Carson's office after doing a ritual with Lanie and .... and had _that_ been real? Or was that part of the nightmare I'd just awakened from? Or another, different nightmare? Was I even awake? Dreams and reality were blurred to me, and I felt panic rising, the same helpless, all-consuming panic of my PTSD.
Was this another dream - or nightmare? Where was I? The room was dark, and I was on a bed. Was it my cottage? How had I gotten there? Shaking, I lay back down, curled in a little ball and clutching my knees tightly to my chest, shaking with terror.
* * * * * * * * * *
Mrs. Carson came into my Avatars classroom, looking sternly around the room, her gaze settling on me. "Kayda, come with me," she ordered, turning without waiting and storming down the hall. Looking around nervously, I ran to catch up to her. Was this another dream? Everything seemed so perfect that it _couldn't_ be a dream! Could it?
"Where are we going?" I asked, but she said nothing. The answer slowly became clear as we strode, me half running to keep up with her very aggressive pace, toward Doyle. We entered the facility and Mrs. Carson led me down the hall toward one of the magic-enhanced recovery rooms. She stopped and pointed at the door. "Go in. She's awake."
I looked at her in puzzlement, and then pushed through the door.
Lanie lay on the hospital bed, turned away from me, a breakfast table in front of her.
"Lanie?" I asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
Slowly, the redhead turned toward me, responding to the sound of my voice. Her head flopped over uncontrollably, and her vacant eyes, devoid of the sparkle of life, devoid of recognition, devoid of _intelligence_, stared almost unseeing toward me, toward the noise. Drool ran down her face from the corner of her mouth. "No!" I screamed in shock, backing away in horror from what I saw, at what _I_ had done to my friend.
The doors crashed opened, and I spun in surprise. Wyatt stormed through, grim-faced and scowling. "_You_!" he snarled in fury. "You did this to her!"
"She was my friend!" Ayla barked at me as he came through the door behind Wyatt and advanced menacingly toward me.
"She was a wonderful roommate!" Lifeline bawled as she entered the room. "My best friend!"
"Lanie was the best gadgeteer ever! A great mechanic. And _you_ did this to her!" Mr. Donner growled at me.
"It's _your_ fault!" Zenith cried to me, her face a mixture of rage and sadness.
One after another, more people came through the door, all blaming me, all angry and threatening, pressing in on me from all sides. I backed against a wall, but there was no way to go. They reached for me, clawing at me with fury burning in their eyes, hatred for what I'd done to Lanie, their murderous intent only too clear.
* * * * * * * * * *
My eyes snapped open, and without moving because of my sheer terror, I lay where I was, crying and shaking. Slowly, I realized there was a slightly flashing red glow. I turned, seeing a large red LED clock counting slowly upward, blinking slightly with each second. I shuddered with relief; that was the 'gift' from Rosalyn, and I was in my cottage, with Evvie breathing softly across the room from me. I still didn't have any clue as to how I got there, though. Or was I dreaming that I was in my room? If it was real, I wasn't going to allow myself to go back to sleep for fear of yet another nightmare. But was I awake? Or was I dreaming that I was awake? I was so exhausted that the line between reality and dreams and nightmares was completely gone.
My pillow was wet from my tears and sweat. But even though I felt exhausted, I was terrified of going back to that land of horror, the realm of nightmares, if I'd indeed ever left it. And I couldn't focus enough to go to my dream space. If it was possible to move from a dream or nightmare into dream-space.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007, morning
Poe Cottage
The alarm startled me, and it took longer than normal for me to shut it off. Evvie groaned and rolled over. "Shut that thing off!" she growled.
I flinched from the unhappiness in her voice, even though I long-since knew she was a bit of a bear when she woke up. "Sorry," I muttered.
Evvie swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stretching and yawning as she tried to awaken herself. She looked at me, still lying on my side. "Kayda?" she asked, suddenly concerned. "Are you okay?"
I just stared blankly, not really feeling like doing anything.
"Holy crap!" she exclaimed. "You look awful! Didn't you get any sleep last night?"
I shook my head a little bit.
"Were you having nightmares last night?" she asked. "Is that why your screaming woke me up three or four times?" She sighed. "What time did you get home anyway?"
I shook my head. "I don't know," I admitted. "How ... did I get here?"
"You don't remember?" Evvie asked in disbelief. "What _do_ you remember?"
"I ... think ... I was in Mrs. Carson's office," I explained softly. "She ... didn't get back from Doyle until around one. And ... when she was yelling and screaming and threatening me, I ... I must have passed out."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Evvie interrupted. "Mrs. Carson? Yelling? One in the morning? Kayda, what's going on?"
Tears flowed anew. "I ... I was trying to help Lanie," I bawled. "She asked me to help her with some rituals, so I did, and ... and now she's in Doyle ... in a coma ... and it's all my fault, and Mrs. Carson is furious, and I'm going to be expelled and turned over to the MCO for what I did, and Lanie isn't going to be okay because I was so stupid ..." I broke down bawling again.
Evvie got Chou to help her drag me to the bathroom because I really didn't feel like getting up. When they shoved me into a shower, I just stood, tired and anguished about Lanie. The girls started to complain about me hogging one of the stalls, but I didn't care. I wasn't the one who'd crawled into it in the first place.
Fey looked up from shaving her legs, and her jaw dropped at my appearance, and probably also at the feelings I was throwing off since she was an empath. "Kayda?" she asked, "are you okay?" When I didn't reply, she did a little magic, and the water swirled around me, scrubbing me with the magic-manipulated spray. Evvie opened the door long enough to squirt some shampoo on my head, and then Fey's spray continued to scrub the lather into my hair and over my body. A repeat with conditioner, and then Evvie shut off the water and Fey did a magic thing and the water dropped off my body, leaving me dry.
Verdant was giving me a dirty look as I climbed out of the shower, but her anger changed to surprise when I glanced at her apologetically.
I managed to get dressed - somehow - and then the girls took me to Crystal Hall for breakfast. Evvie, Naomi, and Laurie took over and got me food and led me to our table, but I just sat, staring unseeing at the plate. I finally had a bite of eggs and a nibble of toast when the girls threatened to feed me like a baby. Despite their entreaties, I couldn't tell them why I felt the way I did; the nightmares were too fresh.
After breakfast, Angel drew the short-straw to escort me to my first class. She was trying hard to be conversant. "Did you hear the news?"
"What news?" I asked unenthusiastically.
"Some big to-do in the Grove last night. Lady Astarte and Ms. Grimes were all up in arms about ...." She stopped, her mouth ajar, staring at me. "You?" she finally asked, astonished.
I nodded, hanging my head in shame. "Yeah."
"What happened?" It was natural that she'd be curious.
I shook my head, sighing. "Lanie wanted me to do a ritual so she could get a protective spirit. Only something went really, really wrong. And now she's in Doyle in a coma," I continued, fighting tears, "and Mrs. Carson and Ms. Grimes are hyper-pissed at me."
"Accidents happen," Angel tried to be reassuring.
"I hurt Lanie," I cried, not fighting the tears. "And Mrs. Carson is going to kick me out of school."
Angel was so stunned that she couldn't reply. The last fifteen yards to Schuster were walked in silence, which suited my mood perfectly.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007
Dr. Bellows' Office
"I understand you've had a pretty rough time of things since yesterday afternoon," Dr. Bellows began casually. I'd been pulled out of Avatars class and sent to counseling, which suited me just fine. It kept me out of dealing with Lanie's friends an angry faculty.
"Not as bad as Lanie," I muttered. My eyes were watering again as I thought of her lying helpless in Doyle - all because of me.
"I read the report," he said. "What happened wasn't your fault," he countered, having obviously read the emotions I was projecting.
"_I_ cast the spells," I said bitterly, my voice full of self-recrimination. "_I_ did the rituals. I put a spirit in her that's hurt her."
"Please tell me _everything_ that happened," Dr. Bellows asked. "In your own words."
I looked up at him blankly, and then lowered my gaze. Slowly, painfully, I recounted the events of the day, from the ritual to expand her hallow to the binding ritual, and the angry dealings with Ms. Grimes and Mrs. Carson.
"I see. And that's your fault why?"
"I did the ritual! I'm the one who screwed up!" I protested.
"In your mind," Dr. Bellows countered. "From what you said, Lanie asked you to do the rituals. Ms. Grimes ..."
That stirred up another memory. "Please don't make me go to Ms. Grimes class!" I begged them, horrified at the thought of facing her again after her fury the night before.
"Why not?" Dr. Bellows asked.
"She ... she was really mad at me last night," I muttered. "She's probably going to flunk me for .., what I did." I looked down, shaking my head. "I ... can't face her. I'm ... I'm afraid of her."
"I'll write a note excusing you from classes today and tomorrow. And tomorrow, we'll talk to see if we need to extend that. We'll talk as long as we need to."
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007, before lunch
Beck Library
Amber Prentice's smile seemed a little off as she acknowledged other students coming and going to the library. Without thinking, she walked to the computer catalog, sat down, and did a search. After finding the entry she was looking for, she gracefully rose and walked to that set of shelves, and scanning the books, found a particular volume. Pulling it down, she opened it to a specific page, and extracting a paper from her purse, that looked to be at least a hundred years old, yellowed and crisp, she inserted the document into the book, reshelved the book, and strode purposefully out of the library.
For a moment, she seemed to stagger, and then she looked around, a little puzzled. A moment later, having shrugged off her sense that something was off, she walked toward Crystal Hall where she'd join her boyfriend for dinner. And if he wasn't there, she could always dine with her friends from Dickinson.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007, Dinnertime
Crystal Hall
Megs and Selkie practically dragged me to Crystal Hall instead of letting me sit in my room sulking. When we walked in, it seemed to my overactive imagination that conversations halted, that a strange, eerie silence descended over the cafeteria as everyone stared accusingly at me. Very self-consciously, I got a little food - everything seemed totally unappetizing for some reason - and then checked out, feeling like everyone was staring at me the whole time - and most of them angry glares.
My friends were already gathered at our usual table, and quite unusually, Ayla, Addy, and Alicia were with them. And so was Fey. And Bugs. I glanced around, and saw that Mindbird and Stormwolf were watching me cautiously.
Tears started flowing again; it was my nightmare all over again, but in real life. I cast a ghost-walking spell and scooted away from all the accusing faces, ducking behind the waterfall to where there was a small out-of-the-way nook with a less-than-desirable table. Mindbird and Stormwolf immediately swooped in to where I'd been, and then they walked past, looking around for me. I sighed. Great. The security auxiliaries were double-teaming to babysit me.
I frantically called to my furry white friend. "Tatanka," I urged him, almost begging, "I need you to block any psychic probes."
"As you wish, Wihakayda," he said dutifully. "But you should know that I cannot block the emotions and feelings that you send. Only those that come to your mind."
I frowned, angry. "I need to block all, so that Mindbird can't hear my thoughts and emotions."
"Then you should discuss that with Wakan Tanka, and learn a spell to do what I cannot."
Mindbird and Stormwolf came past me again, and I could see from Dale's expression that she could feel my emotions and what thoughts I was radiating, but since her sense wasn't directional, she obviously didn't know where the thoughts were emanating from. Every time the doors opened, their eyes focused immediately that way, suspecting - accurately - that I would use my ghost-walking to flee the caf. When they looked my way, I forced myself to look down, away from them, in case she might pick up a surge in fear and correlate it with the direction she was looking and find me that way.
Once they had passed again, I picked unenthusiastically at my food without any kind of appetite, tears falling invisibly onto my tray as I felt disgusted with myself for having hurt Elaine so badly because I'd been so stupid. I might have managed to eat two or three small bites of meatloaf before I couldn't eat any more; I was sick to my stomach thinking about what I might have accidentally done to Lanie.
When I was sure I wasn't going to eat more, I carried my tray to the conveyer, passing near our usual table and noticing that while Alicia and Addy were still there, eating with my friends, Ayla and Fey weren't - probably having gone to their usual table on the third floor. I sighed with relief; I knew that Fey could find me even if I was ghost-walking. Once I'd dropped off my tray and dirty dishes, I waited by the door until another student was departing, and then I followed her out the door.
Glancing over my shoulder nervously because Mindbird was following me, I bumped into someone - hard enough to knock her into an oak tree behind her. I spun, and found myself face-to-face with Tansy, who, to my utter and complete horror, grabbed ahold of me.
Mindbird was coming out the doors, and Tansy had ahold of me. I felt a panic attack coming on; I wanted - no, I _needed_ - to get away!
And then Tansy pushed me behind herself, between her and the tree, leaning back slightly to keep me pinned in place.
"Solange!" Mindbird shouted. "Have you seen Kayda? She's under a protective custody order and she ran away."
In my mind, I could feel Mindbird projecting telepathically, searching for me; I thought that type of use of telepathy was against the Code of Psychic Ethics. She had to be desperate to find me if she was risking detention for using her powers that way. I commanded Tatanka to shield me from her probes, while I tried hard not to project thoughts or emotions - a task I wasn't in the slightest trained for.
"No," Tansy said, confusing me. "I haven't seen anyone out here but you." Why would she protect me? What was her game? Was she planning to call in the favor later - maybe with the Don?
"She's invisible," snapped Mindbird.
"Then I couldn't _possibly_ have seen her, could I?" Tansy seemed to be enjoying playing games with Mindbird.
"Thanks for nothing!" Mindbird snapped as she stomped off toward Poe, probably reasoning that I'd run back to my room - a very logical inference on her part. It was where I _would_ have been going if I hadn't run into Tansy.
Tansy stepped away, freeing me, turning around. "It's okay," she said, her voice strangely sympathetic. That was _not_ the Tansy I'd experienced and heard about. She looked - and sounded - like her entire world had been turned upside down.
Warily, I dropped my ghost spell, feeling relief at not being caught by Mindbird rush over me like a wave, and I staggered against the tree. Damn, I was so tired I could barely stand!
Tansy recoiled at the sight of me. I figured I looked pretty bad. "Why ... why did you do that? Hide me from Mindbird?"
Tansy glanced at the figure of Mindbird, now far away and moving rapidly toward Poe. "Don't flatter yourself; I don't like Dale, and I like messing with those fools." She caught herself, her eyes widening as she seemed to consider the words she'd spoken. Her entire demeanor shifted visibly. "I ... I don't know," she muttered after a moment, shoving her hands awkwardly into her pockets and looking away from me. "I don't know. You ... you needed some help, so ...," she shrugged, "so I helped." She looked down, scratching at the ground with her foot. "I ... I guess I owe you at least that much for keeping those three little pests out of my hair at lunch lately." She looked back toward Mindbird, and then at me. "What do they want you for?"
I looked down, feeling like a condemned prisoner who managed a momentary escape but knows the law would catch up very soon. "They're going to expel me," I said softly. She gasped in surprise at my words. "I ... hurt Lanie."
"Who?"
I should have known that a Dickinson girl wouldn't know Elaine's nickname from the hot-tub and Poe girls. "Loophole. I ... I bound a spirit to her, and now ... she's in Doyle in a coma, and it's ... it's my fault." Having to admit it - again - renewed my misty-eyed feeling.
Tansy looked quite startled, putting her hands on her hips? "What? You dragged that red-headed bitch off somewhere and did a ritual on her?"
"No," I cried, literally, since my eyes were leaking tears. "It was an accident!" I looked down again, "Lanie was afraid that Kodiak was playing with her mind again, and she wanted a spirit to protect her, and she asked me, and .... and I ...." Grief and guilt smacked me hard again. "Oh, God, what have I done?" I wailed, tears pouring down my cheeks.
For some reason, and completely out of character for her, Tansy wrapped me in a hug, like she was trying to comfort me. It felt awkward; I guessed that Tansy had given and received precious few comforting hugs in her life. "It's pretty well known that I don't like Loophole - not at all - but I ... I can tell the truth when I hear it." She paused a moment, obviously trying to figure out what to say. "I can tell you didn't mean her any harm, and Carson won't expel you for that."
"What?" I asked, pulling away from her hug, puzzled at the confidence in her voice. "How would _you_ know?"
Tansy looked away from me, fidgeting a little. "Because what I've done is worse. Hundreds of times worse," she admitted very softly. Was that a hint of remorse that I detected in her voice? "And I'm still here." She shook her head. "It takes a lot ... for Carson to give up on someone."
"But ... she said she was going to expel me and turn me over to the MCO!" I protested
"And she's mad, like she usually is. But that doesn't mean that she's going to expel you. You didn't hurt Loophole on purpose." She looked down, wincing, and her voice softened. "Unlike some of us."
I said nothing, staring in disbelief at the girl who'd helped me unexpectedly. Was _she_ having some type of emotional crisis, too?
"I ... I've realized," she began, pausing to bite her lip, "that I'm not who I thought I was. I'm ... a monster." She put her hand on my shoulder, and she flinched. I wondered suddenly if she was a touch-telepath. If so, I had a lot of reason to be concerned.
"I hope you never know what it feels like," she whispered softly. "I ... I don't know how I'm ever going to make up for even a tiny fraction of what I've done," she added. Was that a glint of moisture in the corner of her eye?
"You better get going before she doubles back," she advised me suddenly, forcing a smile.
"If ...." I began hesitantly, catching her hand, "if Mrs. Carson hasn't given up on us, maybe ... we shouldn't give up on ourselves? Is that what you're saying?"
Tansy gave a half chuckle. "Loophole is lucky to have a friend like you." She got a far-off, reflective look in her eyes. "I ... I wasn't as wise making friends."
I studied Tansy's expression for a bit; she was going through some _serious_ self-reflection for some reason. I wondered _what_ could have rocked her world so badly that she was acting like a completely different person. "You can always make friends," I said softly - mostly for her sake. In truth, I wasn't convinced of that. I'd made a friend - and now she was in a coma. Being friends with me was hazardous. Look what it had gotten Julie. And now Loophole. The sadness which had faded somewhat returned with a vengeance. "If ... if you ever want to talk ..." I offered, an automatic habit of good manners my parents had tried to instill in me. "Or have tea ...."
Tansy nodded slightly. "I'll ... keep that in mind."
I turned to walk to Poe, pausing to glance over my shoulder. Was this another dream, another pocket of unreality in my mind? Tansy - helping me, and then being nice? Shaking my head softly, I headed over toward Doyle. No doubt Wyatt would still be there, but I could at least ask a duty nurse how she was doing without having to face him. That thought terrified me. Hopefully the nurse would be able to say that Lanie was improving. If not, I didn't know how I'd handle bad news. Every step closer to Doyle seemed harder to take. And yet ... I had to know.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007, after dinner
Whateley Quad
The two boys sat outside the caf in one of the little walled sitting areas, watching as students meandered back and forth along the campus walkways. Presently, a trio of girls came walking by, and when one of the boys waved at the pair, one of the girls spoke a few words to her friends, excusing herself, and she walked to the two sitting boys.
"What's new?" Eddie greeted the girl.
"Not much," she replied with a shrug. "Classes, tests, quizzes. Normal stuff."
"Anything interesting going on?" Darren asked conversationally. "Mike isn't off trying something ... rash, is he?"
"Nah," Amber replied easily as she sat down. "Just his normal rambling about his magic class." She sighed. "I wish he'd pay as much attention to me as he does to that stupid spell book."
"You _will_ let me know if he tries something ... stupid," Darren replied, giving her a slight psychic, emotionally-supportive nudge. "So we can help keep him from getting in trouble, you know."
"Yeah," Amber replied, a look of gratitude on her features at his concern. "He was thinking about it last night when I was helping him study for a magic class test - you know, asking him questions from the book? And he got a really funny look on his face when I quizzed him on the section dealing with compulsion spells. I think he was hoping to put a spell on that girl and compel her to drop out of school." Her tone was as unconcerned as if she'd been discussing the weather. "But I _think_ I convinced him to drop the idea."
"There are spells for that?" Eddie blurted out before Darren could stop him.
"Yeah. He even checked out a book from the library, but I stopped him, because some of those spells are associated with demons and stuff."
Darren shot Eddie a quick look, and then he put his 'compassionate, concerned friend' face. "You _know_ we'll do everything we can to help out. All you have to do is ask."
Twenty minutes later, Darren and Eddie were in Beck, searching for a book based on the hints that Amber had been able to give them - a word or two and topic for the book Mike had supposedly checked out.
Eddie grabbed at a book. "Psst, Darren!" he hissed. "This might be it!" He flipped open the book and was thumbing through the table of contents.
Darren took the book from him. "Let me see!" With the other looking over his shoulder, he began looking, and the more he looked, the wider his eyes got. "Look at this! Influencing others. Suggestions. Compulsion. Emotional manipulation! Wow!" he exclaimed softly. "I can see why Mike was looking at this!" He tucked the book under his arm. "I think we found what we need here. This book looks like a 'how to' book for what we need."
"What's that? You're not thinking ...."
"Shhh!" Darren hissed. "Let's check out." With Eddie hot on his heels, Darren took the book to the checkout counter, and shortly after, had it in his hands as they walked back to their cottage.
"That anime girl working there freaks me out!" Eddie said as they walked. "Did you see the look she was giving us when she was checking the book out?"
"Who cares about some blue-haired chick!" Darren replied sharply. "This book is our _answer_!"
"So how are we going to get essence to make the spell? I'm not a mage, and neither are you!" Eddie asked nervously.
"I've got a plan," Darren chortled. "We'll let someone else do our dirty work!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007; evening
Northwest Territory, Canada
The land was still covered in ice and snow; spring and summer came late to the northern latitudes. Still, Tikaani didn't complain. His ancestors had lived for countless generations with the ice and the snow and the cold, and he could as well. He stood on the rear of the dogsled, guiding the animals across the sea ice back toward the tundra to their south.
"Did I do okay today, father?" Tikaani's son asked from the front of the sled.
Tikaani smiled, glancing at the seal carcass loading down the sled. "Yes, my son," he said. "You're learning to be a fine hunter." There was a note of pride in Tikaani's voice; though his son was still young, he had done much of the work in hunting the seal. "We will eat well tonight, I think."
An unnatural roar interrupted the shaman's thoughts of the day's hunt. The sound came from all around him, and with trembling in his heart, his eyes darted around nervously. The dogs pulling the sled were startled and their leads fouled, causing them to stop and the sled behind them to slide to a halt.
"What is it father?" the boy in the sled asked, looking around?
Tikaani got out his charms and quickly incanted a spell as he ran to the front to untangle the dogs. The roar sounded again, and he redoubled his efforts, glancing occasionally and nervously to the west, toward the source of the noise. He saw his son starting to get out of the sled to help. "No!" Tikaani cried to the boy. "Stay there!" At last the dogs were untangled, and Tikaani dashed back to the sled.
Tikaani screamed for the dogs to run; with a jerk, the team took off, obeying their master dutifully, and with his son watching him, wide-eyed, he sat down on the ice and closed his eyes. "Father!" the boy screamed from the sled as it sped off, watching as Tikaani prepared to do battle as only a shaman could.
He turned, scanning the horizon, looking for trouble, and he started when he beheld the the northern lights decorating the sky, blood-red wisps of glowing lines snaking through the sky, casting an eerie red glow over the icy, forbidding dream-world landscape that matched his real world.
A noise sounded to his left, and he turned, watching in dread certainty as something unnatural and unholy climbed over a huge jumble of ice, a small ridge of shattered sea ice that had been pushed and piled up in the same way that colliding continental plates formed mountains, only the sea and ice had made this high ridge in a season instead of thousands of millennia.
Tikaani looked at the thing as it surmounted the ridge. It was a large furry beast, easily five times the height and seven times as broad as a man, covered in brown and white mottled, shaggy fur, although it wasn’t clear how much of the white was natural color and how much was ice and snow frozen to the matted fur. The creature's mouth was cavernous, full of sharp, dagger-like teeth, with four huge, scimitar-like fangs jutting angrily upward and downward from both jaws. The creature spotted the sled, and it tilted back its head and roared its spine-tingling, other-worldly scream.
"Kigatilik!" Tikaani swore to himself as he pulled out another charm. In a few milliseconds, he considered many options, none of which were good. Gritting his teeth, he snatched a long, vicious harpoon from his side and turned toward the demon.
Tikaani gritted his teeth. He _knew_ of Kigatilik; as a boy, he'd learned the tales of his people, the Inuit, and of the various monsters and demons. And none was more feared by the shamans than Kigatilik, the shaman-hunter.
Trembling with fear, Tikaani fingered his charms once more, invoking protective magic and he hefted his weapon. The demon looked at him warily, surveying the scene, and then, without warning, it charged.
In the distance, the boy in the speeding sled screamed as he felt a hollowness form in his heart. In that instant, he knew that his father was no more.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, morning
Poe Cottage
"Hey, sleepyhead!" Evvie shook me as she called out rather loudly. "Get up. You're going to be late for breakfast and classes again."
I curled up tighter in my little ball. "I'm not hungry," I muttered, barely moving. Was this yet another nightmare? Was I awake? Was I really in my bed, being awakened by my roommate? Or was it another of the unending stream of nightmares?
Evvie turned me over, and she flinched when she saw me. "Holy shit!" she swore. "You look like death warmed over!"
"I ... didn't sleep well last night."
"No kidding," Evvie snorted. "Your screams woke me up at least three times - again. Nightmares?"
I nodded mutely, terrified of those awful nocturnal visions, quite thoroughly rattled by the nightmares with their awful things that I'd caused to Lanie.
"Come on," Evvie said, grabbing my arm. "Get up." She pulled me to the edge of the bed and to a sitting position, and then tried to get me to stand. As soon as she let go of my arms, I collapsed back onto my bed.
The next thing I knew, Mrs. Horton was sitting on the bed, hugging me. "Kayda, everything is going to be okay."
"No, it's not!" I bawled. "Lanie's in the hospital and no-one knows how she's doing, and it's all my fault." I didn't even try to wipe the tears from my face. "Mrs. Carson is going to turn me over to the MCO because of what I did if Lanie's not okay!"
"Shhh," Mrs. Horton said, stroking my hair gently. "No, she's not."
"She said she was going to!"
"She _ never_ says something like that! You probably misinterpreted what she said to get you to realize that you've done something that wasn't smart."
"But ... Lanie's hurt, and it's my fault!"
"Let's get you cleaned up and get you some breakfast," Mrs. Horton said. "Then you can stop by Doyle and see that Lanie is okay." She released the hug. "How much have you slept the past two nights?"
I thought a moment and sighed. "I ... don't know. Maybe a little."
"You're obviously exhausted. I'm going to call in an excuse from classes for today, and then I'll get
someone to get you over for some breakfast."
As she left the room, I collapsed back into a fetal ball on the bed.
Moments later, two girls returned with her. "Get her showered and dressed, please," Mrs. Horton directed, "and then get her over to the cafeteria for some breakfast. She had a pretty rough night last night."
Two girls sat on the bed and swung my legs over the edge, pulling me up beside them. I looked up into the face of Rosalyn on the one side, and then I saw Zenith on the other. I flinched away from Zenith, with a dread certainty that she was going to hate me when she learned what I'd done to her friend. She reached an arm to put around me, and I recoiled even further, right into Rosalyn's arms.
Mrs. Horton was watching. "Rosalyn, can you handle this?" She must have nodded, because Mrs. Horton then called, "Zoe, come with me please."
After Mrs. Horton and Zoe left, Rosalyn tugged me to my feet. "Get your jammies off," she directed. I gawked at her, so she continued in a no-nonsense way, "You've got to take a shower. You're stinky and sweaty."
Exhausted, robotically, aided by Blackrose, I pulled off my clothes and then put on my robe. Rosalyn held me by the elbow to guide me and to keep me from stumbling or falling because I was so exhausted. I climbed in the shower after Rosalynn turned the water on, and I promptly let my back slide down the wall until I was sitting on the floor, miserable, afraid, tired, and not caring that the water fell from the shower head onto me.
"Come on," Rosalyn said to me over the sound of running water, "get up and get yourself washed."
"It doesn't matter," I muttered dejectedly. "I ruined Lanie's life, and I'm going to get kicked out." I didn't even look up; all I could see was the water swirling down the drain, much like my life was, and like Lanie's - because I'd been so stupid and had hurt my friend so badly.
One could easily imagine how startled I was when the door opened and Rosalyn, having doffed her clothes, climbed into the shower, and sat down beside me. "Kayda," she said gently, "Mrs. Horton told me what happened. It's not your fault."
"Yes, it is," I protested, not even fighting the tears. "I ruined her life!
"From what Mrs. Horton was told, Lanie _asked_ you to help her. She _asked_ you to do those rituals. You didn't force her."
"But ... Mrs. Carson is right! I was _stupid_, and now Lanie's paying for my mistake. She ... should have just kicked me out last night."
Rosalyn put her hands on my cheeks and turned my head toward her. "Listen to me, Kayda. You. Did. Nothing. To. Lanie! From what I've heard, she _asked_ you to do that. If there's blame, it's _her_ impulsiveness, not yours!"
I wanted to believe her. I really, really wanted to know for certain that it wasn't my fault, but somehow, I couldn't convince myself of that. Rosalyn pulled my head onto her shoulder and hugged me, softly reassuring me that it wasn't my fault.
Inside the tepee, I lay on the buffalo skin on my side, curled up, my back to the entrance. Wakan Tanka sat beside me, a faint flickering orange glow illuminating the side of her facing the tiny fire in the center of the tepee. "A shaman cannot blame himself for the errors of others."
"It's my fault," I sobbed. "I hurt her."
"You made sure she wanted to proceed. It was her decision, not yours. You forced nothing on her."
"I messed up the ritual," I grumbled, "and she got hurt."
"Unless a shaman acts without permission, the shaman cannot hold himself at fault for what others ask the shaman to do," she repeated.
"If all I do is hurt people," I said, shaking my head sadly, "then I don't want to be a shaman. I'd be better off without that responsibility."
"Would Debra be better off if you weren't a shaman?" Wakan Tanka asked sternly and bluntly. "Or your mother?"
I started to say something, but no words came out. Was my mentor right? I had to consider that she was, but also, there was the thought that she was trying to get me to absolve myself of responsibility that I rightfully bore. I didn't know what to say or think.
After a while, Rosalyn rose and pulled me to my feet. I was too exhausted and emotionally numb to protest much, but I still did nothing, so she started to wash me.
Over the rushing water, I heard Verdant's squeal of surprise; no doubt she was shocked to see me in the shower with Rosalyn, and then I heard the door clunk shut as she hastened out of the bathroom. Rosalyn chuckled. "You know the rumors are going to fly."
"Big fucking deal," I moped without a vestige of emotion in my voice. "It doesn't matter."
"Are you going to finish washing yourself, or am I going to have to wash you like a little baby?" Rosalyn asked. I couldn't tell if her voice was scolding or suggestive. Still I did nothing, so she continued washing me - and none too gently. Even that sent me deeper into a funk, because if Rosalyn wasn't taking advantage of the situation to flirt or make sexual advances, I must have pissed _her_ off pretty badly, too.
"Kayda," she said as she began to pat me dry with my towel, "you need to go over to Doyle. Go see Lanie. She's going to be okay."
"But ...."
"Go to Doyle!" Rosalyn repeated more firmly. "You need to see that she's okay, and then you need to go to your counselor so you understand that it's not your fault."
"Mrs. Carson said ... I think she said ... that I can't go anywhere but the caf and classes because I'm under restrictions." That brought a new round of fears and tears. "And she said she's going to turn me over to the MCO if anything happened to Lanie!" I wailed anew.
"You can't worry about that until you know how Elaine is doing," Rosalyn offered. "That's why you need to go over there and see how she's doing for yourself."
Slowly, I calmed down some. As she was helping me brush my hair, I turned to her. "Why?"
She cocked an eyebrow. "Why what?"
"You ... aren't just a ... predator," I muttered. "You really _do_ care!"
Rosalyn shrugged. "If you tell anyone that, I'll deny it."
"No wonder Debra talks about you so fondly. You really _do_ have a soft, caring side."
"Whatever," she said nonchalantly. "Now, get dressed so you can get over to Doyle and see how Lanie's doing." Carrying her clothes, wrapped in my damp towel, she scooted me to my room and then went up so she could dry and get dressed.
Casting a ghost-walking spell because I didn't have the required escort, I tiptoed down the stairs and out of Poe, and then over to Doyle. Something at Doyle's door shattered my spell - which wasn't surprising. Given what happened around this place, the last thing the docs would want would be someone invisible sneaking around their patients.
I walked to a nurse's station. No staff was present, though; I figured they were dealing with an emergency or making morning rounds with the doctors. After finding Elaine's room number on their status board, I crept to the room. Hesitantly, I opened the door a crack to peek in.
She looked unnaturally peaceful, lying flat on her back with the head of her bed tilted up a few degrees. I strode to her bedside, terrified and yet captivated - I _had_ to know that she was alright, but I could tell nothing from the myriad of monitors connected to her tracing some type of vital signs across their displays, over and over.
I looked down on her, and felt my tears flowing yet again. "I'm so sorry, Lanie," I muttered softly, apologizing even though she probably couldn't hear me. "I didn't mean to hurt you!" For a minute or so, I stood beside the bed, crying at what I'd done to her. Then it was time to go before someone saw me, because Doyle was not on the list of approved places Mrs. Carson said I could be when I'd gotten yelled at the night before.
I barely noticed the men's restroom door open as I walked past it. Only when I heard someone call my name did I look up - right into the face of Wyatt. Horrified, certain from his shocked expression that he blamed me, I backed up a few steps hastily, and then spun away from him and dashed down the corridor.
"Kayda!" he yelled after me, "We need to talk!"
I glanced over my shoulder and was horrified to see that he was running after me, chasing me. Panicking, I cast a ghost-walking spell, but it fizzled. Now terrified, I tried to run faster because Cody and I were attracting attention by running in the hospital and from him yelling after me.
He was bigger and faster and he was catching up, but then I heard some woman yelling, "Mister Cody!" I dodged through the doors to the outside and then recast my ghost-walking spell, not even breaking stride.
Any confidence Rosalyn had given me was gone. My friend lay unconscious in a hospital bed because I'd done something stupid. Her boyfriend Wyatt was keeping vigil by her side, and I could tell from his expression that he was grief-stricken about her condition, but also from the fire in his eyes that he blamed me for what had happened. I shuddered, thinking about how angry he was and what he'd do to me. Lanie had told me that Wyatt had been tagged UV his freshman year for nearly killing a kid; no doubt I'd provoked far more anger in him.
I'd caused way too much trouble here, nearly getting my friends killed fighting _my_ enemy! I'd hurt my newest friend. I'd angered her boyfriend. I'd angered Mrs. Carson and my magic instructor, and Security hated me. Weeping, stumbling from exhaustion, I trudged to Poe, my mind made up.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Magically-Enhanced Intensive Care Ward, Doyle Medical Complex
Wyatt Cody
Wyatt nearly tripped as he halted himself to not run over the girl walking past the men's room door. He recognized the girl even as she turned and stared up at him.
"Kayda," he called to her. "We need to talk."
The girl's expression turned instantly to horror, her mouth hanging agape, and she turned, darting down the hallway away from Wyatt.
Wyatt called after her as his feet, acting of their own volition, took off after the girl. "Kayda, wait up!" he yelled. He recognized the look in her eyes; she was absolutely terrified, and to his bear-sense, she reeked of fear. "Kayda!"
A passing nurse stared at the chase through the hospital, barely dodging as the big senior sped past her. "Mister Cody!" she called out after him, but the boy ignored her, focused as he was on the girl fleeing before him.
Wyatt knew from her expression and actions that Kayda feared him. She'd misinterpreted his expression and call to her, and now probably thought he was furious and blamed her. He _had_ to catch her to explain that he _wasn't_ angry at her but that he appreciated her trying to help Lanie.
"Mister Cody!" A large nurse stepped directly in front of him, causing him to halt, "If you're going to run around the hospital yelling and screaming, you will _have to leave_!" Her arms were crossed in determination, and the scowl let him know that she meant what she said.
"But ... Kayda!" he started to protest.
"You. Will. Not. Run. In. This. Hospital!" the nurse repeated firmly.
Wyatt was torn. He _had_ to stay with Lanie. He loved her and was not going to leave her side. But he strongly suspected that Kayda was blaming herself, based on her reaction and her smell! And if she was as fatigued and emotionally distraught as she appeared, she might do something rash. She probably _would_ do something rash. He didn't know what, but he'd guessed from her body language and hints that she'd been through some extreme emotional trauma before. The healer in him knew that he should follow Kayda. Ghost-walking spell or no, his ursine sense of smell could follow her like a bloodhound. Better than a bloodhound because her scent wasn't masked by the invisibility spell.
But Lanie lay helpless in a bed back down the hall. The girl he adored, the one who'd so utterly stolen his heart, needed him by her side. Slowly, he turned back down the hall, still anguishing over Kayda's emotional state. Before he got to Lanie's room, he paused suddenly and went to the nurse's station. "May I use the phone?" he asked. The nurse nodded, and Wyatt picked up the phone handset. From memory, he dialed a number. "Security?" he asked when someone picked up the phone on the other end. "This is Wyatt Cody. I need to warn you of a potential problem. A _big_ problem."
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Whateley Academy, Near the Main Entrance
I glanced around nervously from the side of the main road, my backpack stuffed with a few meager possessions and slung over one shoulder. I didn't really have a plan except for getting away from Whateley and all the misery I was causing. It didn't help that I couldn't get ahold of Debra; I figured she was either sleeping after an all-night vigil with her mother or had silenced or turned off her cell phone in the ICU or hospice where her aunt was.
In retrospect, I wasn't thinking clearly because of my fatigue and grief and guilt, but at the time it was the only thing I could think of. I'd slip out of the gate, using my ghost-walking spell to stay off the sensors and cameras, and once I was a ways away from the academy, I could try calling Debra again - and figure out what I'd do next.
It seemed that security patrols were a little heavier than I'd seen before, but it didn't click as unusual.
"Wihakayda!" Wakan Tanka called sharply to me. I was staring into the fire, not really seeing anything. Around me, the night was dark and the moon was but a silver sliver on the horizon, so the only illumination was the flickering orange glow from the fire. "What are you doing?" she asked insistently.
I didn't look up. "Nothing," I mumbled. Funny, but I'd never felt so tired in dream-space - except for when I'd been attacked and nearly killed in the real world.
"You _must_ renew the protection around your dream space," she urged me. "You didn't do that this morning."
Angrily, I pushed myself out of dream space. I didn't want to listen to her nagging.
"Wihakayda!" She'd yanked me back into dream space. "You cannot leave Whateley without your wards being strong!"
"Listen to her, Wihakayda!" the white bison said sternly.
"Stop, Wihakayda!" Wakan Tanka said in a commanding voice. "Do _not_ leave the campus! Your wards aren't strong enough!"
I pulled myself out of dream space and continued my journey toward the gate. A security man was looking around, pacing back and forth and turning so he could see down the road toward the campus as well as out the gate and down the road both directions.
Whether it was self-confidence or apathy, I assumed he couldn't see me and walked off campus onto the road. Something seemed to hit me hard as I passed the faceless gargoyles, and I staggered, nearly falling.
"Miss!" the guard called sharply.
I turned, panic-stricken. How had he seen me? It took a long time to realize that he didn't have the silver aura.
"Miss," he barked again, trotting toward me, a hand on his firearm. "Halt!"
Instinctively, I invoked another ghost-walking spell, and as an aura surrounded him, he caught himself mid-stride and looked around, surprised. In a lucid moment, I stepped quickly to the side of the road a few yards from where I'd been standing; if he continued walking, he would run into me, betraying my position.
"Control," the guard thumbed a microphone at his shoulder, "I spotted her, but she cast some kind of spell and disappeared again!"
"She probably did her invisible spell. Walk around softly and watch for disturbances - footsteps in gravel or dirt, brush being stepped on or pushed aside. Anything unusual."
"Roger."
"Could you tell which way she was going?"
"She was heading toward Dunwich."
"We'll get a unit out to intercept."
I waited a bit while I listened, not
really caring because I was going to avoid them anyway, and then continued down
the road toward Dunwich, being careful to avoid the random wanderings of the security guard who was hoping to find me by bumping into me. I got about sixty yards when I realizes that there was someone standing in the middle of the road.
I was still ghost-walking, so I figured it wouldn't matter; I'd just go around the person. As I drew closer warily, I saw a boyish-looking girl - or a girlish-looking boy - standing in the road in yoga pants and a white t-shirt, barefoot, with a mop of unkempt hair, and holding a dagger at arms' length, pointed down like a knight pointing his sword down to demand that a foe submit. It was that last bit of the person's look that pissed me off. Like hell!
Annoyed, I stepped around the kid - and bounced off some kind of shield. Frowning, I moved further away, pressing hesitantly, and the shield was still there. It wasn't around the kid; it seemed to be some kind of shield wall he was in the middle of.
"Let me go!" I hissed at the kid. I didn't want to speak so loudly that I alerted the security guard down the road. The kid stood still, his eyes half-shut like he was asleep. "Let me go past you!" I said again, more insistently as I pressed against the shield. It didn't budge, not even a millimeter.
Irrationally, I took a swing at the kid - and my hand bounced off the shield. For a brief moment, I thought about having Tatanka manifest, but the guard would surely see a ton-and-a-half white bison on the road! Instead, I moved to the side again and pressed very hard against the barrier, starting to summon some magic to help me.
The kid moved in front of me again, and as my magic fizzled against the barrier he had, I screamed in anger, "Leave me the fuck alone!"
Pissed, frustrated, exhausted, but still ghost-walking, I sat down on the side of the road and pulled myself into dream space.
"What's going on?" I demanded of Wakan Tanka. "Why can't I go around him? Why won't he or she answer me?"
"Look around you, Wihakayda," she said simply as she poured herself a cup of tea.
I glared at her a moment, and then strode from the village toward the hill. I halted mid-stride when I saw the same kid, in the same clothes, holding is dagger the exact same way, atop the hill. Shocked, I ran toward the hill, away from him, only to discover that the barrier was present in my dream-world as well.
"Let me go!" I screamed at the kid. "You have _no_ right to stop me!"
Wakan Tanka's hand on my shoulder made me nearly jump out of my skin. "You should be grateful that this person is here," she said firmly.
"Why?" I demanded. "I'm trapped!"
"No," she said soothingly - not that I was in a mood to be soothed. "He's protecting you. The world around here is full of very evil and dangerous spirits. Since you let your shield down, you are vulnerable. Without his help, you would have been attacked since you are no longer protected by your school."
"Tatanka!" I screamed for my bison spirit. Immediately, he appeared. "Tear down the barrier! Make him stop."
"No, Wihakayda," he said patiently. "That would put you in more danger."
I sat down in the ditch, dejected, annoyed, even furious. That stupid kid was stopping me. As my rage grew, I manifested Tatanka. "Make him stop."
Tatanka looked at the kid, and then at me. "No, Wihakayda."
Nearly in tears with frustration and guilt, I sat by the road, not knowing what to do, and somehow, not really caring - so long as I got away from this place. Somehow. But right now, I was stymied by this strange boy-girl kid.
I looked up when I heard the sound of a vehicle driving slowly down the road, its tires humming on the road and occasionally crunching gravelly spots. I rose, panicking - it was a Whateley security vehicle. Then my heart leapt into my throat - inside was an unmistakable redhead!
I cried out softly, then rose and ran into the ditch, planning to escape into the woods by the road so I could hide from Fey. Worse, Tatanka was still manifested, and plodding along behind me, a signal beacon to anyone who was looking for me.
Between tears of frustration and exhaustion and grief and self-loathing and a general sense of gloom and doom, I didn't notice the fence until I was almost upon it. I had to stop, and as I started to climb over the fence, two things happened almost at the same time. My ghost-walking spell shattered, and my exhaustion caught up with me. I tripped, falling into the fence and becoming helplessly entangled in the wire strands. I struggled to free myself, but only succeeded in getting badly scratched; I simply didn't have the strength left.
Fey and Lieutenant Forsyth strode purposefully toward me. Overwhelmed, I began to cry aloud. "Go away!" I screamed at them, crying. "Just leave me alone!"
Fey helped me disentangle myself from the wire, and then she led me, crying and protesting, back through the ditch toward the security SUV. She opened the back door and helped me in, and then climbed in beside me, buckling the seat belt around me when I made no move to do so.
"Why don't you just leave me alone?" I wailed over and over. "Just let me go!" Lieutenant Forsyth looked worriedly at Fey, and then put the SUV in gear and turned around, back toward the school. Sometime during all of that, Tatanka demanifested, his job of betraying my presence complete.
* * * * * * * * * *
Monday, April 30, 2007. mid-morning
Kane Hall, Security offices
"What were you trying to do, Kayda?" Chief Delarose asked as he came out of his office to where I sat in a chair, watched over by the desk officer. Whenever I so much as moved, the desk officer scowled at me unhappily.
I didn't look up at him. I didn't need to see another judgmental, harsh, angry expression glaring at me. "Saving everyone the trouble," I muttered despondently.
Chief Delarose started, and then sat down beside me. "What do you mean, saving everyone the trouble?"
"Mrs. Carson is going to kick me out, so I'm just saving her the trouble."
"What do you mean, she's going to kick you out? What's going on here?"
"I ... hurt Lanie," I explained softly, my voice cracking. "Because I was trying to help her but she got hurt, and Mrs. Carson and Ms. Grimes are really, really mad, and Mrs. Carson told me that I was in real trouble, and then said she was going to expel me and turn me over to the MCO if Lanie was injured in any way, and Lanie is in the hospital and no-one can tell how she's doing, and Wyatt's mad at me, and all of her friends are going to blame me and hate me...." I was rambling, nearly incoherently.
Chief Delarose held up his hands to stop me. "Whoa, Kayda," he interrupted. "Wait here a moment," he said, rising and walking into his office. I heard him dialing his phone.
"Liz? Franklin. I've got Kayda in security." It was unusually quiet in the security office, so I could hear his side of the conversation through his open door. I looked up at the desk officer, but dropped my gaze when he glared at me with a look of pure disgust and disapproval.
"She was doing her invisible-walking thing and leaving campus. If the wards hadn't spoiled her spell, we'd have never known she was gone."
"We got a tip from Cody that he was afraid she'd try something desperate, and then Fubar told us where to go find her. Fey helped us find her, and she kept Kayda from using her invisible spell to get away, and that white buffalo of hers was a pretty dead giveaway, too."
"I talked with Mrs. Horton as soon as we picked her up. Bella said the poor kid is exhausted - hasn't slept in days - and she think's Kayda's pretty seriously depressed."
"What's going on Liz? She's convinced that you're going to expel her and turn her over to the MCO."
"No, I haven't read that report yet. It's on my desk, but it's been a busy morning."
"That would explain it." He sighed very heavily. "So what do you want me to do with her?"
"K. I'll get her over there, and we'll institute a full suicide watch again. Do you want me to put her in protective custody?" After a moment, he hung up the phone, and then walked back out, sitting down beside me. "Kayda, I'm going to have an officer take you over to talk to someone." My eyes widened, and he reacted instantly. "No, not Mrs. Carson. She wants you to talk to Dr. Bellows."
I looked at him, fatigued, still processing the snippets I'd heard from his phone call, and fighting despair. "It won't do any fucking good," I muttered after a bit.
"But you will try?" the Chief asked hopefully. He waited until I nodded. "And I need to hold onto your knife for the time being?" he asked. I looked up at his eyes, and seeing his resolve, I unfastened my sheath and set it on the chair. Then two officers walked me over to Dr. Bellows' office.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Dr. Bellows' Office
"How are you feeling today?" Dr. Bellows asked casually as he sat down in his chair.
"Like shit," I grumbled.
"Is it okay if Louis sits in today?" he asked.
"Doesn't make any difference," I replied unenthusiastically.
"You tried to run away from school today. Why?" Dr. Bellows got right to the point.
"I ... tried to see how Lanie is. But no-one will tell me anything. I hurt her really badly."
"We don't know that yet." Dr. Bellows looked up from his notepad.
"I was just saving Mrs. Carson the trouble of expelling me." I looked down. "Because she's right - I deserve it."
The two of them looked evenly at me for several seconds. "Tell me everything that's happened," Mr. Geintz requested.
I began with how Lanie, out of fear of being mind-fucked again, had decided to bond with Grizzly for protection. I explained the rituals, including expanding her hallow and then binding Grizzly's spirit to her, and how she'd screamed and collapsed. As I recounted that, I started crying again. The long hours waiting - with a security guard - until Mrs. Carson came to her office at one in the morning to chew me out, furious and threatening to expel me and turn me over to the MCO. The nightmares, over and over, in which Lanie was _not_ okay, but had been horribly injured or harmed or possessed by an evil spirit. Faint memories of trying to visit Lanie, only to see the rage on Wyatt's face in the hall, of being chased by Wyatt and fleeing.
"So you decided to run away?" Mr. Geintz asked bluntly. I nodded, my face buried in my hands. "Exhausted, emotionally stressed, you decided to leave campus?"
"It'd save Mrs. Carson the trouble of kicking me out," I replied bitterly.
"You're convinced she's going to kick you out, aren't you?" Dr. Bellows asked.
"She's really, really mad at me, not that I don't deserve it, because I do," I replied, looking down at the floor. "The first thing she asked was something like why she should let me stay here. She really yelled at me."
"Did she _say_ she was going to kick you out," Mr. Geintz asked, "or are you perhaps jumping to conclusions?"
I looked up plaintively, not having heard his question. "Why didn't they just leave me alone? Why didn't they let me go?" My eyes were watering again.
"Why are you so concerned about Miss Nalley?" Dr. Bellows asked the obvious.
"She's ... she's my friend!" I replied, a little confused.
"It sounds like a little you two really hit it off," Dr. Bellows commented.
I started at his comment. "Yeah," I agreed. "She's fun, she's really nice, we have a lot of the same interests, like cars and stuff." My voice cracked again. "Was. I hurt her - very badly. Mrs. Carson said it might be an evil spirit, or maybe ... physical harm." I shuddered inside to think that my brilliant friend might have brain damage. "Mrs. Carson and Ms. Grimes are right - it's all my fault."
"Is Elaine ... more than a friend?" Dr. Bellows asked hesitantly.
My eyes popped open, startling me that I had enough energy to open them that vigorously. "No!" I protested quickly.
Dr. Bellows noted my reaction. "I wasn't suggesting anything ... romantic," he replied in a soothing, understanding voice. "But did you consider that she might seem like a sister to you? Or that given the trauma you've faced, that you look on her as a role model, someone to respect and admire and look up to?"
I bolted upright on the sofa to protest, but then slumped back against the cushion. I hadn't considered _that_ angle. _Was_ she a role model for me because she seemed so confident of herself, and also so understanding and caring? I slowly nodded. "Maybe."
"You feel guilty about her condition, even though she explicitly asked for your help?"
I looked down, shaking my head. "It was my magic spell. It's my responsibility. But running away was wrong."
"Oh? Dr. Bellows and Mr. Geintz were surprised at my change of tone.
I nodded somberly. "I need to do what Dad always taught me. I need to go to her office and get it over with, to stand up and take the punishment I have coming." I looked up at Dr. Bellows. "Can you get someone to walk me over to Schuster?"
Dr. Bellows scowled. "So you can go demand to be expelled as punishment?"
"I deserve it, don't I?" I replied bitterly, resigned to my fate, too exhausted to think clearly.
"I'm not going to let you speak to Mrs. Carson again until we've had a lot more time to talk. We're going to spend however long it takes for you to not feel so depressed. We'll see how you're feeling tomorrow to see if you'll need more time off from classes," Dr. Bellows said.
"There's no point in me ever going back to classes," I answered softly. "I hurt Lanie. Badly. Mrs. Carson and Ms. Grimes are right - it's all my fault." I shuddered. "How am I supposed to face all her friends after what I did to her?" I buried my face in my hands as I began to sob again. "They'll all hate me because I hurt Lanie!"
"You're jumping to some pretty extreme conclusions," Mr. Geintz suggested. "With some rest, classes might be the best thing to keep your mind occupied."
We talked a _lot_ longer - mostly they talked, trying to convince me that I wasn't a vicious, villainous person who'd set out to hurt my new friend, and that accidents happened frequently at Whateley. They _tried_ to get me to promise not to do anything drastic without talking to either Mr. Geintz or Dr. Bellows first. I think they were satisfied that I'd made such a promise, but I hadn't Their talks were small consolation; I left feeling as bad as I had when I'd gotten there. And just as afraid of Mrs. Carson and Ms. Grimes.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, About 9:30 PM
Schuster Hall, Headmistress' office
Mrs. Carson
Liz slumped wearily into her chair. It was times like this that took an emotional toll on her. There was still no word on Elaine's condition, and as required by school policy, she'd just called Mrs. Nalley. That call hadn't gone well; as expected, Mrs. Nalley was distraught to learn that her daughter was in the hospital, unconscious and unresponsive.
Liz pressed a button on her phone, wondering if Elaine Claire, her receptionist, was still at her desk. "Elaine?" she spoke into the intercom.
"Yes, Mrs. Carson?" It was well past quitting time, but Ms. Claire was nothing if not thorough about her duties, and she was good at anticipating crises.
"Make sure that someone is at the airport to pick up Mrs. Nalley as soon as she lands," Liz said. "And have the driver call me the moment they pick her up."
"Already taken care of, Mrs. Carson."
"Elaine, you're a Godsend at times like this." Liz sighed. "There's nothing else you can do tonight, so why don't you knock off."
"It's no problem, Mrs. Carson."
Liz chuckled. "Yes, it is, Elaine. I know you were supposed to go to dinner with your boyfriend tonight, and I'm sorry you had to work late."
"I can always whip up something at home," Elaine countered, "and we can watch a movie."
"Since you're here late tonight, I don't want to see you first-thing in the morning. Take a little extra time. Sleep in. You've earned it."
"Okay, Mrs. Carson. Good night." The intercom clicked off, and Liz sat back, sighing heavily again, her eyes closed for a moment of rest.
Liz didn't even open her eyes or sit upright. "What is it, Louis?" she asked almost as soon as Louis' projected form appeared in her office. "I know this isn't a social call. Do you have some news about Elaine?"
"Actually," the psychic projection replied, "it's about Kayda."
Liz let out a frustrated sigh that bordered on sounding like an angry snort. "She really screwed up, Louis," Liz explained curtly. "She _hurt_ Miss Nalley through stupidity and inexperience! She bound her to an unknown spirit, and we have no idea what kind of damage it caused Miss Nalley. I can _not_ allow students to do that kind of thing!"
Louis shook his head. "She's very depressed." He nodded when Liz's eyes snapped open and she stared at him. "Worse than before. Much worse."
"How bad?"
"She ... practically idolizes Miss Nalley and blames herself for what happened. She's totally exhausted and hasn't slept the past two nights because of nightmares about what might have happened to Loophole. I don't think she's eaten anything, either, and she's completely isolated herself from anyone who is Loophole's friend because she's certain they blame her, too."
Liz frowned. "Not good."
Louis nodded grimly. "It gets worse. She feels that nothing matters because you're going to expel her anyway and turn her over to the MCO, and she's convinced herself that she deserves it."
"She said that?"
"Isn't that what you told her Sunday night?"
Liz shook her head, frowning. "No. You know I wouldn't idly say something like that."
"She's certain that you _did_ - even if it's only her imagination."
"Has she been to see Alfred?"
"Yesterday _and_ today. I was there with them today." He saw Mrs. Carson's frown. "I know it's not normal because counseling sessions are supposed to be completely confidential, but we both felt it was too serious of a crisis to _not_ have both of us, and we _did_ ask her if it was okay." He shook his head sadly. "It wasn't a productive session. Your ... talk ... with her really got to her. She's so absolutely convinced she's going to be expelled - or worse - that she's given up."
"What do you mean, given up?" Liz scowled, but then her eyes widened as the implication sank through her fatigued mind. "Do you mean suicidal?"
"I'm not sure," Louis replied, his countenance grim. "I don't think so, but she's close. Very close."
"What do you think of her story that some kid stopped her? Was it some kind of hallucination?"
Louis shook his head. "No. The kid was real. He's in his early teens, from what I saw in the astral plane, and most likely a mutant."
"How did he stop her?"
"He put up some kind of shield - both in the physical world and in her astral world. She wasn't keeping up her own astral wards, so she was very vulnerable as soon as she stepped off campus," he added. "If it wasn't for that kid, some quite nasty spirits would have found her."
"A form of astral suicide?" Mrs. Carson asked, her concern ratcheting up several levels.
Louis shrugged. "Perhaps."
"Do you know anything else about that kid? How did he find Kayda? How did he get involved?"
"I'm not sure, but I suspect that her spirit somehow contacted him and got him to protect her."
"If he's _that_ powerful," Mrs. Carson said with a grim expression, "we need to find him. If he can do things like that, we _must_ get him trained properly in the astral world."
"I'll see what I can do to find him."
"Now, back to the original question. What do we do about Kayda?
"If anything happens to Miss Nalley, I'm afraid it'll push Kayda over the edge. You know she has a strong sense of social isolation. She and Elaine ... clicked as friends. She's afraid of losing her best friend, and she's convinced herself that she doesn't deserve friends because she'll just hurt them."
"I _had_ to scare her Sunday night," Liz said defensively. "What she did was stupid and dangerous. I had to impress that upon her."
"You need to ask yourself something, Liz," Louis said calmly. "Did you go a little overboard when you bawled her out because you're taking Loophole's ... situation ... a little more personally than you should?"
"Are you suggesting that I'm favoring Miss Nalley?" Liz bristled, astonished at Louis' blunt statement.
Louis smiled sadly. "I can't answer that," he said. "Only you can." He vanished, leaving a totally stunned Mrs. Carson sitting with her mouth hanging open as she considered his words.
Liz sat, frowning, thinking about what Louis had said. _Was_ she favoring Elaine Nalley? Was it possible? Preposterous! She tried to push that thought away from her, and yet it wouldn't leave. Sure, she _had_ helped Elaine with some the issues associated with Mr. Cody and Ms. Ricardo, and she _had_ deliberately turned a blind eye to Loophole's and Songbird's pretty flagrant relationship, and she _had_ greased the skids behind the scenes for Ms. Nalley to help Mr. Cody take over the Alphas, but ... but she helped _all_ of her students like that.
Didn't she?
Liz turned to her computer and began to sort through her pile of unread-but-urgent e-mails, but she kept pausing and returning to Louis' question. And every time she came back to that question, she visualized Ms. Nalley in the hospital bed. Why?
And why had she co-opted Elaine's AI to spy on her? The last one really, really nagged at Liz. She had other faculty spying on and monitoring other kids, but those were usually the big trouble-makers. So far, the trouble Ms. Nalley had caused was trivial compared to the likes of the Don and Freya and DuPraeve. And Liz hadn't personally monitored them, at least not as personally as she seemed to be monitoring Ms. Nalley. Why was it so different with Elaine?
Liz rested her forehead in her hands, her elbows propped up on her desk, and closed her eyes.
Her mind's eye saw a face - a vision from Liz's past, vivid and unflawed and perfect, just like the second-to-the-last time Liz had seen her so many long years ago. "Donna!" Liz gasped softly at the apparition, the mental image. Damn, it had been so long since she'd thought of her former best friend. Liz recoiled, bolting upright and opening her eyes.
How long had it been since she'd thought of Donna? Forty years? Fifty? And since the 'incident'? Was it coming up on sixty years? Liz sighed, feeling a surge of guilt at forgetting her once-best-friend. But why was she suddenly remembering a 60-year-gone friend?
* * * * * * * * * *
1947, Miss Champion
Miss Champion sat in an overstuffed chair, tears on her cheeks, a picture in her hand - a taller, very shapely brunette girl named Donna Fiedler. She'd just come from Donna's memorial service, and she sat, full of self-recrimination about the loss of her friend. She _should_ have seen it coming. Memories flooded through the young superhero, memories of her and Donna, who she loved as a best friend and more. Donna was like a sister to Miss Champion.
They'd been practically inseparable after the war, even though Donna was considered 'odd'; in truth, known only to Liz and one other, Donna was a lesbian who dated guys only to squelch rumors. Liz was certain that Donna was attracted to her, but the girl was afraid of saying or doing anything lest she lose her best friend. And so they did nearly everything together despite an overhanging cloud of unresolved sexual tension. Liz smiled sadly at the way she and Donna drove around in Donna's old 1937 Packard Twelve coupe; like Loophole, Donna was a gearhead, having learned at the knees of her father who was a mechanic with his own garage. That coupe wasn't the prettiest car, but it ran well thanks to Donna's tinkering and tender loving care.
Donna was a tall girl - friendly, cautious, and she'd developed a knockout figure that had guys drooling over her. She'd been one of the few who Liz had trusted with her secret, but as Liz learned magic and how to use her powers, a gulf started to form between the two friends - small at first, but widening more and more, and that chasm in the relationship corresponded to Liz's mastery of her powers. When Liz finally confronted her increasingly agitated and distant friend, Donna had finally admitted that she was envious of Liz's powers.
And then - disaster. Miss Champion had been part of a team pursuing a powerful imbued psychopathic jewel thief in a cross-country rampage. It had taken nearly three months - and seventeen deaths - to catch up to and subdue the villain. When Liz had returned home, she couldn't find Donna anywhere. After a somewhat frantic search, Liz had discovered a bloody summoning circle, incorrectly drawn, with pages and pages of notes. It took a very detailed investigation - and lots of consulting with knowledgeable wizards - but Liz finally learned that Donna had sought to bind an extradimensional being - a demon - to imbue her with power. She'd been so envious that she was finally pushed into a desperate attempt to gain some powers like her friend Liz.
They never found a body, but Liz wasn't surprised. If she had managed to summon an extradimensional being with the slightly-flawed ritual, Donna would have been eaten or dragged - body and soul - into the extradimensional realm of the creature.
Liz blinked to clear the mist from her eyes and focused again on the picture, now mottled with drops of moisture that had fallen from her eyes. 'Donna,' she whispered to herself, not fighting the tears, 'Why? Why did you get so reckless?' There was no answer, and Liz was left heartbroken at the loss of such a dear friend. She vowed that she'd be very careful about who she told of her secret. She _couldn't_ risk another friend - or possibly family in the future - becoming so desperate to have powers like Miss Champion that they'd take such foolish risks.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, Evening
Emerson Cottage, Darren's room
The shout of surprise startled Quickdraw, making the speedster flinch. "What?" he demanded, frustrated.
"This is _better_ than a spell!" Speakeasy - Darren - exclaimed gleefully.
"Better than a spell?"
Darren nodded. "One of the most powerful things on earth is essence of an extra-dimensional being," he read from the book before looking up at his co-conspirator. "A demon. Well, we're after pure, unbridled lust, right?"
"Yeah," the other agreed, puzzled.
"So we have to create a lust spell, or find a lust-inducing devise, right?" He saw his partner nod. "Both of which would require outside help. _Outside_ help! As in accomplices."
"Okay. And?"
Darren grinned gleefully. "Why do that when we have the most powerful source of lust in the world _right here on campus_?"
"What?"
Darren picked up the dry, crinkly piece of yellow paper. "Someone else was studying this, probably a long time ago! Look what it says here - it's a list of demons and their major powers."
"Yeah, but a paper that old wouldn't have ...."
"Not Sara. The Kellith! Her real, eternal self, the demon of lust and sex!"
Eddie frowned. "So what, you just going to go to her room in Hawthorne, knock on the door, and say, 'Excuse me, Sara, but I'd like a cup of lust essence, please?'" he asked sarcastically.
Darren scowled at his buddy, not amused. "Yeah, right. Like she'd give it to us voluntarily, and _then_ keep her mouth shut about us having it!" He grinned and held up the paper. "No, my friend," he practically purred. "The answer is right here, right in front of us!"
It took Darren only five minutes, with a little psychic boost, to convince Eddie of the brilliance of the plan. The two then quickly gathered their supplies and began the preparation.
"What's with the big paper sheet on the plastic?"
Darren just grinned. "You'll see." He winced when he cut his finger, but then began to trace a figure in his own blood on the paper, pausing frequently to refer to the yellowish instructions they'd found as he traced a geometric figure inside an unbroken circle of blood. When it was complete he sat back. "Okay, now we have to write her name inside the figure."
"Sara, right?"
"No. Her _true_ name, the one written here on the paper!" Taking a breath to steady himself, he squeezed more blood from his finger and began to trace a name on the paper. He leaned back again, outside the blood circle and solemnly pronounced that true name. "Come to me!" he intoned.
There was no flash, no smoke, no noise. One moment, the paper was sitting on the floor, and the second, it was occupied by a white-skinned, red-headed demon girl who they'd seen around campus all too often. She was facing away from them, and puzzled at the sudden change of location, she turned to look around.
There was something to the blood circle, the mystical figure, because when her body was repelled as if by an invisible cylinder. "Ow!" she snapped, and then she noticed the two boys. "What are you two doing?"
Eddie flinched at the sight of the girl, the angry gleam in her red eyes and the visible canine teeth, but Darren was a little more cocksure. "You are going to give us something."
"You could have just asked," Sara said sarcastically. "And you interrupted ... a game." Watching the boys, she reached out hesitantly toward the two, and was rewarded with a sharp spark and pain. She raised an eyebrow at the situation. "You _do_ realize that what you've done _will_ have very serious repercussions, don't you?"
Darren seemed even more confident when he saw that the holding circle was containing the girl. At the same time, her stance and appearance were becoming quite alluring to him. A sideways glance told him that his compadre was being even more affected, as he was pressing against a raging hard-on in his trousers. "Turn off your power!" Darren forced himself to say while he still could.
Almost instantly, the lust vanished. "Aw," Sara complained in a sexy pout, "you _could_ have had so much fun if you hadn't done that!"
"I want your lust essence," Darren commanded.
"I was about to give it to you," Sara said, licking her black lips seductively. "And I still can, if you just let me out of this silly little circle! We'll have a night like you couldn't even dream of!"
"I want it in this!" Darren commanded, holding forth a small glass jar.
Sara posed coyly after she took the jar. "You _know_ what I have to do to get the essence you want, don't you?" she teased the boys. Inwardly, her mind was racing. She was properly summoned, and the circle had been constructed carefully enough that when she tried to scuff the paper with her toe, it resisted scratching or tearing. Damn!
To distract the boys, she made a show of lifting her skirt, with implications of just _how_ she was going to fill the request. She frowned when she realized that her lust power wasn't working under the summoning, and she couldn't freely turn it on once the boy had told her to stop.
"Darren," Eddie said nervously, "maybe we shouldn't do this! If something goes wrong, she'll own our souls or kill us or something!"
Darren grinned wickedly. "If she tries to do anything to us, she'll get in trouble and be expelled or even ... exterminated! There are a _lot_ of people, on campus and in the country, who would like her to not exist anymore."
Sara listened to the boy's sound logic. How had these boys, relative simpletons in matters of magic and demons, created such a summoning circle with proper wards? And how had they discovered her true name?
"Fill it. Now."
Sara shrugged. Might as well get the whole thing over so she could get back to her room and Sif. "Okay." She raised the jar to her lips, and a greenish fluid flowed into the jar. She put in a couple of teaspoons worth of her lust essence and then lowered the cup.
"That's not much!" Darren said with a scowl.
"That's enough to have the whole campus in a week-long orgy."
"Okay," Darren relented. "Hand it to me, and we'll be almost done."
With a wry smile, Sara reached out toward the ward, holding the small jar of lust essence. Surprisingly, though, the boy reached for it with a pair of tongs. Her eyes widened at his precautions. She'd made sure she dribbled enough essence on the outside of the jar so that the boys would free her just because they were too uncontrollably horny after even a faint touch of the sex-elixir. But he'd apparently thought of that.
As she watched, intrigued and mystified, Darren capped the jar - using another pair of tongs, and then put the jar inside a plastic bag, which he put inside a large jar. He was evidently taking no chances.
"Okay," Darren said with a nasty grin as he turned back. "Only one more thing to do."
"Now you release me, right?" Sara prompted.
"No," Darren replied coolly. "You'd talk. You'd tell someone that we forced you to give your lust essence, and that would ruin our plans."
Alarm bells which had been softly ringing in Sara's mind turned to full-volume panic mode. "What are you going to do?"
Darren reached down to the paper, and he lifted one corner. The 'container' holding Sara contorted, scrunching her uncomfortably. "We can't take a chance that you'll talk."
"But ... the administration will know I'm missing!"
"And they'll think you're hiding in your room or something. A neat fold here and there, and I'll keep the paper nice and hidden, and you can't ruin our plans," Darren cooed wickedly. " Besides, there are _some_ who would welcome your disappearance. And if you _are_ missed, they'll get the blame!" With that, he folded the paper over, scrunching the 'container' and forcing Sara out of the shell into a pocket dimension which was attached to the paper.
As she was contorted and pushed out of reality, Sara saw the yellowish paper on the floor, and she saw magic radiating from it. "It can't be!" she cried one last thing before she vanished between the folds of paper.
With a satisfied grin, Darren put one more fold in the paper to be certain, and then slid it under his wardrobe, where it would be safe from meddlers. Finished with that, he hefted the jar with its precious liquid. "We've got them now!" he cackled.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, late evening
Dickinson Cottage
Mrs. Nelson poked her head into the TV room on the third floor of the cottage. "Girls," she said in a firm parental voice, "you know that the TV goes off at ten-thirty."
Carlie looked up from the TV and frowned, trying to look sad and pathetic to gain the housemother's sympathy. "But Ms. Nelson," she said plaintively, "the movie is almost over!"
Mrs. Nelson looked - it _was_ a good movie, and she did understand why her girls would want to watch it. With a sigh, she relented. "As soon as the movie is over, the TV is off for the night, got it?"
Cytherea spoke for the others. "Yes, Mrs. Nelson," she said firmly.
Five minutes after she left, the credits started to roll, so Heartbreaker picked up the remote, shut off the television, and stood. "I don't know about you guys," she said, stretching, "but I've got to finish a paper for English." Flicker, Lemure, and Tangent also excused themselves to study.
"Have you heard the latest about that Indian girl?" Theresa, Duplex, prompted as if she was sharing a state secret. If the movie was over, a round of juicy gossip would entertain the girls for a little while longer.
"You mean Kayda?"
"Yeah," Duplex said with a nod. "My roommate Doli was pretty pissed when Kayda took over her Native American group. Now she's gotten pretty bossy and is running things _her_ way, no matter what the other members want!"
Kandy nodded. "Yeah. And I heard she's claiming that she's got some kind of important Indian spirit and everyone who's Native American should practically worship her!"
"Arrogant bitch!"
Tangent snorted derisively. "She needs to be taken down a notch or two!"
Katarina Tanaka frowned. "I don't know," she said hesitantly. "You know how nasty rumors can be. I doubt she's as bad as some people are saying."
"Oh yeah?" Fade sneered. "She fooled Ito and Tolman! She's getting special treatment in martial arts, and gets to fight who _she_ wants instead of fighting everyone like every other student does!"
"Drama queen, if you ask me," Kandy added with a snort. "My roommate told me that when she doesn't like who she's fighting, she fakes some kind of panic attack and gets out of it!"
"Mindbird let it slip this afternoon that they're providing special protection for her all the time, too! Like she can't take a little teasing or goofing off!"
Tansy Walcutt frowned at the discussion. Though she knew the real reason from Kayda's thoughts, and though her long-learned behavior was practically demanding that she add fuel to the gossip fire, she held her tongue. She'd seen Kayda the night before - not an arrogant, self-important snob, but at tiny, terrified, lonely girl. "I don't know," she said, startling all the girls. "You _do_ remember that one security guard tried to kill her! Maybe that's why she gets extra protection."
"Are you suddenly one of her fans?" Fade sneered.
Widget thought a moment. "Scott helped with the charter for the group, and he said she was pretty easy-going."
"What'd she do, flash some tit at him to manipulate him?" Tangent spat.
Widget started to reply, to defend the boy she was still pursuing, when Wind Runner came into the study room, looking around. "Mindy?" she asked as soon as she saw Washout, "can I borrow your notes from chemistry? I can't find mine."
"Sure," Washout said, standing. "No prob. I'm done studying for the test anyway."
"Why don't we get the information straight from the source?" Fade stared at Wind Runner. "Doli, what's going on with that new girl? The Indian girl?"
Wind Runner's eyes flared angrily and her jaw clenched. "She's ... she's a bitch!" she spat, her words dripping with venom.
"Oh?"
"She came waltzing in, sweet-talked Mr. Lodgeman, and took over my group. MY group!" Doli snarled. "Everything was running so nicely, and she just took over like it was her birthright!"
Fade shot an 'I told you so' look at Tansy and Katarina. "So is it true that she claims she's got an important spirit and wants everyone to let her have her way?" Her words were salt in Doli's emotional wounds.
"She _thinks_ she's important, and she's snowed Mr. Lodgeman and a couple of others, too!" Doli shook her head. "At least Heyoka isn’t buying her load of bullshit!"
"What do you mean? Are those two fighting or something?" Tangent asked in a leading way.
"Something like that," Doli confirmed. "I heard her on a major bitch-rant about him messing with her dream-space, chewing him out like she was all superior and shit." She shook her head. "He was basically telling her no to everything she said!"
As soon as Wind Runner left, the topic turned to other gossip, leaving Tansy sitting silently, puzzling out the rumors against what she knew for fact. The bit of catty gossip exchanged so far was ... uncomfortable to her. It was so judgmental; she asked herself if _she_ had been that nasty in starting and spreading rumors. There was a _lot_ about Kayda that she didn't know. Maybe she should find out more.
* * * * * * * * * *
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, middle of the night
Poe Cottage, Kayda's Dreams
I walked sadly into the village, to the fire circle. Things didn't seem quite right; this didn't _feel_ like my dream world, but rather a vivid dream - or nightmare. A figure sat, her back to me, and I flinched; it was definitely _not_ Wakan Tanka. In fact, my mentor was not at the circle. Frowning, I walked closer, wondering who had violated my dream space - if indeed I _was_ in my dream space.
As I neared, she turned, and her silhouette in the firelight was unmistakable; my heart leapt to my throat. "Lanie!" I cried, running to my friend.
She stood and wrapped me a in a warm embrace, and before we knew it, we were kissing each other passionately. Being taller, she picked me up off my feet, still kissing me, and carried me into a tepee. I started, but she shushed me with another kiss as she laid me down on a buffalo blanket and practically ripped my clothing from my body.
I ran my fingers through her long, silky, red hair as her tongue expertly teased my nipple, my entire body hot and tingling with excitement. She paused and glanced up at me, her green eyes as full of hunger and lust as I was sure mine were. Her hand slipped up my back, from where she'd been holding me, and she pulled my head toward hers, crushing her lips against mine, kissing me forcefully and passionately, and in moments, our tongues were fencing, my arms wrapped around her and pulling her so close that it seemed our bodies would fuse together. For a long time, we kissed, and then slowly she began to move, her hot lips kissing my neck. She paused to nibble on my ears, and then resumed her kissing journey south.
Once more, she expertly used her tongue on my breasts, sending shivers of delight coursing through my body, while I tried to lovingly caress one of her larger, rounder boobs. Then her kisses moved down more, until she was kissing at my navel.
She looked up, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Shall Ah stop?" she asked, knowing that there was no way I could refuse her continued ministrations.
"Oh, God, no!" I cried. "Please don't stop, Lanie!" I begged her.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, about 1 am
Poe Cottage
I woke up, panting, feeling sweaty and sticky, and highly aroused. The dream wasn't in my dream space, of that I was certain, but it had been very, very vivid.
Softly, I padded out of my room and across the hall to the girls' bathroom, so I could clean myself up a bit. I flipped on the shower and, hanging my jammies on a hook, climbed in. The warm pulsing jets of water woke me up, but it did nothing to quell the residual excitement from that all-too-real dream. I reached for the control knob to turn the shower temperature down; a cold shower should quench my lust.
Instead of turning the temperature down, I found myself turning on the 'special feature'. The water jets, pulsing and throbbing, renewed my arousal, and my knees wobbled as the tingly, exciting feeling exploded outward to fill my whole body, or so it seemed.
My eyes drifted shut as my body throbbed with pleasure. "Oh, God, Lanie," I found myself saying softly as the orgasms continued to wrack my body, "Yes, yes, yes!" In my mind, it wasn't a Hydroflux, but Lanie attending to my needs, and I squealed with pleasure as my imaginary lover brought me to new highs of delight.
About half an hour later, back in my room, I slipped back between my sheets and laid my head on my pillow, feeling confused.
What did the dream mean? Had I goofed, and somehow accidentally bonded with Lanie? Did our initial glance, the electric feeling when I first gazed into her eyes, mean something? Why did I keep thinking of that kiss at the hot tub party? And more importantly to me, did it mean that she was okay, and that I _hadn't_ harmed her in the rituals?
And once I turned on the Hydroflux, why did I fantasize about Lanie instead of Debra? The guilt at imagining that I was with Elaine instead of my soulmate haunted me. Why had I even turned it on? If I was that disturbed by the dream, a frigid shower would have spoiled the mood and let me return to sleep in peace. If that was what I wanted. Was it?
It was troubling that I couldn't get her off my mind. It was because of the ritual and her injury I told myself, knowing that it was a lie. I loved Debra, of that there was no doubt. But how did I feel about Lanie? _Did_ I have feelings for her? Did I secretly desire that she be more than just a friend?
But that would be cheating on Debra. Wouldn't it? She and Debra knew each other, Lanie had said. And it sounded like they were friends, too. Maybe in some naughty recess of my mind, I was secretly hoping that they were _more_ than just friends, and we could become a nice trio.
I dismissed that out-of-hand as a silly idea. Lanie was in love with Wyatt, and she wouldn't leave him for Debra and me. Would she? No, I told myself. She wanted to bear Wyatt's children. And yet, at the hot-tub party, she'd been more than a bit flirtatious. She admitted that she'd been checking me out.
Then I had a disturbing thought. If Lanie was okay, would I feel so guilty about having almost hurt her that I'd give her any favors she wanted, up to and including sex? I knew that she'd checked me out and found me sexy. Her kiss in the hot tub wasn't a friendly little peck on the cheek, but a very sensual exchange that had left me feeling weak and aroused. So maybe she _did_ want me. What would I do if that was true? Would a guilty feeling about Lanie make me cheat on Debra? Did I _want_ to have a fling with Lanie?
I sighed, my mind awhirl at the dream and whether there were any hidden meanings, or whether I was having a relatively normal teen fantasy and my imagination was running amok.
At least it was better than the nightmares. Which _did_ come back. And I didn't sleep well between the shower and my alarm clock ringing.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Morning
Poe Cottage, room 205
I tried to stay in bed because I had zero motivation to get up, but Evvie physically dragged me from my bed and to the bathroom. As soon as I realized that everyone was staring at me, I slunk to one of the benches and plopped down to wait for an open shower - and a far less-crowded bathroom. Verdant and Evvie manhandled me into a shower, which I hurried through as quickly as I could, and then, with my hair still wet, I went back to my room and flopped on my bed, still in my robe and with my head wrapped in a towel.
Even Mrs. Horton got in on the act of trying to persuade me to get dressed and get some breakfast - without success. After a while, I _did_ dry my hair and pulled on a buckskin dress and then, casting a ghost-walking spell, walked glumly to Doyle; I had to try to see how Lanie was doing, even though I was terrified that she was injured.
After going through the doors where my ghost-walking spell was broken, I tried to cast it again, without success. I don't know if it was due to lack of essence or if something in Doyle interfered with the spell, but I couldn't hide, so I walked, head down, paranoid, toward the nurse's station. The nurse wasn't going to tell me anything, because I wasn't staff or family, but she did show me to Lanie's room.
I very cautiously pushed the door open a crack to look in; as I feared, Wyatt was still keeping vigil by her bedside, and there was someone else in the room as well. I halted abruptly, easing the door back shut, unwilling to go in. Lanie was still lying motionless in the bed, which broke my heart. Far from being reassured, I left feeling lower than dirt at what I'd done to my friend.
I slunk back to Poe, not bothering with a ghost-walking spell; it really didn't matter to me if I got in _more_ trouble. Things were already gloomy enough. Mrs. Horton intercepted me outside of Poe, and she got a couple of girls to hustle me off to my first period Avatars class. That was a disaster; the instructor seemed to be eyeing me very critically, and a number of students who knew Lanie seemed distrustful of me. I found a back corner seat and sat unenthusiastically through class. Dr. Hewley, the instructor, called to me to get my attention as I was leaving class at the end of the period. I looked at him, and instantly fear gripped me. It was pure supposition on my part, but I imagined that because Dr. Hewley and Dr. Aranis worked with Lanie, he was upset about what I'd potentially done to her. I must have knocked four or five students to the side as I ran in terror, applying a ghost-walking spell the moment I was out the door.
BMA was no better. I didn't even make it out to the mat; I was dead certain that girls who knew Lanie were glaring at me in the locker room. Sensei Tolman found me there, dreading going out to class, and rather than force me to go out and face the other students, she sent me to Dr. Bellows' office. I don't remember a lot of the session with Dr. Bellows; only that he seemed very concerned about my mental health and how exhausted I was. I'd gotten maybe two or three hours of sleep in the previous seventy-two hours. My self-guilt about Lanie, my attempt to run away, my lack of appetite - he knew it all, and he was _trying_ to persuade me that accidents like this often happened at Whateley, and that it wasn't my fault. He hadn't convinced me by the time third period was over and it was lunchtime. But rather than going to Crystal Hall, I went back to lay down on my bed in Poe.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Lunchtime
Crystal Hall
I sat alone, my ghost spell around me, in the little nook behind the waterfall. Since Debra was in Berlin picking up a few things, Rosalyn and Angel had almost dragged me to Crystal Hall to eat, arguing that I _had_ to eat, ignoring my arguments that I wasn't hungry. After I'd played with a few bites, I carried my tray to the conveyor.
I turned, and gasped in surprise; a tall, curvy redhead was walking out of the caf with an older woman. It _had_ to be Lanie! She was okay! At least she looked okay! I ducked and dodged my way through the crowd of students who were _all_ bussing their trays so they could get to their next class. I had to watch where I was going so I didn't run over someone, which made it quite difficult to try to see where Lanie was going, but when I got clear of the throng, I couldn't see Lanie or the woman. I stumbled to a halt, my heart sinking a bit. I needed to talk to her, but at the same time, I was afraid. Was she really okay? And was she angry at me for what she'd gone through? I didn't know. I needed to know that she was okay, but at the same time, I had a growing fear that she might be upset over what she'd gone through in getting the spirit. Assuming it was a good spirit. And assuming that she wasn't injured in the rituals.
My heart was a little lighter, but my sense of dread was still there; Lanie might be alive, and she looked unchanged physically, but there were still many things I feared might have happened to her.
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - after classes
Patio behind Schuster
Speakeasy
Nervously, Darren and Eddie looked around the "fixers' patio" and settled on the tall, thin girl with white hair and a rather angular face. "She's here."
"Okay," Eddie said, "let's go."
Darren paused momentarily to steel his nerves. _Everyone_ knew Jadis Diabolik, and the fact that she was a very shrewd operator. She might be shrewd, but she had what he needed at the moment. Taking a deep breath, he marched toward the table at which she sat alone reading a book.
"Is there something I can help you with, Speakeasy, Quickdraw?" she asked, putting a well-worn bookmark in the pages and setting the now-closed book on the table. Though she was smiling, there was something unsettling about the twinkle in her eyes and the wry smile she wore.
Darren winced. She was a lot more direct than he'd expected, and she'd used their code-names like a threat - or a pre-emptive strike, announcing that she _knew_ of his powers. "Word is," he said easily, taking a seat when she gestured to one of the empty chairs, "that you're the go-to person for renting space down in the tunnels."
Jadis stroked her chin and looked thoughtful. "I _might_ know how a person could get some space. It depends, though."
"On what?" Eddie asked bluntly, ignoring the previous direction from Darren to keep quiet.
Jadis read the look Darren shot Eddie and chuckled softly. The two were so obvious about which of the two of them was in charge. And Eddie's speedster mouth _would_ slip up and give her precious information. "So direct. What a pleasant change from all the dodging and metaphors and hidden meaning people use to try to disguise their real intentions." She smiled, knowing that she was in the cat-bird's seat. "Why would you two want some space? You're not on the technology track, so you don't need labs. Your ... associations ... have their own club space. And," she grinned, "so far as the grapevine says, neither of you has a new love interest that might require ... privacy."
"I'm after a certain amount of ... discretion," Darren said coyly. "No questions."
"I see. Well, that _will_ raise the price somewhat." She saw the boys' eyebrows shoot up. "If something ... nefarious ... is done in a space that I control, whom do you think security or our Headmistress would target first? I _do_ require certain precautions to be taken to ensure that I'm not implicated in anything ... against the rules."
"I understand," Darren said confidently.
"So if there are no questions, I can rent you any space I like, since I can't ask you about your specific needs, right?" She smiled at the shocked look on Darren's face. "Oh, so there _are_ some permissible questions?"
"Yeah," Darren growled, pissed at having been so easily outmaneuvered.
"I think I can determine what you need in five questions. Fair?"
Darren thought and then nodded. "Five questions."
"Okay, first question. Do you intend to use the space for anything that is illegal?"
Darren thought quickly, wincing. Technically? It _might_ be considered rape if the persons who received the serum were non-consenting minors, but then, if they had the serum, they'd sure be consenting, wouldn't they? "Um," he said, grimacing. "Not technically."
Jadis took out a small book and jotted down a few notes. "I see. Second question. Will the space be used for anything that, while legal, is against school rules?"
His face screwed up in the mother of all scowls, Darren nodded.
More notes went into the little book. "Third question. What is the timeframe you need the space for? Start and stop dates and times," she added.
"Tomorrow if possible," Eddie answered quickly. "Before the serum .... OUCH!" He grasped at his sore leg from where Darren had brutally kicked him.
Jadis' eyebrows rose imperceptibly. Serum? What kind of serum were they discussing, and what were they planning to do with it? Her sources had told her nothing of anything in the labs that might be termed a serum. She'd have to poke around a bit more.
Darren turned back to Jadis, pasting on a smile that was obviously phony. "We'd like to start tomorrow about two, and the duration should be no longer than ... twenty-four hours."
"Hourly rates, gentlemen?" Jadis asked sarcastically. "Really! Do I look like the kind of person who'd rent rooms at the No-tell Motel?"
"It's ... a little social experiment," Darren lied quickly. "We'll ... get all the data we need in a few hours." He smiled again. "It's for a term paper."
Jadis smiled, shaking her head. "Right. A term paper. Okay," she put her serious face back on. "Fourth question. What size and furnishings do you need? Large? Small? Lab desks? Casual? Clubhouse-type space?" She raised an eyebrow. "Love nest perhaps?"
Darren blushed furiously at her insinuation, at the same time realizing that her questions were getting perilously close to enough details to put someone on their trail. "Um, about a decent den or living-room sized room. Casually furnished. You know, sofa, chairs, maybe a coffee table."
"And a refrigerator," Eddie added, ignoring the warnings he'd previously gotten from Darren about opening his mouth. "It's got to look like a social setting."
More notes. "Okay, last question. Do you need the entrance to be secret for the duration, or do you want it open and accessible to others?"
"Definitely accessible to others," Darren answered confidently.
Jadis nodded and then consulted different pages in her book. "Hmm, that one? Nope. Definitely nope." She thumbed through a few more pages. "Oh, here's one. Yeah, this one should fit your needs nicely." She read the data. "Third-level tunnels, away from the labs toward Laird. Accessible and known, so there's no chance of leaking any secrets. Twenty by fifteen feet, former clubhouse."
"That sounds like ... a nice fit," Darren said haltingly to try to hide his glee at the space. "Very suitable."
Jadis nodded, and then thought a bit, scratching down notes in her book. When she finished, she tore out a page and slid it across the table to Darren.
Darren's eyes bugged out. "That much?"
Jadis shrugged. "Your hesitant and dodgy answers about legality and school rules require me to take a few extra precautions, so that if you do something ... wrong, I won't get the blame. There are also security deposits against damage and cleanup fee." She smiled. "Around here, cleanup by necessity _does_ include the possibility of hazmat decontamination. Of course," she added with a pleasant smile, "if you leave the space in good condition, those deposits will be refunded."
Darren frowned at the number he stared at. "Um, is there some way we can work a deal? Some favors, perhaps?"
Jadis chuckled. "First, I only trade favors in certain rare cases, and most assuredly _not_ in cases where the other party might not be in a position to repay me. Second," she smiled wickedly, "one thing I learned from Dad is to never trust others with favors unless you have some ... collateral. Sorry, no. Cash only. You can deposit payment to my school account at the bookstore."
Darren sighed heavily, glancing at Eddie. This was going to be more expensive than he'd hoped. Then again, he _had_ already captured the lust demon, and with his very being on the line already .... And if the administration discovered what they'd done to Sara, they'd be expelled - at best. "Okay," he said firmly, thinking of getting rid of those two Lakota scum, "deal."
Jadis smiled. "Once you've made payment, come back and sign the contract and I'll give you directions and the key."
"You protect your space with a simple door key?" Eddie asked in astonishment.
"I didn't say it was an ordinary key, did I?" Jadis asked cryptically. She watched the two boys walking back across the patio. "Now _why_ would you two want a room for a short time, and be willing to pay so much without negotiating the price?" she said to herself. "I guess we'll find out, since you _didn't_ insist on total privacy, did you?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, Afternoon
Poe Cottage
Dr. Bellows had written a pass for me for the whole day, not that I was interested in going to class anyway. I just stayed in my room, feeling like I was the worst person on the planet for what I'd done, until Mrs. Horton had Angel escort me back to Dr. Bellows' office for another unproductive session. After that I tried to nap because I was so tired, but even then, fear of more nightmares kept me from getting any rest. Sometime around six, Evvie came back to the room and tried to get me to go to dinner, but in a fit of pique, I put up my shield spell so she couldn't force me to do anything. I know she was very worried about me when she left for dinner with the other girls on our floor.
Rosalyn came in the room less than ten minutes later. "Get up, Kayda," she said gently but firmly. "It's dinnertime."
"Not hungry," I muttered at her, not bothering to look away from the wall I was facing as I lay curled up on my bed.
"When was the last time you ate?" she demanded in a stern voice I'd not heard from her before then.
I shrugged. "Dunno. Doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does," Rosalyn countered. "Now get up and let's go to dinner."
"Not hungry," I repeated. With my shield spell active, there was nothing that she could do.
I underestimated Rosalyn. She left, but came back after a few minutes with a take-out dinner for me. Despite her pleas and entreaties, attempted flirting, jokes, and sympathy, I didn't respond.
The next voice startled me. "How is she?" Debra asked Rosalyn as she walked into my room.
"Not good," Rosalyn said, concerned. "I don't think she's eaten since Lanie went into Doyle! Or slept."
She sat down on the bed and tried to rub my shoulders, but the shield spell blocked her. "Sweetie," she said softly, "can you drop your shield please?"
I turned my head slightly, and Debra gasped at my appearance. Even her concerned gaze was not enough to impact my depressed state, though. With a sigh, I let the spell dissolve.
"Mrs. Horton told me what happened," she continued quickly. "It's _not_ your fault! You were trying to help Lanie, not hurt her."
"But I _did_ hurt her!"
"You don't know that!" Rosalyn said firmly. "Nobody knows until she wakes up."
"But ... she was unconscious for several days because of me!"
"Did you ask Wakan Tanka what might have happened?" Debra asked.
I turned to reply, angry at her question, but I stopped and my mouth dropped open. "Um, no," I mumbled after a bit.
Rosalyn joined Debra rubbing my shoulders. "Maybe you should talk to Walkie Talkie about the ritual and the possible side effects before you judge yourself."
The two of them managed to get me to sit up and eat a little bit, even though my appetite was far from normal, after which they walked me to Debra's room in the guest cottage.
I was too exhausted to dream walk. In fact, I fell asleep on the sofa, cuddled between Rosalyn and Debra. I knew that because when I woke up screaming from nightmares several times, both of them were there to comfort me and reassure me. In the morning, I was shocked to realize it hadn't been a dream, that both of them were with me, in a very non-sexual, platonic way - which was exactly what I needed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, May 3, 2007, 3rd period
Kirby Hall
I still hadn't had a chance to talk with Lanie, and I was still terrified of the thought that she'd been harmed. Worse, the nightmares were still there, but different; in them, Lanie was a different person with changed personality, interests, and abilities. She knew she'd changed, and she hated me for it, as did Ayla and Wyatt and all her friends. At least Debra was there to comfort me when I'd awakened screaming in the middle of the night.
I sat in the back of the classroom again to avoid Ayla and Ms. Grimes, who kept giving me the evil eye - or so I had convinced myself. A couple of times, she called on me, but I just sat silently, brooding, worrying, and afraid that if I answered incorrectly, she'd have an opportunity to yell at me.
An antique PA system crackled to life, interrupting Ms. Grimes and sparing me having to dodge a question. "Ms. Grimes?" the speaker announced in poor fidelity. "I'm sorry to interrupt. Please have Miss Franks report to administration immediately."
"Certainly, Mrs. Shugendo," Ms. Grimes replied, speaking into the microphone of the PA box. She turned and looked at me. "Miss Franks?"
My stomach turned a couple of somersaults; reporting to administration meant that Mrs. Carson was about to drop the hammer. Trembling, I gathered my books and scooted quickly out of the classroom. Ms. Grimes had either forgotten or hadn't been told of my restrictions, because she didn't assign an escort for me; I sped out of the building before she _did_ remember, because she'd probably assign Ayla to escort me, and I was absolutely certain that Ayla was upset over what I'd done to Lanie.
Despite the fact that it was a warm spring day with clear, sunny skies, I felt the icy grip of dread. Worse, one of the work-study students was at the door waiting for me, and he simply said 'follow me' before striding determinedly to one of the conference rooms on the first floor of the building.
I gulped uneasily as I stood in the open doorway. Mrs. Shugendo sat at the conference table with another older woman with graying hair. Wyatt Cody sat at the table, next to a girl with really severe GSD who was sitting on the floor. "You sent for me, Mrs. Shugendo?" I asked nervously from the doorway.
"Come in, Kayda," Mrs. Shugendo said simply, "and close the door please." As I shut the massive, heavy door behind myself, she continued, "I believe you know Mr. Cody and Miss Nalley?"
My jaw dropped as I goggled at the bear-looking girl with GSD. "Lanie?!?" I cried, my heart sinking as my knees started to wobble and my hands shook. The room threatened to spin as I tried to understand. I _had_ caused her harm.
The bear-girls smiled and nodded. "Like the new look?" she asked wryly. "Ah woke up this mornin' and decided Ah just had to change things." The woman glared at Elaine, obviously not appreciating her attempt at humor.
Mrs. Shugendo cleared her throat. "Kayda, allow me to introduce Mrs. Nalley, Elaine's mother."
I gawked for a moment, then tried to be polite, offering my still-shaking hand in greeting. "How ... how do you do?" I squeaked. I was bordering on a full-fledged panic attack from everything that was wrong, and the fact that Wyatt and Mrs. Nalley no doubt blamed me - as they should have.
Mrs. Nalley barely smiled, and her handshake was cursory at best. Once the requisite social greeting was concluded, her countenance became stern, even angry. "Am I to understand that _you_ are responsible for merging this ... spirit, I believe is the correct word ... with my daughter?" Her words were hard as iron and cold as ice; her eyes bored into me with an intensity that rivaled Mrs. Carson.
I nodded slightly, my hands trembling even more. "Yeah," I managed to croak.
"No!" Lanie interrupted. "Ah'm responsible!" she declared firmly. "_Ah_ interviewed Grizzly, _Ah_ researched the subject when she made the offer to me, and _Ah_ made the decision to join with her. Not Kayda! Me!"
Mrs. Nalley's eyes were still boring into my skull with profound disapproval. "Mrs. Nalley," I said cautiously, not quite sure I trusted myself to explain correctly, "I _did_ perform the ritual that bound Elaine with Grizzly. At her request!" Her intense glare softened - a tiny bit; there was no doubt she was still quite upset. "I accept responsibility for that." I glanced at Lanie. "What ... what happened?"
"Ah woke up this way," Lanie replied, shrugging as if waking up as a bear-girl was normal. Well, at Whateley, maybe it was.
"She's manifesting Grizzly," Wyatt interrupted to explain, "so she should be mostly in Grizzly's hallow."
"In her dream-space, right?" I asked Wyatt without thinking. It suddenly dawned on me why I was there. I looked at Mrs. Shugendo. "You want me to dream-walk with Mrs. Nalley to Elaine's dream-space?"
"Yes," Mrs. Nalley answered immediately and curtly. She got a disapproving look from her daughter. "If you could, please."
I glanced at Lanie and saw a slight nod. "Yes, ma'am," I answered, "I ... I can."
Mrs. Shugendo nodded, her expression toward me still neutral. "I'll leave you alone then. You won't be disturbed here." She withdrew, closing the door behind herself.
Mrs. Nalley sat stiffly, alert and on edge. "Try to relax, ma'am, and sit comfortably" I said to her. "This is going to seem a little strange at first. I'm going to do an incantation, a Lakota shaman thing, and you'll find yourself somewhere else." She nodded hesitantly. "Don't panic. You'll be alone there for only a moment, and we'll be right behind you. Just ... don't move, okay?"
Mrs. Nalley glanced warily at Lanie, and then nodded to me. I started to incant as I reached out to touch her forehead, which caused her to flinch a little bit, but she steeled herself and I finished the spell. Instantly, her eyes closed, and her body relaxed.
"Send me in, Coach," Wyatt said with a grin. "I'll keep Mrs. Nalley out of trouble."
I sighed, shaking my head at his metaphor, and repeated the incantation. Once that was done, Elaine looked at me, a bit worried. "Um," she asked hesitantly, "how does this work? With Grizzly in me, Ah mean."
"You'll have to let Grizzly guide you back to your own dream-space," I replied. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and I 'saw' Grizzly reach from her space in the astral plane and pull her into the dream space. It was my turn; I focused on relaxing, and slipped into the realm of dreams.
I took a deep breath of the clean, fresh air, clearing my thoughts, and then I opened my eyes. We were at the fire circle. Mrs. Nalley glared at me. "Is this some kind of joke?" she asked in a deceptively-calm but stern way that reminded me of Mom. Mrs. Nalley, in reality, was a bit stout, like most middle-aged women, but in dream-space, she was strong and firm, looking like nothing so much as a Scots queen. "Mrs. Nalley," I said quickly, "I'm _not_ making fun of you. I promise!" Wyatt, having been in the dream-world before, chuckled softly. He looked, as he usually did in the dream world, like a swordsman, but this time, less like someone out of a renaissance festival and more like an average guy, which made me wince at the beaded buckskin top and short skirt I was wearing that exposed a _lot_ of leg and midriff. "The outfits are a reflection of who you _really_ are, including your ancestry," I explained. "Lanie told me that she was descended from Picts and Scots, so naturally, you would be too." Mrs. Nalley and Wyatt exchanged a little banter that should have made me feel less ill-at-ease, but I couldn't help being nervous. Mrs. Nalley was definitely on edge and unhappy. "This way," I indicated, leading them from the camp. We walked from the camp on the prairie, and over a small hill, we were suddenly in a dense forest, which quickly gave way to woods, and then a sandy seashore. I focused a moment, and my buckskin outfit turned into a two-piece swimsuit with a short-skirt around my hips. Mrs. Nalley was in a one-piece with cut-off jeans, and Wyatt was in trunks that made him look like a surfer dude. "I'm home!" Mrs. Nalley gasped, looking around and at the sailboat anchored a ways from shore. She pointed across the water to a house. "That's my house!" she exclaimed. "Mom!" Lanie called enthusiastically as she and Grizzly loped toward us. Seeing her, Mrs. Nalley rushed to embrace her daughter, overjoyed to see her back to normal As the Kodiak, who we hadn't notice before, walked up to nuzzle Grizzly, Lanie grinned. "See? It's just a new power Ah have to learn to handle." Wyatt nodded. "I can manifest Kodiak as well." He realized he'd omitted something. "Mrs. Nalley, may I present Kodiak and Grizzly." As Mrs.Nalley gawked at them, their forms shifted to a huge, macho biker and an amazon woman. "Spirits present a perception, a more familiar shape for you to communicate with, and a way to grasp that which you couldn't otherwise understand," Kodiak explained. Grizzly looked at Kodiak. "I need you to take a look at Elaine." "Why?" Kodiak asked, frowning. Their forms shifted, and with them the dream-space, until they appeared as a doctor and a nurse in a hospital ward. "My spiritual binding to her hallow caused some swelling of her Gustatory and Olfactory cortices," Grizzly explained. "It's interfering with her primary mutation." I felt my heart skip a few beats as I goggled at Elaine. Grizzly's words did _not_ sound good. The two of them looked at a 3-D representation of Lanie's brain, while Kodiak asked her about the padded device she was sitting on. "Ah ... Ah don't know ...," Lanie said hesitantly. "Ah think ...." She stumbled through a halting, incomplete attempt to explain it. "Ah'm not sure." "Has she ... lost ... her gadgeteering?" I asked fearfully. Kodiak frowned, and then asked, "Elaine, how could you fix your Pocolda so it was strong on both sides?" Lanie stammered, "Ah ... think ..." She continued to fight, while the hologram of her brain glowed red. "Ah .. Ah would have to ...." She clutched her head. "God, it hurts!" But Kodiak kept pushing her, restraining Mrs. Nalley to keep her from Elaine's side. As I watched in horror, Lanie kept trying, fighting pain as her eyes watered, and then she started bleeding from her nose. She finally screamed in pain, and Kodiak did something to take away her agony. I barely heard Kodiak speaking, "No, she hasn't lost it. But she will have to relearn using it." Tears poured down my cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Lanie!" I cried over and over. "I ... I took away your special ability. It was like Mrs. Carson had predicted - and it was all _my_ fault! Wyatt tried to interrupt me, but I wouldn't listen. "I ... I did this to her! After all I complained about wanting to be special, I _took_ that away from her!" I backed away from her in fear, knowing that she had to hate me for what I'd done. I turned, but before I could run like I so desperately wanted, Elaine grabbed me, having wriggled out of her mother's hug. I couldn't face her. "I'm sorry!" I bawled. "Lanie, I'm so, so sorry!" Lanie spun me around, hugging me tightly as I bawled with guilt at what I'd done. She put her hands on my cheeks and tilted my head up so I was looking directly into her green eyes. "You did _nothing_ to me that Ah didn't specifically ask for," she said, staring into my eyes. "You didn't take anything from me out of malice or spite." "But ..." I sniffled. How could she be so calm and ... forgiving? I couldn't meet her gaze eye-to-eye, and I tilted my head down, ashamed of what I'd done, afraid to see anger or hatred in her eyes. "It was an _accident_, Kayda!" Lanie insisted strongly. "Having a power doesn't make me special. Hell, it ain't even gone! Ah just have to relearn how to use it." She wiped at one cheek. "Dry those tears. Ah got Grizzly! And you know what Kayda? Ah feel safe! For the first time in two years, Ah feel safe!" She tried to smile. "You can't know what that's worth to me." I looked up, so terrified that I'd hurt my friend, and stunned to hear her forgiveness that I knew I didn't deserve. I stared in her eyes, and she stared in mine, and just like at the hot tub party, there was _something_ there - warmth, friendship, forgiveness, tenderness, and something else. Before I knew what was happening, she leaned down while I stretched up to meet her lips. I don't know if it was a kiss of forgiveness, or reasserting our friendship, or if it was something else - all I knew was that it was a very powerful, sensual kiss that made me tingle from head to toe. We were French kissing, clutching each other tightly, while I struggled in my mind with how I felt about Lanie and how I _loved_ Debra. Despite feeling conflicted about the two of them, I kept kissing Lanie, because she was such a _good_ kisser and I was so relieved that she wasn't blaming me for what had happened, but still considered me ... special? What _did_ we feel for each other? I wasn't going to bed with Lanie, but I still very much cherished her friendship - and more. At least that's how I rationalized continuing to kiss her. Grizzly cleared her throat, and I started, remembering suddenly that we _weren't_ alone. I drew back, and very hesitantly turned toward Grizzly. Lanie's mother and Wyatt were gawking slack-jawed at us. I blushed furiously, and looked down, away from Wyatt's gaze. Surely he was furious that I was French-kissing his girlfriend.... "Oh, _shit_!" Elaine whispered, blanching as she and I both realized what we'd done.
We opened our eyes in the conference room in Schuster. I was instantly aware, and I looked away from Wyatt and Mrs. Nalley, who was taking the longest to re-orient herself. I sighed with relief to see that Lanie was back in her delicious red-headed, curvy form, although her clothes were horribly oversized. I glanced again, and saw Mrs. Nalley staring at Lanie, her eyes wide in disbelief.
Wyatt helped Lanie up and into a chair, and he kissed her cheek. "Family comes first," he said softly. "I'll run to the bookstore to get you some clothes."
I sat rigidly, not really wanting to look anyone in the eye. I was ashamed of how I'd kissed Elaine, I was embarrassed that I'd done it in front of Mrs. Nalley, and I was terrified that Wyatt was furious with me.
Mrs. Nalley cleared her throat, and said in a deceptively calm voice, "Would everyone please excuse us?"
Wyatt stood first, and I hung back behind him, trembling nervously. He opened the door for me, shutting it once we were in the hallway. It had been my intention to scoot off as quickly as I could to avoid his anger, but when I tried, my book bag caught on something. I wanted to move and it most certainly _didn't_, so I ended up spinning around, nose to chest with Wyatt, who had his index finger hooked into the carry handle.
I looked up, terrified, but he had a small smile on his face and immediately let go once he had my attention. It wasn't lost on me that he'd grabbed my bag instead of touching me. "Can we talk a minute?" he asked softly.
A thousand lame excuses beat at the back of my teeth, but I felt my head shakily nod. After all, I couldn't outrun him or hide, and I certainly wasn't up to a fight. He gestured at the bench in the hall and sat down.
Wyatt sitting was much easier to deal with psychologically. He didn't loom sitting the way he did standing. He patted the bench next to him and smiled. "You don't have to be afraid of me, Kayda," he promised softly. "I don't hit women."
The tears welled up in my eyes. "I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean...we didn't..."
He held up a hand, his yellow eyes concerned. "You don't have anything to apologize to me for," he declared firmly, which took me by surprise. "I know you and Lanie hit it off at the hot tub party."
"Nothing... happened!" I said defensively.
"Hey, not my business!" he replied with a smile. "Lanie and I weren't together, and it's not like you can turn feelings on or off." He looked off in the direction of the conference room. "She's really awesome, isn't she? I've seen her dressed to the nines like a movie star on Oscar night and drinking beer in cut offs and a bikini top, and either way I ask myself, how did somebody so fantastic end up picking me to be with?" He shook his head. "I know I don't deserve her. She deserves somebody a lot better than me."
He turned and locked eyes with me and seemed to bore into my soul. "Maybe that somebody is you. Lanie likes girls, and based on her choices - you, me, Maria - she kinda has a thing for project people, people she can fix. And because we're all broken a little, we start building up walls to protect this wonderful person in our life, and maybe we get a bit afraid of the other people she's trying to fix, trying to help. I don't think she'd want that."
"I..."
Wyatt turned back and grinned again. "I think Lanie would want, would need us to be friends. You're important to her, so as far as I'm concerned, you're important to me." His face softened and he seemed so sad suddenly. "I know you had a rough time of it, Kayda. I know you've been horribly abused," he had a very sad look as he watched me react with shock that he knew my awful secret, "and if there is anything I can do to help you, I will. Because that will make her happy, and...and, more importantly, because it's the right thing to do. I'm not angry you and Lanie kissed, ok? You don't have to worry about me flying off the handle. In fact, I want to help you." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Could you call your buffalo pal?"
I blinked and Tatanka was there, big enough to be menacing, but not taking up the whole hallway. Wyatt pulled up his sleeve and revealed the gauntlet he was wearing on his right wrist. "I want you to see this," he told the spirit. "See that I'm not hurting her, ok?" Wyatt touched the bracer and his hand glowed golden.
Tatanka sniffed at it and nodded guardedly. "You may proceed."
Slowly he reached up, and I was too dumbfounded to run or resist, and by the time I thought to try and warn him, he touched my forehead. A weight I didn't know I carried fell from my shoulder and I sagged in relief. "You won't dream tonight," he promised. "No nightmares, just sweet, blissful sleep." His voice and inflection were ever so slightly different than normal and when I looked up his eyes were brown, but lightening back to yellow.
"Kodiak?"
"Get to feeling better, Kayda," he ordered with his goofy grin. "And if you need help, come to me, ok?" I felt my head nod, too stunned for speech.
He smiled again and stood, wagging a finger at me. "No more running," he ordered. "You have a problem, you come to me."
Then he smiled again and walked down the hall, whistling like he didn't have a care in the world. Like he hadn't just seen me kiss his girlfriend. And as I watched him go, I wondered if I would ever understand Wyatt Cody.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, May 3, 2007 - after dinner
Third Level Tunnels
Speakeasy
As soon as the transaction was complete, Darren and Eddie had set up the room - planting some nonsense papers about Ayla's business deals - just enough to hold someone's attention for a few seconds. Glasses had been set out with an ice bucket and cokes, in preparation for a supposed meeting. And then, very carefully, wearing triple-layers of very heavy, impregnable gloves, Darren had swabbed some of the precious serum onto the glasses and onto the papers. Two hidden cameras were set up to record the events: if things worked as planned, it'd be a shame to waste possible blackmail evidence.
It had only taken him and Eddie a few minutes to pick two targets for their plot - none better than two of the three rabidly anti-gay bullies of TNT. If it could work for them, it'd work for _anyone_ - including their main target. Once they'd selected their test victims, it was easy to figure out a suitable enticement for them - their hatred for the Goodkind bitch-boy was well-known, and they'd been chafing for a long time to find a way to get back at Ayla for some of the trouble they'd gotten into because of him.
At dinner, Eddie and Darren had talked conspiratorially - just loud enough for Tee-Kay and Nitro at the next table to hear - about Ayla and their 'informant' gathering information about the Goodkind so they could 'pressure' Ayla. The 'note' left partially hidden beneath a dirty plate on Eddie's tray cryptically directed the two of them to the newly-rented lair where they'd be able to deal for information about some of the things the Goodkind was up to - with a hint that some of the information could get Ayla into serious trouble with the administration.
It was easier than shooting fish in a barrel. Not only had Tee-Kay and Nitro overheard, but Darren had only had to use his esper suggestion a little teeny bit to get Nitro interested in the paper on Eddie's tray. It was thoroughly predictable that the two would call their buddy Truck to intercept and delay Darren and Eddie so that Tee-Kay and Nitro could get the information first.
Darren and Eddie hadn't counted on another set of ears overhearing, belonging to another Ayla-hater seated at the table behind them in the caf. Another wicked grin of possible revenge, and another person falling into their little trap.
Tee-Kay tested the doorknob, surprised to find it unlatched. He frowned at Nitro, overly suspicious of anything involving the Goodkind.
"Whoever has the info is expecting Darren and Eddie," Nitro replied casually. "Why wouldn't they leave it unlocked?"
"I guess." Tee-Kay opened the door wider, seeing nothing in the darkened room. Hesitantly, his hand reached inside the door frame, moving along the wall until he found a switch. Instantly, the room was bathed in warm light. "Nobody here," Tee-Kay said after glancing around. He slipped inside, pulling Nitro in behind him and closing the door with a soft click.
Tee-Kay looked around the room cautiously. It seemed like a normal small clubhouse - some moderately-worn furniture, a door into what was probably a bathroom, a small refrigerator, and a bookshelf and TV. On the coffee table were a few scattered papers.
Nitro had walked to the refrigerator. "Must be expecting a party here," he sneered, picking up a glass and scooping some ice from a convenient ice bucket. "I wonder if they've got any Coke in the fridge?" Without a care, he opened it. "Hey, you want one?" he asked his buddy.
Tee-Kay was looking at the papers. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'll take a Coke." He turned his attention back to the papers. "This looks like the mother lode!" he chuckled gleefully. "We'll take that bitch down!"
"If you do," a husky female voice insisted from the doorway, "I want to be a part of it."
In a nearby lab, Speakeasy and Quickdraw watched a video monitor in horror. They hadn’t expected Tisiphone to show up; she could ruin _everything_! Hell, she'd probably fireball Tee-Kay and Nitro to get the evidence herself. All of that planning, going to waste.
In the rent-a-lair, Tee-Kay and Nitro turned in shock at the interruption. "Oh, hey, Tissy," Nitro recovered first. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Tisiphone!" the bat-winged, scaled gargoyle-looking girl in the doorway hissed. "I'm going to get revenge on that Goodkind bitch!" She stalked to the table and snatched the papers out of Tee-Kay's hands. "Let me see that!"
Nitro suddenly realized he was staring longingly at Tisiphone, a raging boner in his pants. "Damn, she's hot!" he muttered to himself. Without even thinking about it, he walked over to the bat-demon girl, and as she read the papers, scowling as she tried to understand the business gibberish, Nitro practically launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her and frantically trying to kiss her as he rubbed his body urgently against her.
"What the hell ..." Tisiphone started to say, but the serum that had been on the paper was rapidly working its way into her bloodstream, and in seconds her objections were muted. Her claws raked lightly at Nitro, shredding his clothing to expose his naked body, while he and Tee-Kay practically tore the clothing from her.
In the nearby lab, Darren winced at what he saw, and yet he couldn't tear his eyes from the monitor, watching for almost two hours as Tee-Kay, Nitro, and Tissy went at it in every imaginable way in their rented lair. Watching one of the boys having sex with Tissy was, in a strange way, quite enticing, but the imagery when the boys were kissing and screwing each other in the strange, lust-serum-induced mini-orgy was revolting. And yet they couldn't take their eyes from it. After a couple of hours, the three of them were so exhausted physically and sexually that they passed out, their naked bodies still intertwined.
Eddie glanced nervously at Darren. "Don't even _think_ of getting any of that crap on me!" he protested loudly.
"We've got to go destroy the evidence," he said, wincing.
"_You_ go do it!" Eddie countered angrily. "I'm not going anywhere _near_ that place!"
A couple of minutes later, having donned the extra-thick rubber gloves, Darren crept into the room, where the trio lay on a rug; Tissy was snoring softly, snuggled up with Nitro. For a moment, Darren wondered if he'd accidentally gotten some on himself, because he was getting aroused at the sight of the naked demon-girl. Forcing himself to look away, he put the tainted glasses and papers into a trash bag and crept back out of the room, pausing to look once more at Tisiphone. Sure, she looked like a bat-winged demon or succubus, but she looked _damned_ sexy that way. Gulping nervously, afraid he'd accidentally gotten a dose of the serum, he eased the door closed behind him. The bag of evidence went into one of the trash hoppers that was destined for the incinerator. The tapes securely in hand, he and Eddie left to go back to their cottage, satisfied that all the pieces were nearly in place.
* * * * * * * * * *
Melville Cottage
Jadis Diabolik
Jadis leaned back from the monitor, one eyebrow lifted. A review of the tape from her mini-lair's security camera had been ... interesting. Nitro and Tissy?. Tee-Kay and Tissy? Well, the two weren't known to be very kind to GSD students, but it _was_ imaginable. But the things they'd done to each other? And as big of gay-bashers as they were? Something weird was going on. And that last little bit where Darren had sneaked into the room, tiptoeing around the sleeping menage a trois, to pick up the glasses and papers - with very heavy gloves? Was it possible that someone had _finally_ developed an overwhelmingly powerful aphrodisiac?
She knew she'd have to check her sources, especially with the chem-devisors and gadgeteers. If one of them had made such a thing, it'd be hard to suppress the news - or the product. She'd _have_ to get ahold of the inventor and make some arrangement - such a product would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.
In the meantime, she felt like a shower. A long, special shower ....
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007 - about four AM
Rented Clubhouse, Third level Tunnels
Nitro slowly awakened from his nightmare, shaken to his core. Such ... bizarre and disturbing dreams! And ... the things he and Tee-Kay had done! He needed to see a shrink about that - it was unnatural!
"Hey, lover," a husky girl's voice sounded in his ear from behind him. His eyes widened in shock, and he realized that an arm - a scaly, clawed arm - was draped over him, holding him tight. "Ready for another round?" the voice asked as the girl rolled him onto his back.
"Um, Tissy?" he started to protest, frightened. If she was here, naked, attacking him, that meant that .... He heard snoring behind Tissy, and he _knew_ with sickening certainty that it was Tee-Kay.
"Shhh," she said as she swung her leg across him to straddle him. She leaned closer to kiss him, and her long, demonic tongue snaked between his lips, while he felt her hands starting to touch him.
Nitro should have been repulsed. Massively repulsed. He'd had sex with this GSD monster. And apparently had gay sex with Tee-Kay. And yet ....
He found himself kissing her back, eagerly pulling his lips against hers, his hands reaching up to caress her large, inviting breasts, while he grew more and more aroused. Feeling it, Tissy shifted, lifting herself and then lowering her body, impaled on his manhood.
"Oohh," she purred, "you're mine! You're _all_ mine!"
The sound of the two rutting stirred Tee-Kay; he awoke with a start. "Eep!" he squeaked as he realized the situation he was in. Memories flooded his brain - very disturbing memories that made him want to throw up. How would he _ever_ live it down if word of what had _obviously_ happened got out? Feeling sore in spots from his awkward position on the floor, he kept his mouth shut, lying still, so the two would think him still asleep. That would ensure he wasn't drawn into more of ... _that_!
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007 - about five-thirty AM
Third Level Tunnels
Wrapped in tatters of clothing and dust covers from the sofa, Tee-Kay and Nitro lurched awkwardly through the tunnels back toward Schuster. Tissy strutted beside Nitro, her arms wrapped around him possessively and her head on his shoulder.
"This _never_ happened!" Tee-Kay hissed menacingly as they reached the junction of tunnels where Tissy would separate to go back to Whitman. "Don't you _ever_ talk about it!"
Nitro gulped, and then looked at the girl hanging all over him. "She was ... pretty fantastic," he admitted, wincing.
Tisiphone giggled. "So were you!" She glanced down the tunnel. "Walk me home," she said insistently to Nitro. "Boyfriend!" she added with a giggle.
"Um, it's ..."
"Walk me home!" she insisted more firmly, squeezing his tush provocatively.
"Um, okay," he squeaked, flinching a little bit. At the same time, her rough, somewhat commanding way was sexy and arousing.
Tee-Kay shuddered as Nitro escorted the love-struck demon-girl back to her cottage. As he turned toward the tunnels to Emerson, he heard her saying to Nitro in a seductive purr, "What are we doing tonight, sweetie?"
* * * * * * * * * *
Kane Hall, early evening before dinner
Chief Delarose
"Chief?" Lt. Reynolds reported, popping his head into Delarose's office.
Chief Delarose looked up at the interruption. "What?"
"We got something on Apathy," Reynolds reported grimly.
Delarose frowned. He had a feeling it wasn't going to be good news. "What?"
"One of the Weres came in to help track him, but he couldn't pick up a scent from Apathy. Too much rain lately."
Delarose knew there was more, or Reynolds wouldn't have interrupted him. "But?"
"But the kid _did_ say there's a strong stench of rotting remains. Problem is, he couldn't find a corpse." Reynolds winced. "It was so strong that _I_ could even smell it!"
The chief was fully alert. "Buried, maybe?"
Reynolds shook his head. "The kid didn't think so. He said it smelled like a carcass that was a couple of weeks old, but although he could smell it, he couldn't see it."
Something clicked in Delarose's mind. "The attack was on Kayda, right? And she does that fancy ghost-walking thing, right?"
Reynolds nodded slowly.
"Get her."
"Chief?"
"Send two officers ... Hell, forget that. I'm going to get her myself." His visage grew grim. "If we find a body, and it _is_ Apathy, she's a suspect. Get me two officers - fully equipped."
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007, Dinnertime
Outside Crystal Hall
I was so glad that Debra was back because I missed her and because her presence cut down on my confusion about Lanie. I hadn't yet told Debra about the dreams, the dream-walking, and kissing Lanie in dream-space, but I knew I couldn't put that off for long. As we approached the doors to the caf, Chief Delarose and two security officers intercepted us.
"Kayda," Delarose began, and his tone was anything but friendly.
"What can I do for you, Chief?" I asked, a little alarmed at how the guards were holding their weapons, ready to fire if needed.
"Let's move away from the cafeteria doors," Delarose said cautiously, glancing at the horde of students flooding toward Crystal Hall. Without waiting for an answer, he led us a dozen or so yards away from the building.
"What's up?" I asked again, this time more nervously.
"What can you tell me about Brad Collingsworth?" he asked cryptically.
I thought a moment. "Isn't he known as Apathy? I think he lives on the fourth floor of Poe; I don't know all the Poesies."
"When was the last time you saw him?" Delarose continued.
The questions were frightening me. It was almost like ... I was a suspect. With a lump in my throat, I glanced nervously at Debra for reassurance, and clutched her hand tightly. "Um, I don't know," I replied. "Two or three weeks ago maybe. I think I saw him and his friends when we got back from Spring Break."
"And you haven't seen him since?"
I shrugged. "Not that I remember. Why?"
Delarose paused a moment. "Let me pose a hypothetical. Suppose you were trying to cover up evidence of a crime, like, perhaps, a body. Someone who could cast an invisibility spell could, in theory, make the body disappear, right?"
I goggled at him; if I understood correctly, he was all but accusing me of something heinous. "Um, maybe," I stammered, "but ... the spell only lasts a couple of hours." I saw him start to speak, and decided that I had to add some evidence, especially if he _was_ accusing me of something. "Ms. Grimes knows the spell and its limitations."
Debra stepped up beside me. "So do I," she said firmly. "From personal experience with that spell. It has a limited duration." She frowned. "Chief, what's going on here? It sounds like you suspect Kayda did something that involves a body."
Delarose scanned her a couple of moments, sizing her up. "You're a licensed, sworn superhero, right?" Debra nodded. "Okay, let me put my cards on the table. We had a student disappear, ...."
"Apathy," I said with sickening certainty. "That explains why Mrs. Horton kept asking if anyone had seen him."
Delarose nodded. "He disappeared about two weeks ago. Not coincidentally, the security cameras show him in Laird Hall less than an hour before your ... accident with the knife, and he had no reason to be there."
"Ah, so he's the primary suspect in what happened to Kayda? And," Debra's eyes narrowed, "you're wondering if Kayda possibly found out about it and ... took her revenge?'
I gasped; until Debra vocalized the concern, I was sort-of in denial. But once she spoke. "But ... I wouldn't have had a chance!" I protested. "You had me under escort watch from the time I got here!"
"We considered that," Delarose said evenly. "So no, because you were in the hospital, and then had escort, you were _probably_ lacking in opportunity, so you're not the prime suspect. That doesn't mean, however, that you _aren't_ a suspect."
I sighed with relief. "So what do you want with me?"
"Some information, mostly," Chief Delarose said. "And maybe some help."
"Okay. How can I help?"
"First, if you _wanted_ to use your invisibility spell ..."
"Ghost-walking," I corrected him.
Delarose frowned at the interruption and correction. "If you wanted to use it to hide a body, would it be possible?"
I shook my head. "Only for a few hours. Four or five, tops." I paused a moment, though, as I remembered something.
"What, Kayda?" Debra had noticed me flinching.
"The ghost-warriors," I answered softly. Seeing her puzzled look, I continued. "The ghost-warriors at home. They couldn't cast the spell, but they _were_ ghost-walking. And they ... all had the same kind of charm!"
"Could you bind the spell to a charm?" Debra asked.
I nodded grimly. "Well, not me, but an experienced shaman - yeah."
Delarose frowned deeply. "Would there be any way to detect such a charm?"
"Only if I were ghost-walking and looking for it," I replied uneasily. I did _not_ like where this was going.
"Can you come with us?" Delarose asked. "Both of you."
"Where?"
Delarose grimaced as we started following the officers. "One of the weres helped us look for a ... body." He sounded grim. "He could smell a body, but he couldn't locate it."
Debra gasped. "And ... you think that maybe ... the body has some kind of invisibility on it?" Debra clutched me tighter; she knew what was coming, even if I didn't.
We walked with the security officers and Delarose to the west side of the academy grounds, far from the center of campus in a wooded area. There was _something_ unpleasant in the air, an unnatural smell that wasn't identifiable, but wasn't natural.
I was about to cast a ghost-walking spell to start searching, but Debra caught my arm. "Include the Chief in the spell, Kayda," she suggested. I glanced, and saw the Chief nod.
I cast the spell, and immediately touched Chief Delarose. The others had the silver aura, but not the Chief. "You'll see anything that's covered by a ghost-spell." I explained to him.
"Okay. This is going to take a walking search of this area; this is where the were-kid said he smelled something."
"Would it help if we had the others searching, too?" I asked. When he nodded, I touched Debra and the two officers.
Debra and I stumbled through the undergrowth, she with one officer, and me with Chief Delarose, and the other officer searched on his own. It wasn't thick, impenetrable jungle-like growth, but small scrub brushes under the trees, so the only real obstacle was the hilly, undulating terrain.
The chief and I trudged down into a small swale with several old trees, their large trunks making the tiny area into an obstacle course, and suddenly, I felt uneasy. "There's something here," I said nervously to the Chief. His hand dropped smoothly to the butt of the pistol at his waist, and he was visibly more alert. Being younger, I could move more easily over the rocky, uneven terrain, and I came around a large oak tree ahead of the chief.
My eyes felt like they were going to bulge from their sockets, and bile rose in my stomach. I lurched against the tree, my back to the rotting corpse as I crumpled to my knees, a spasm violently hurling the contents of my stomach to the ground.
"Over here!" Delarose called out as he stood beside me, looking down at the greenish-black, rotting remains of a human being. Despite his background in law enforcement and who-knew what else, he sounded unsteady, like seeing this type of crime scene was something he'd never get used to.
* * * * * * * * * *
Thursday, May 4, 2007
Rosebud Indian Reservation
Mission, South Dakota
Dan Bear Claws
The retired chief was worried as he hung up the phone. His contact at Whateley sounded a bit ... irrational. He seemed to be delighting in the thought of using violence to get at Kayda, and he snapped back at Dan when he'd been told to tone it down.
And his contact still had nothing to tell him about the other party, the ones who'd been using potentially-lethal attacks on the girl. The more he thought, the more worried he became. This "simple job" was turning out to be anything _but_ simple.
He'd barely set the phone in its cradle before it rang again. "Dan Bear Claws," he answered as soon as he scooped the headset to his ear.
"How are things going?" Gray Skies demanded, skipping formalities.
Dan winced. "Um," he stammered, "we might have a problem."
"What do you mean by 'problem'?" Gray Skies demanded in a low, insistent tone that sent chills down Dan's spine. "Is there a threat to the girl?"
Dan grimaced. "He hasn't found out anything about the other party," he confessed.
"He _has_ to! You promised me that he'd get to the bottom of that!" Gray Skies was _not_ happy. Not happy at all.
"Um, okay," Dan replied hesitantly. "I'll remind him that's his top priority."
The shaman paused. "What's going on?" Gray Skies finally demanded.
"Um," Dan stammered, "my contact sounds ... a little crazy. Like he's ... not listening to me."
"Is he a threat to her?"
Dan winced. "I'm ... I'm not sure. I don't _think_ so!"
"You don't _think_?!?" Gray Skies practically screamed. "If you're not sure, call him off! I don't want to take any chances with the girl, do you hear me? If _anything_ happens to her, do you know what will happen to you?" The last bit sounded menacing and ominous.
Dan swallowed hard. "Yes," he answered softly, his voice about to tremble from fright. "I'll call him right back and call him off."
"Good." The line went dead.
Mr. Bear Claws pressed the hang-up button on the phone, and then released it. His fingers danced over the keypad on the old-fashioned desk phone, and he sat impatiently as the phone rang. It took four rings for someone to answer.
"Hello?" the voice said.
"This is Bear Claws. Something has changed, and so has your mission," he said urgently.
"What's changed?" The voice on the other end sounded impatient and upset.
"The shaman said to stop what you're doing and find - and stop - the other actors who mean the girl harm."
There was a long pause, and Dan was starting to think that his contact had hung up. "I'm too close to stop," the voice said, sounding almost obsessed with his job. "I can't stop now."
"You have to stop! That's an order."
"I've got to get the witch!" the voice said. "She has to be removed from the campus. And so she will!" The line clicked dead.
Dan Bear Claws started shaking. His contact sounded - insane. And he was obsessed with removing the girl from Whateley. And if that wasn't bad enough, the contact was no longer taking direction from Dan. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen to the girl. If it did, Gray Skies would blame him, and the threatened retribution would descend on him like a ton of bricks. He didn't know what to do; maybe it was time to tell Gray Skies the truth; the consequences would probably be less severe than if something happened to the girl.
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007, evening
Crystal Hall
After finding the hideously deformed and rotten corpse, I had _no_ appetite. Because of my magic, _I_ had had to locate the charm so that one of the officers could retrieve it so the body would be visible, which meant that I had to study the body to locate the magic. To make matters even worse, the knife wound which had killed Apathy was visible, which put me back atop the suspect list. As a result, I spent over two hours with the Chief and Emily Strong giving a statement and explaining my whereabouts for nearly every moment after the knife attack in the gym. We went back to Poe, where Mrs. Horton practically ordered me to spend the night with Debra; she'd gotten the report from security and could tell how thoroughly rattled I was. I spent the night cuddling with Debra to calm my nerves;
The doctors in Doyle confirmed that the body was the missing boy Brad. I didn't envy Mrs. Carson's job of letting his parents know about his murder. Worse, I knew that the parents needed closure, so they would want to know that Apathy's murderer had been caught and would be punished. The problem was that evidence included me in the list of suspects.
Dr. Bellows had excused me from several classes, including, fortunately, magic, because I still was nervous with Ms. Grimes. That class had been uncomfortable the previous two days, and my participation had been considerably less than enthusiastic. Even though Lanie wasn't seriously harmed, I felt overwhelmingly guilty about the impact to her power, and no doubt Ms. Grimes and Mrs. Carson blamed me. It made me so uneasy that I arranged with Circe to 'decontaminate' the final of the seven spikes that were in custody instead of doing that ritual with Ms. Grimes, as I had before.
Debra and I were in the serving line when an arm reached in from the left and grabbed for the butter spoon at the same time as Debra. "Oh, Ah'm sorry," the girl said, and then she squealed with delight. "Debra!" she called excitedly.
Debra started when her name was called, and she turned toward the interruption. "Lanie?" she asked before grinning. "Look at you! Good grief, you've blossomed!" She let go of the butter spoon and wrapped Elaine in a warm embrace. "How's my favorite photographer? Or are you in _front_ of the camera now?"
"Missing mah favorite model!" Lanie answered with a grin. She opened her arms, displaying her body. "And no, I'm not going to do any modeling, even though Mother Nature gave me a little present last summer," she giggled, "There's no way Ah can compete for the Vogue photography medal without you, so Ah've been doing other things."
"No!" Debra said with a mock pout. "You have _such_ a good eye."
"Lanie? You and Deb really do know each other!" I commented.
A few students pushed around us to get the condiments for their own potatoes while Debra and Lanie caught up and exchanged memories. From the looks they were exchanging, I was pretty sure that Lanie had appreciated Debra's figure during the photo-shoots.
"Hey, Deb!" greeted Wyatt as he came over. "Long time no see! What brings you out East?"
I flinched at his voice; he still made me very nervous.
"Visiting my aunt in Boston," Debra replied wearily. "And since I was so close, I thought I'd run up here and see everyone."
Wyatt glanced knowingly at me, which caused me to blush, while Lanie winked at me. "Some more than others, right?" After a moment, Lanie winced. "Maybe we should talk ...." She stopped suddenly, looking nervous and a bit sheepish.
Wyatt nodded as he picked up Lanie's tray. "Sure." After the checkout line, he led us to the secluded table behind the waterfall - the same one I ate at when I wanted privacy. With the noise of the waterfall, we wouldn't be overheard. "Now, what's going on?" he asked as he slathered steak sauce all over his massive helping of prime rib.
Lanie and I exchanged a worried glance. "Um, we've ... kind of got something ... to tell you. Both of you."
Debra raised an eyebrow. "Be careful you don't talk out of turn," she cautioned, still sensitive to the secret of Poe.
Wyatt chuckled. "I know Lanie is bi.
Debra's eyes darted between Lanie and Wyatt, and she smirked, "Wyatt Cody, you will _never_ cease to amaze me! What is that, three?"
Wyatt actually blushed. "Lanie kind of came after me," he admitted.
I frowned, confused. "Three _what_?"
Debra leaned closer and whispered, "Wyatt has managed to coax three girls out of the Sisterhood!" I shuddered, and decided to stare at my plate so they wouldn't see my embarrassment. She straightened. "Now, what is it you want to tell Cody and me?"
Before I could say anything, Lanie said hurriedly, "We haven't done anything."
"Um, _yet_!" I added nervously. Lanie winced and nodded in admission.
Debra looked a little serious. "I see," she said, turning to me. "You're attracted to Elaine?" My blush was enough of an answer for her, but I nodded a bit, too. "I see. And there's no need to ask Lanie, because I know her tastes, and you are _right_ up her alley." She paused, staring evenly at me until I looked up at her. "Are you asking for my permission to have an affair with her while I'm back in Sioux Falls?"
I gawked at her blunt words. "No!' I cried in response.
Debra got a sly look. "Are you maybe having second thoughts about being a lesbian and you want my permission to try out Wyatt?" She ignored my look of total shock as I felt blood draining from my face. "From what I've heard, you couldn't ask for a better one for a trial run," she commented without expression, "but I suggest you ask Lanie's permission first."
"No, I'm not asking for _that_!" I exclaimed, my voice trembling as much as my body at even the thought of such a thing. "I'm not even ... tempted!" I added, shuddering.
"No?" Debra asked, grinning. "Goodness, _I_ certainly was ...."
Wyatt goggled at her. "You _were_?" he demanded, receiving a punch in his arm as a reward for his curious-sounding question.
"Is there any girl in this school that you _haven't_ slept with?" Lanie demanded. I couldn't tell if she was mocking him or not.
Debra lifted her hand, index finger extended, and waved it. "Yeah, me," she replied with a chuckle. "But it wasn't for lack of trying on his part." She looked to me and gently brushed some stray hair out of my yes. "Kayda, I don't own you, and I won't ever be jealous because you see someone and have a reaction. That's _perfectly_ normal."
"I _want_ to be with you!" I cried in protest. "I _love_ you!"
"And Ah love Wyatt," Lanie added. "It's just ...."
I sighed, knowing that I was going to have to admit something to Debra and Lanie that I hadn't even admitted to myself. "It's just ... there's _something_ when I look at Lanie. It's ... not the same as when we look at each other, but it's ... I don't know," I added, shaking my head. "I don't want you to think that I'm sneaking around behind your back. It's just that ... I'm attracted to Lanie. But I _love_ you!"
Debra smiled sweetly. "And I love you, sweetie. And I _trust_ you. Both of you," she added. "I appreciate you being honest with me." She shrugged. "I can't speak for Wyatt ...."
The burly senior rubbed his chin. "You know, Debra," he mused, "maybe we _should_ give them a little fling. As it is now, they'll both be 'the girl they didn't score with' or something." He sighed. "I don't _want_ that," he continued. "What I want is to punch somebody."
With a soft pop, Tatanka was standing beside the table at my side, his eyes blazing.
"Back off, mighty whitey," Cody growled. "I won't hit her. That's not my style." He looked steadily at Debra. "What I _want_ is to go all cave-man and take Lanie to my cave, and beat the crap out of anyone who interferes. I want to shout that Lanie is mine, and everyone better keep their fucking hands off!" He sighed again. "But I'm all civilized, so I won't do any of that shit."
Debra chuckled. "Thank God. Because if you do anything to Kayda, you and I are going a few rounds."
"More than anything," the big senior continued, "I want Lanie to be happy - with me and with the choices she's made. And if the two of you need a fling for her to sort that out, then ... go ahead and get it out of your systems."
"No!" Lanie and I said firmly, and almost in one voice.
"Besides, Ah love _you_, you big galoot!" she added. "Ah made mah choice!"
"Just because we're ... attracted to each other doesn't mean that something's going to come of it," I added firmly. "We can be friends without having an affair!"
Debra chuckled. "That's funny, considering how sure you were that you _hated_ Lanie a couple of weeks ago?"
Lanie's jaw dropped. "Hated me?" she asked, stunned.
I was on the spot again, so I turned to face my friend. "I ... prejudged you from all I'd heard - you know, Lab Queen, Gadgeteer Goddess, Mechanism Maestra ..."
Lanie giggled. "_That's_ one I hadn't heard!"
Her mood was infectious. "I ... was intimidated. You know, like we talked about. I ... didn't think I could _ever_ get any respect in the labs, not compared to you. I ... felt like one thing I was good at was taken away, because I'd only ever be second-best."
Lanie smiled and patted my hand, which caused Debra's and Wyatt's eyebrows to rise. "It's okay," she assured me. "Ah hope you know Ah'd never try to deliberately humiliate you or make you feel second best."
"I know - now." I turned to the big senior. "Wyatt, I'm not trying to ... poach," I tried to assure him. "She kept me safe at the hot-tub party, when Rosalyn ..."
Wyatt's eyes widened. "Rosalyn? Rosalyn Dekkard? Super-tramp was after you, and she didn't score?" He looked stunned.
"Yeah. Full-court press," I admitted. I was _not_ going to tell them how close she'd come to succeeding, nor was I going to betray the secret she'd shared with Debra and me in Mrs. Horton's apartment.
Wyatt laughed aloud. "I don't think we have _anything_ to worry about," he told Debra, grinning.
Debra smiled smugly, holding my hand. "I never thought we did."
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007, After dinner
Crystal Hall
"Kayda, can we talk to ya for a sec?" There was no mistaking Alicia's Cajun accent and bubbly enthusiasm, even in just a few words shouted from halfway across the cafeteria.
Seeing Alicia seated with Adalie and my other friends, I gave a half chuckle. "I better see what kind of trouble they want me to get in this time."
Debra nodded, but when Lanie and Wyatt started to follow me, I interrupted them. "This'll only take a minute." Wyatt glanced at Lanie, and then shrugged and continued toward the door.
Debra and I sat down at the table with my friends. "What's up?"
Alicia winced, as did Addy. I looked around, and noticed a somewhat guilty expression on Adrian's face, while Laura just shrugged. Even Evvie, Naomi, and Vasiliy were acting like they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Okay, what's up?" I asked again, this time more firmly.
"Um," Adrian stammered, "we ... we were talking, and, um ...."
Evvie piped up. "Since you're doing simulations with the Nations, we thought we should ask again if, er, ....,"
RPG sighed. "Are wanting to form training team with you," he blurted out in his thick Russian accent. "You are gaining experience, and would be better to train as team with people we are knowing instead of random group."
I goggled at him, and then looked around. Everyone was staring at me with hopeful expressions, especially Naomi and Adrian. As upperclassmen, they were _going_ to be assigned to a team if they didn't have one soon. I glanced at Debra.
"You're going to be put on a training team yourself, too," she said knowingly. "It's better to be on a team with people you know and trust."
"Voice of personal experience?" I asked about half-sarcastically.
She nodded. "The good teams aren't the random ones." She gave a half-chuckle. "Although, Gunny _has_ been known to call in random students and make them go through a team sim just to show that you can't always pick the people you might have to fight with."
I looked around again. "If I have to be on a team, I'd rather it was with people I know will have my back and that I can work with," Adrian said simply. The others nodded their agreement.
I thought for bit. There was logic in what Adrian said, and what Debra had told me. And we _were_ going to be required to train in the simulators. I exhaled deeply. "I suppose if I have to be on a training team," I said slowly, "I'd like it to be with friends."
"Does that mean ...?" Alicia asked uncertainly.
I nodded. "Yeah. Let's make a team." I glanced around nervously. "How big can a team be?" We had me, Evvie, Naomi, Alicia, Addy, Adrian, Vasiliy, and Laurie.
"When I was here, the biggest team I saw was nine," Debra explained. "That was a rare exception, though. Usually, they like to keep it at six or seven, but eight happens sometimes."
"Okay," I said, nodding. "What do we have to do to ....?"
"I already picked up a team registration form," Adrian interrupted. "All we have to do is turn it in." He pulled a paper out of his pocket.
As I read the form, which was wrinkled and upside down in front of Adrian, I frowned. "You _already_ have me on the form? _And_ you've picked GhostWalkers for a team name?" I asked, astonished at their certainty.
"Yeah," Laurie said sheepishly. "We figured we could talk you into it."
"But ... GhostWalkers?"
Adrian chuckled. "I wanted Tatanka Ska, but the others voted it down."
They wanted to name the team 'White Buffalo?' I stared at them aghast. "Don't _I_ get a vote?" I asked, feeling more and more like I was being railroaded.
Evvie chuckled. "You'll get voted down. Once Addy told us about the Ghost Warriors and their charms, it was unanimous."
I buried my head in my hands. "Why me?" I groaned.
"And you can make us ghost-walking charms, like you said the warriors had," Naomi added enthusiastically. "That'd be so cool!"
We sat and talked for over an hour about the team - what we'd have to take for classes, who would be team captain - and I almost got railroaded into _that_ job as well - how hard it would be to make ghost-walking charms for everyone, how we'd practice, and so on. Debra chipped in ideas based on her own experience, and I could tell that some of my time with Debra was going to be spent on team tactics and simulators and stuff.
After settling out a few things, Debra and I left Crystal Hall, making moon-eyes at each other in anticipation of a very intimate evening but not yet holding hands or wrapping our arms around each other's waist. It wasn't worth taking a chance. Soon enough, I thought to myself with anticipation. As we strolled toward Poe, Debra noticed someone on what looked like an intercept course. "Wild Pack at two o'clock," she whispered insistently to me.
I spun my head and frowned. It was Mindbird in her security armored suit, helmet on, and moving very quickly toward us. I glanced around, looking to see if there was someone else she was after, but there was no-one else. We were her targets.
"Kayda," she said formally as she blocked our path on the walkway.
"Dale."
"What's with the formality?" Debra asked, a little concerned.
"Kayda, you are to accompany me to a meeting in Schuster Hall," she reported in a monotone, not betraying anything through her flat vocal delivery.
"Why?" I glanced at Debra. "Can't it wait?"
"I have orders to take you to Schuster _right now_," she insisted firmly, crossing her arms across her chest in a power stance.
I glanced at Debra again, bewildered. "What's it about? Who wants to meet with me?"
"The only thing I can tell you is that you are to be escorted to Schuster Hall now. She can come," she added with a glance at Debra, "but she can't come into the meeting." She stepped beside me and gently but firmly took hold of my elbow and forearm in a no-nonsense way that emphasized her mission.
I glanced over my shoulder at Debra. "I'll ... call as soon as I get done with whatever this is." Nervously, I turned and walked with her toward Schuster Hall, every step rattling my nerves more and making me feel like a condemned person walking toward the electric chair.
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4th, 2007 - After Dinner
Rm 216, Whitman Cottage, Whateley Academy
Elaine Nalley
"So what can you tell me about this other girl on Mom's list?" Shelly Carson asked Lanie, sprawled on her bed ignoring the laptop beside her.
"You expect me to engage in gossip?" Lanie asked with mock horror, turning from the computer on her desk at which she'd been frantically working. "Ah'm shocked. Shocked!" She laid her hand at her chest like proper Southern lady. "Shocked that it's taken you so long to ask what rumors Ah might know!" She grinned at her new roommate. "After all, you have a _lot_ of catchin' up to do in that area!"
"Well?" Shelly guffawed. She already really liked her new roommate.
"To properly spread rumors," Lanie grinned, "Ah have to know who Ah'm gossipin' about!"
"Oh, yeah," Shelly chuckled. "I guess I'd gotten used to Mom somehow knowing what I was thinking. She's a new girl, apparently, with a nose for trouble. Kayla? Something like that."
Lanie gasped softly. "Kayda?"
"Yeah, that's the name. So what can you tell me about her." Shelly's eyes narrowed at the expression on Lanie's face. "You _do_ know her, I take it."
Lanie nodded. "It's a long story."
"I've got time."
"Ah don't," Lanie laughed melodiously. "At least not right now."
"Your beefcake?" Shelly asked with an appreciative waggle of her eyebrows.
"Yeah, Wyatt Cody."
Shelly's eyes widened. "He's on the list, too! So what are you, the Three Musketeers or something? I mean, it can't be a coincidence that you know both of them, and Mom's watching all three of you."
Elaine decided to change the subject away from Wyatt. "Kayda and Ah met only last week. She's ..." Her heart fluttered a bit when she briefly recalled the lithe Lakota beauty standing naked beside the hot tub. "She's a fellow gearhead," she added hastily, as much to distract herself from her own thoughts as to give Shelly more information. "Smart, interestin', fun to talk with." Elaine frowned. "Why is _she_ on your mom's list?"
A knock at the door pre-empted Shelly's response. "Come in," Elaine called. "Oh, hi, Diana," she said with a smile as Thunderfox entered the room. "What can Ah help you with?"
Diana glanced at Shelly, and then looked sternly at Elaine. "I have orders to take you to Schuster Hall."
"Schuster?" Elaine asked, baffled. "Ah was just there, not even an hour ago!" she complained. "Why do Ah have to go again?"
"I wasn't told anything other than to bring you to Schuster Hall ASAP," Thunderfox replied, carefully neutral in her tone.
Lanie sighed heavily. "Can you give me a second? Ah've got a date tonight, and Ah'd hate to waste time walking from Schuster back here on mah way to ... mah date!"
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday, May 4, 2007. 9 PM
Schuster Hall, Mrs. Carson's Office
I looked up when Thunderfox escorted Lanie into the outer office of the Headmistress. "You, too?" we both asked at the same time.
"Do you have any idea what she wants with us?" I asked softly as Lanie sat down.
"Nope," Lanie answered. She hadn't even fully seated herself when the door to Mrs. Carson's office opened.
"Come in and be seated," Mrs. Carson's voice rang out in a commanding tone. She wasn't visible; the high back of her chair faced the door, and the sound of keypresses on her computer attested to her activity.
Glancing nervously at each other, we rose. I sniffed, and then turned to Lanie. "I _love_ that perfume you're wearing!" I whispered insistently. "It smells so ...," I couldn't help but think of her at the hot-tub party, "so enticing! You'll have to tell me what it is so I can get some for Debra!" At the same time, I knew why she was wearing it. "Must be a date with Wyatt."
Lanie nodded. "Assuming Mrs. Carson doesn't keep us too long," she whispered.
"Be seated, girls!" Mrs. Carson called out.
Nearing the door, I could see another person seated beside Mrs. Carson's desk. I winced at Mrs. Horton's presence. This had all the ominous feeling of something _really, really bad_! Warily, we sat, both on the edges of the seats. Being called into the Headmistress' office was intimidating enough, but this late on a Friday night? After the week we'd both had? It was downright nerve-wracking.
Slowly, the chair turned around, and I gulped at the Supreme Authority mode that Mrs. Carson wore visibly like a suit of clothing. "Have either of you seen the old movie, 'The Trouble With Angels'?" she asked.
"Ah have," Elaine admitted. "Ah presume you're thinkin' of the scene where the Reverend Mother is talking to one of the nuns and says that she should expel the two girls, but that would be an act of cruelty against the world?"
"Very good, Miss Nalley," Mrs. Carson said, her face and tone impassive. "The two of you have obviously become good friends very quickly, but I can't decide if that's equivalent to putting two sub-critical masses together and hoping they explode."
I winced. "Ma'am?" I asked nervously, a little intimidated and wondering what she was intending for us. Mrs. Horton sat impassively, giving me no clue about what was happening. That made me even more nervous.
"Alone, each of you attracts more than your share of trouble. Together?" She almost suppressed a shudder. "Neither of you are ready for the world, and I know the world is not ready for you. That means I have to figure out a way to _try_ to keep you two out of trouble long enough for you to learn to avoid it.
Lanie and I exchanged a worried glance. "Yes, ma'am," I said softly.
"You two experimented with something that could have turned out very, very disastrous," Mrs. Carson said sternly, her tone enough to send a chill down my spine.
"Yes, ma'am," I acknowledged quickly. "I ... won't do that again."
"No," Mrs. Carson said, "You won't, except in very controlled circumstances of which I approve and when you are closely supervised." She glanced back and forth between the two of us. "Since you chose to open this can of worms ...."
I didn't like the way she sounded. It was the same way Mrs. Zimmer, my old English teacher, started a significant lesson based on someone's major screwup. What was worse was that Mrs. Horton sat impassively, a neutral observer adding nothing, giving me no support.
"Can either of you identify the eight principal dangers associated with extra-dimensional beings?" she demanded. I gulped; I had no idea what she was talking about. "Oh, come now, Kayda," she continued sternly. "Surely you know one of them from experience, since you were attacked in your dream-world. Okay, can either of you tell me the complications that can arise in a magic ritual?"
After an awkward moment of silence, when neither of us dared to speak, she continued. "Do you know how spells work? How they are designed to make the magic flow the way you want, and not have an uncontrolled mess that might attract unwanted attention? Or what kind of ... things ... would be attracted to errant magic?"
I flinched a bit, and she noticed. "Kayda?"
"Um, I ... I kind of visualize things like a mechanical diagram," I answered meekly, "and then I figure out how to make magic flow through the components."
Mrs. Carson's eyes widened in surprise. "You've ... designed spells?"
I flinched again. "Um, yeah. Pretty simple ones," I added quickly. "Wakan Tanka taught me how ... how things work."
"Hmmm," Mrs. Carson mused, exchanging a quick glance with Mrs. Horton, who seemed mildly amused at my revelation. "I seem to have underestimated how much tutoring you're getting from your spirit." Slowly, a rather sadistic smile crept upon her features. "Yes, this will work better than I thought." She looked at Lanie. "Since you'll be taking intro to magic next fall, and since you understand mechanical things almost instinctively, Kayda will be the _perfect_ tutor to help you understand magic since she thinks in mechanical terms as well." She turned to me. "I would strongly suggest that you learn your magic well so you're prepared to help Elaine."
"Yes, ma'am," I said, gulping.
"And you two will also be in a special class on Extra-dimensional planes and beings, taught by me, so you can learn about the dangers and pitfalls which you've invited into your lives through your ... reckless experiments."
I gulped again, and glanced at Lanie, who looked like she'd already heard that news. "Um, excuse me," I said hesitantly, "but with Ms. Bell already asking me to be a special math tutor and the work-study position with Dr. Quintain and normal classes, I won't have any time for something _I_ want to do, like technology courses!"
"Ah, I was about to get to that," Mrs. Carson said, shooting a quick glance at Mrs. Horton. "In exchange for the time you'll be spending tutoring, since Elaine is already knowledgeable and skilled in technology, she'll be _your_ tutor in technology classes."
Both of us goggled at her, and I stole a glance at Elaine. I was nervous, but for an entirely different reason. Between classes and tutoring, we were going to be spending a lot of time together. We'd both already admitted that we shared a mutual attraction, but I was nervous that our professed love for others wouldn't be enough to keep us from doing something we'd regret.
"But ... Ah won't have any time of mah own!" Lanie
complained, "for mah own tinkerin'!"
Mrs. Horton smiled. "Well, now, your role next fall as a Resident Advisor on Kayda's wing should minimize the time you spend running back and forth between cottages, right?"
I goggled at Mrs. Horton, and then at Lanie. "Resident ... advisor?"
Mrs. Horton nodded. "There's going to be a major remodeling of Poe this summer. The old cottage will have two extensions built on either end so that it's H-shaped. Each wing will have an older student as a Resident Advisor to help keep an eye on things."
Lanie nodded. "Ah've already agreed to be RA for your wing," she admitted.
"You two are going to be together so much you'll be like sisters." Mrs. Carson finally broke a smile. "And congratulations on being team-mates."
"Team-mates?" Lanie and I both said, stunned.
"Yes. You're both on Team Phoenix," Mrs. Carson said in a way that practically screamed, 'Do _not_ try to get out of this!'
"But ... I've already _got_ a team!" I protested. "We agreed tonight at dinner - me and Addy and Alicia and my other friends!"
Mrs. Carson beamed. "Good. You'll get a lot of team training, then. Especially since you're doing simulations with the Nations." She leaned back in her chair for the first time. "Now, it's Friday night, and I'm sure you two girls have things you'd much rather be doing than sitting here. If you have questions, you can talk to your academic advisors or to Mrs. Horton, or you can always get an appointment to talk to me."
Stunned, Lanie and I nodded, rose from our chairs, and walked - zombie-like - from the office. We had a _lot_ to think about.
* * * * * * * * * *
Headmistress' Office
Mrs. Carson
Bella. Horton watched the door close. "Either those two will help each other learn control, or they're going to get themselves in so much trouble ...."
"I'm counting on you to make sure it's the former," Mrs. Carson said with a grin.
"I wonder," Bella mused, "how long it will take Lanie to figure out that you making her tutor Kayda is for her own good? That it'll help her relearn her gadgeteering skill?"
"She's sharp. She's probably already got that figured out."
"Wanna bet on that?" Bella asked with a chuckle. "She's a very headstrong girl!"
"End of the term," Liz answered with a smile. "Before then, I win. If it takes longer than that, you win. What do you bet? Ten dollars?"
Bella chuckled. "Money is so boring."
Mrs. Carson arched an eyebrow. "What do you have in mind?"
Bella thought for a bit, and then proposed terms for the bet. Liz's eyes widened at the outlandish proposal, and then nodded. "I hope you don't mind losing," she chuckled.
"And you _know_ that putting those two together on the same wing is going to cause a lot of trouble, don't you?" Bella added.
"I think you'll manage to keep that from happening," Liz replied confidently.
"Wanna bet?"
"Double or nothing?"
"You're on."
* * * * * * * * * *
Outside Schuster Hall
Debra and Wyatt were waiting for us as we practically skipped down the steps from the admin building. We hadn't gotten off nearly as badly as we'd feared.
"You realize that the magic tutoring is going to take a _lot_ of time," I cautioned Lanie.
Wyatt frowned. "Tutoring?"
Lanie nodded. "Besides the classes Mrs. Carson assigned me, Kayda got assigned the same Extra-Dimensional class, and she's supposed to tutor me in magic theory - apparently because she thinks of magic in mechanical terms. And I have to tutor her in technology stuff," she groused.
"And Mrs. C is making me take intro to magic next term, too," Wyatt said thoughtfully. "You know," he continued, scratching his chin, "maybe you can tutor _both_ of us."
I saw more and more of my free time slipping inexorably away. "When? I'm already overloaded for next fall!"
"Why don't you tutor us in dream-space?" Wyatt asked.
"Dream space?"
Wyatt nodded. "We all know that time is different, and we can all go to dream-space. Plus your spirit could help us." He paused, glancing around furtively. "And we know that I have to learn a _lot_ of magic very quickly - for reasons the Kodiak knows."
Debra looked warily at Wyatt, and then at me. "I'll explain later," I said quickly. I looked back at Lanie. "Maybe we should make ourselves scarce in case Mrs. Carson comes up with more wacky ideas to torture us."
Wyatt, Lanie, and Debra all grinned. "That sounds like a plan."
"How about we go sailing tomorrow?" Lanie proposed. Seeing our stares of disbelief, she continued, "Ah've got a mockup of mah boat in the simulator."
I glanced at Debra, who had wrapped her arm around my waist,
pulling me close, just as Wyatt had done with Lanie. "That sounds like
fun," Debra said cautiously, "but I ... get a little motion sick
sometimes."
"We'll be on a lake, not the ocean," Lanie chuckled. "Besides, there are some really good devisor drugs to stop motion sickness that'll even work with your regen."
"Okay, it's a plan." Debra gave my waist a small squeeze. "Eight o'clock after breakfast?"
"Eight thirty," Elaine countered. "See you then." She and Wyatt turned toward Melville, while Debra and I turned toward the guest cottages.
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, May 5, 2007, breakfast
Crystal Hall
No sooner had I sat down at our table than Ayla approached. His normally inscrutable face betrayed the tiniest hint that something was wrong, so when he asked if he could speak to me, I accepted.
"The rumor is," he began furtively, eyes glancing around to ensure nobody was listening in, "that you and Heyoka are at odds."
"What?!?" Such a thing was ludicrous; Heyoka and Ptesanwi had an understanding, and _I_ didn't think there was any friction. Certainly not after the dream-walking interruptions had ended.
Ayla nodded, his expression grim. "Some of the rumors are pretty dark - that you two are threatening each other, that there have been fights between you two in Poe, that your spirits hate each other and have vowed to punish the other."
My eyes must have been bulging from their sockets. "But ... but ... that's bullshit!"
"Perhaps," Ayla said, "but if someone wants to _cause_ friction, rumors are one way to start mistrust and misunderstandings."
"I'll have to talk to Heyoka when I get a chance," I replied.
"Perhaps even having lunch with him a few times," Ayla suggested. "A friendly lunch or two would help dispel any rumors."
* * * * * * * * * *
Across the dining hall, Magic Mikey sidled up to the table at which Wind Runner sat - alone. "Mind if I join you?" he asked in a friendly tone.
Wind Runner shrugged. "I guess."
As Mike sat down, he said, "You seem kind of down today."
"Yeah, whatever," she answered
"Does this have anything to do with all those nasty rumors?" Mike asked, trying to sound innocent.
"What rumors?" Wind Runner demanded.
"You know - that the new girl undercut you in the Native American group and is trying to get you to leave the group entirely?"
Wind Runner's frown deepened. "What have you heard?"
Mike shrugged as if he knew nothing. Manipulating angry people was so easy! "Just that she sucked up to Mr. Lodgeman and the administration and convinced enough members to vote for her instead of you." He sighed, pretending he wasn't delighting in her growing rage."
"Well, she _did_ have Mr. Lodgeman's help in reorganizing the whole thing!" she said angrily.
"Someone said she's trying to run Heyoka out, too," Mike mused. "Aren't you and Heyoka friends?"
Wind Runner shrugged. "Well, we _kind of_ know each other," she said.
"That makes sense, then!"
"What?" Wind Runner's curiosity had been piqued.
"She heard that you two are friends, and because she's got some kind of hate on for him, you got caught up in it, too!" Mike pronounced. He grinned to himself; it was so easy to sow seeds of discontent and nasty rumors, especially when Wind Runner had been seriously slighted in the Nations elections. And adding the rumor that Heyoka and Kayda were at odds? An easy way to increase the amount of dislike for her. He had to admit that his girlfriend Amber had had one hell of a good idea about that. It was such an easy way to get all of Heyoka's friends to hate Kayda.
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, May 5th, 2007, Breakfast
The Crystal Hall, Whateley Academy
Breakfast on a Saturday frequently was something of a 'brunch' affair as late sleepers drifted in later and later in the morning until it was really more of lunch than a breakfast. Nevertheless, the staff rather liked the laid-back attitude since it made for an easy morning without the hectic rush of the weekdays. Debra and I had joined Wyatt and Lanie at breakfast and he and Debra were swapping stories of the 'good old days' before Lanie and I had gotten to Whateley.
As we were laughing and enjoying the morning, the Crystal Hall's speakers interrupted the soft music they normally played. Unlike the intercom through most of the school, these speakers were new and fairly state-of-the-art and crystal clear. "Students Elaine Nalley and Kayda Franks," Mrs. Carson's voice drifted over the splash of the waterfall and the muted din of the other conversations. "Report to Arena 77. Elaine Nalley and Kayda Franks, report to Mrs. Carson at Arena 77."
"What the hell?" demanded Elaine. "It's too early for combat finals...!"
"Would she make us fight...?" I wondered.
As usual, Wyatt was nonplussed. "No," he declared flatly. "She just happens to be at Arena 77," he said. "If it was some kind of combat thing, she'd have told you to come in costume. It's probably nothing serious. Deb and I will guard your breakfast. We'll see you in few minutes." Elaine stood and gave him a peck on the cheek, and then we took the stairs down to the ground floor and back into Schuster Hall.
It was a quick elevator ride down to the tunnels and we arrived within minutes at Arena 77, where I got a shock at my first view of Mrs. Carson in casual attire. Like Elaine, she was wearing a pair of jeans, but she topped it off with a flannel shirt of red-and-black checker pattern whereas Elaine was wearing a simple T-Shirt emblazoned with a round badge rather like a yin/yang symbol, except the left was red and the right was blue and the colors were separated by a stylized silver S. Mrs. Carson frowned as she caught sight of it and said, "I thought you and your family were all Ford enthusiasts?"
Elaine shrugged with a grin. "Only because Studebaker went out of business in the sixties."
"Mrs. Carson," I blurted out in amazement. "You ... you look...great!"
"Different," the Headmistress replied with a smile. "You will find, Miss Franks, that 'nice' clothing is more comfortable the higher the quality - and unfortunately the price. And while 'The Headmistress' is all Armani skirt suits, Liz Carson would rather be wearing a pair of waders in a trout stream than a pair of Prada heels." She paused for a moment, and then grinned. "Well, Prada does make a very nice shoe ..." She raised her hand and it became clear she was holding a collection of black masks that she distributed. "We're almost certain we've gotten all the cameras out of this redone arena, but no sense taking chances."
"Why are we here, ma'am?" asked Lanie as she pulled on the mask and got its string settled through her hair.
Mrs. Carson sighed. "I want to share something with you, and apologize." We looked at each other, dumb-struck. "You'll understand," she promised as she went over to the panel and punched in a code. "Run program Carson Apologia," she commanded.
"Program Complete. Enter when ready," replied the computer in the voice of the Grand Dame of Star Trek.
"Miss Nalley...?" growled Mrs. Carson.
"Well, technically, Gene Roddenberry had a clause in his contract for all the technology of Star Trek to be open source so that when the real devices were developed, they could use their names. NASA is currently working on 'Warp Drive' and..."
"And I will not debate you on this," Mrs. Carson stated flatly. "Change the voice."
"Yes ma'am." The door slid aside revealing a pair of figures in the center of the room, standing still. Mrs. Carson led us over to them as the door closed behind them. The figures had a yellow tint to them, betraying their origin as a three-dimensional extrapolation of a color photographs. It was a pair of girls - one a tall shapely brunette with her shoulder-length hair in the classic 'victory roll' style. She wore a mechanic's coverall and workman's gloves, both well-covered with grease.
The taller girl was giving a one-armed hug to a young teen girl, perhaps a year or so younger than her; the two were both at that age when a year or two could make a huge difference. The young girl wore a star-spangled mostly blue outfit with red gauntlet gloves and boots and a red and white stripped rah-rah skirt. She was wearing a red domino mask and her slightly longer than shoulder length blonde hair was up in a high pony tail. Both girls were flashing the camera with a 'V for Victory' symbol. "This," Mrs. Carson introduced, "is Donna Fiedler. And, the young blonde in the regrettable outfit is me."
She looked both girls in the eyes, the black mask she wore an odd counterpoint to the lumberjack shirt and jeans she was wearing. "She was my very best friend. I met her my first day in High School, about a month after Champion had saved my life by giving me these powers. I was young and stupid and bursting with the most juicy secret any fifteen year old girl ever had. Donna had been held back a year because she had broken the principal's nose when he'd 'goosed' her after she had successfully argued her way into the shop classes she wanted."
Mrs. Carson sighed. "We...we were inseparable. We were past friends; really and truly she was the older sister I'd never had. I told her my secret three weeks after we became friends and she told me hers."
"Hers?" I asked.
"She was gay," Liz replied. "Oh she would double-date with me all through High School, but rarely did she date the same boy more than three or four times. Past that they started expecting things she didn't want to give."
"You...and her...?" started Elaine softly, but Mrs. Carson gave her a sardonic look.
"You don't have to have sex with someone to be friends, Miss...er, Loophole," Mrs. Carson said with a smile. "No, we weren't lovers. I'm pretty sure she had a crush on me, but neither of us acted on it. And to be honest I would have said no. While there have been a very small handful of women that have tempted me, I rather enjoy the company of men." She shrugged. "To each his or her own." She worked a control and a new image appeared; this time the two girls were in a beat-up looking 37 Packard coupe.
"Donna's father was a pretty accomplished mechanic and Donna learned well at his knee. That Packard humiliated every hot-rodder in Chicago. Are you seeing a pattern here, Loophole?"
"Ah remind you of...?"
Liz sighed again. "Yes, you do," she admitted with obvious effort. "You both do, and I didn't realize how much until ... someone we all respect reminded me that my interest in you both was becoming somewhat more than was professional, strictly speaking."
"But," I interrupted. "I'm not ... I mean, I'm shorter and ..."
"And you're also a mechanic," Liz reminded her. "But that's not why you remind me, nor why I was so harsh in my criticism of your actions." She clicked the control again and the space shimmered and became a one-bedroom flat that had been drawn from a black-and-white crime scene photograph.
The furniture - what little there was of it - was pushed aside to make room for a pentagram and a circle that was drawn in the center of the room. I was only just learning western occult magic, but even my limited knowledge was enough to see several gross errors in the design and materials that were used. "Donna and I started having some trouble after high school. Part of it was I was beginning to realize that I wasn't a late bloomer, but rather that I wasn't aging. I still looked fifteen or sixteen and she was getting into her twenties. So was I, to be fair, but you couldn't tell. The apparent age difference caused a few ... difficulties. The other part she finally admitted to me after a huge fight - she was jealous of me. Jealous of my powers, of being able to run around with Champion, and being a hero, even one that looked like a kid sidekick, I was treated like a person, not a woman."
Liz looked away far into her past and sighed. "She wanted me to ask Champion to do to her what he'd done to me. I told her no. Not because I was selfish, or I didn't want her to come out with me; I did, I really, honest-to-God did. But she didn't know, she couldn't know, that Harry deeply regretted what happened to me and Ted, and that he'd sworn he would never again force someone else into his crusade. I couldn't ask that of Harry, and I tried to explain it to Donna, but she was angry, and I guess I was angry because of what she was asking of me."
"Be so careful of your words, Children. Words are like bullets - once they fly, there's no calling them back." A tear escaped her eye only to be ruthlessly brushed aside before it could fall from her cheek. "The last conversation I had with Donna was a fight. We screamed at each other. I said things I'd trade my soul to apologize for. And then Champion got a lead on a psychotic jewel thief with a body count that would put Bundy to shame, and he needed my help. That led to a three-month chase. When we finally caught him and had him behind bars, I came home to make things right with Donna. But I couldn't find her. No one could. So I used my key to her apartment and I found this."
"She...she used...?" I mouthed softly, aghast.
"Yes, she did, Pejuta," Mrs. Carson replied. "She used a magic spell she barely knew anything about, desperate to have a power, to bind a devil or a spirit - her notes were never clear - so she could come run on rooftops with me. And now you know why you remind me of her and why I was so harsh with you over your ritual on Loophole."
"Did...did they ever find...?"
Mrs. Carson shook her head. "From what Dr. Arcane could decipher of her notes, more than likely something answered her summoning. And that something either killed her instantly, if she was lucky, or more likely dragged her body and soul back to whatever realm it came from. Where it likely is still tormenting her."
"Mrs...er, Lady Astarte..." I started, but a harsh gesture cut me off.
"Learn!" she snapped. "God damn it girls, learn from this! I am sorry for what I've said and done because of who you remind me of, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from this." Suddenly needing to be physical, the Headmistress gathered both girls into a massive hug. "I don't want to mourn you two the way I had to mourn Donna," she whispered. "Promise me, promise, you'll take this to heart and stop and think. Come to me if you're not sure; I swear I'll never judge you, and if what you want is safe and can aide you, I will help you, but if I say no, it won't ever be out of spite or any other reason other than I want to keep you safe."
She stepped back a bit, holding each girl by the shoulder. "Promise me, Pejuta. Promise me, Loophole. Your words, your solemn oaths," she grinned sheepishly and held up each hand, her last finger extended. "Pinky swear."
Loophole exchanged a glance with me and then we both grinned and each wrapped a pinky finger around Mrs. Carson's. "We swear," we said in chorus.
Mrs. Carson smiled at them. "You two run back to finish your breakfast. But Pejuta?" I was startled. "I saw that that Loophole booked time for some sailing, and assuming you and Cornflower will be sailing with her, you might want to go easy on breakfast if you're not used to boats."
I nodded, wondering suddenly if I _would_ get seasick. "Yes, ma'am." We turned back toward the exit, quite clearly eager to finish breakfast so we could have some fun.
"Oh, and girls?" Mrs. Carson called out one last time as the door opened.
"Yes, ma'am?" we answered in unison.
"Do _not_ think, even for a moment, that this means you get a free pass on _anything_! Do I make myself clear?"
We girls nodded enthusiastically. "No, ma'am."
"If anything, you understand my motivations more than any other student, and you might find that I'm even more demanding of the two of you. You understand why?"
I gulped. "Yes, ma'am," I squeaked while Lanie just nodded mutely.
"Good. Now go have fun."
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, May 5, 2007, mid-morning
Kane Hall
Chief Delarose
"Chief?" Lt. Forsyth poked his head into Delarose's office.
Delarose looked up from his computer. "Yes?" he asked simply.
Forsyth held up a folder. "Got a hardcopy of the path reports associated with Apathy."
Delarose perked up. Murders on campus were unusual, even with the power available to teenage students. "What are we working with?"
"Death was caused by the knife wound, as expected."
"Okay," Delarose sighed. "Any surprises?"
"We got a bit of good news, if you want to call it that," Forsyth reported. He saw that he had his chief's attention. "We were lucky that you took Ms. Frank's knife the other day. The lab scanned it for genetic material."
"And?"
"And they found some really weird shit on that ...."
"The water panther and the snake demon?"
Forsyth shrugged. "Whatever it was, it wasn't human. At least that's what the lab techs - and the powers guys in the tunnels - think."
"Any human DNA on it?"
Forsyth shook his head. "None. Apart from Miss Franks, which is expected. Not even a cellular trace of human blood, even in those fancy carved runes or whatever the hell they are. If she _had_ stabbed Apathy, it'd be damned near impossible to clean all traces of blood out of those markings."
"So what you're saying is that her knife was _not_ the murder weapon?"
Forsyth nodded. "There's more. The murder weapon was narrower than Miss Franks' knife. It _couldn't_ have been her knife. The fatal wound would have been almost a centimeter wider."
Delarose sighed. "So she's not our top suspect?"
"I wouldn't put her in the top ten. Not after seeing her face when she was filling out the reports after she helped find the body."
"Oh? You're a criminal psychologist now, too?" Delarose asked with a sardonic chuckle.
Forsyth smiled. "I _observe_ people. She was rattled. Very rattled. She's never seen a murder victim before, I'd bet my life on it. You can't fake reactions like that."
Delarose nodded, smiling a bit. "Yeah, that's what I figured, too. And the knife evidence pretty much clears her." He sighed and shook his head. "But we still have to find the killer."
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday, May 5, 2007, lunchtime
Crystal Hall
I sat with mixed emotions as the rest of my friends chatted at lunchtime. After a morning in the simulator sailing with Lanie and Wyatt, Debra had left to go back to Sioux Falls and I already missed her terribly. At least my best friend - damn, that sounded so nice, _best friend_ - knew enough to practically force Debra and I to spend some final time together down below in the boat's cabin, and when I closed my eyes momentarily, I gasped lightly at the memory of her touch and her tongue on my hot body, her taste as we brought each other to glorious ecstasy over and over. In a way, it was a tender but frantic way to say goodbye, knowing that we wouldn't be in each other's arms again for almost two months. I cried like a baby when she forced herself to get into her rental car and drive from the parking lot by the guest cottages; I stood waving, crying, and not moving until long after her car was out of sight.
What a roller-coaster of a week it had been. From the highs of the post hot-tub intimacy to the ultra-lows of fearing that my stupidity had hurt my new best friend, back to the highs of knowing she was alright. Lanie was safe and unharmed and _happy_! She no longer had to fear having her mind messed with, and she got some pretty cool avatar powers from Grizzly in return - like being able to manifest a huge bear that was damned-near indestructible! But the process, which _I_ had helped with, had impacted her primary mutant ability, her systems intuition. It was heartbreaking to me to know that Lanie had a long, painful road ahead of her to relearn that skill she'd been born with and had manifested so powerfully; No matter how much she insisted otherwise, I couldn't help but feel like I'd stolen something from her, a part of Lanie that made her who she was - the Gadgeteer Goddess and the Queen of the Labs.
Despite it all, she was still my friend, she still cherished
me as a friend, and she comforted me, more worried about how I felt than her
own loss of her mutant talent. What a precious thing to have in a friend, that she was more concerned about me than herself! And I know I felt the same about her - only not to the same degree I felt about my girlfriend. Wyatt still scared me, but all boys did. Still, he'd helped me in a way that was most unexpected, and he held no grudge against me for what my help had done to Lanie. I couldn't even begin to understand him, but Lanie was happy with him so I was happy for her, and because she was my friend, I'd put up with him as best as I could.
Somehow, I had the feeling that the rest of our time at Whateley was going to be anything but boring. And with that came the echoes of Lanie's voice a few nights ago: "Why can't mah life be more boring? Lots and lots more boring?"
"May you live in interesting times" indeed.
* * * * * * * * * *