Vantier a Whateley Tale.....Ancient and Powerful Vantier awakens in a foreign world, struggling to find her place in it.

He is saved from the death of his race and planet....to start all over again....but can she survive?
A human high school and being a teenager? Will she remember what was? And grow in power?

The week...lessons? What chores must be done on weekends and seeing Tim for his choice in life!!

We take a break for the madness of Rohanna and join Vantier in her first week at school!

I have to tell you this, switching from writing a crazy Drow to a level headed older GOO is not easy!---lol

BIG NOTE for my readers!
In this chapter I am trying something new to show Kyley's learning of English and her missing words.

When she skips a word like this...."I hope ___ see you?" She is leaving out the 'to' by accident and sometimes I will use this as a plot point but not all the time. So remember that when reading that this new way to show her learning the language, it will show up time to time?
/>

~o~O~o~

~o~O~o~

~o~O~o~

Wednesday September 5, 9:50 pm
Medawihla tribal village
The Donner home

Eli sat in the living room with Ben and started as he watched a favorite cable show, "Ben do you trust that girl Kyley?"

"She is a mythos being just like Sara and we can never know what one is thinking? They know things far beyond what us poor humans will ever understand?"

"Hummm, but Ben, she will be going through our whole library and who knows what she might take from in there?"

"Well if you don't trust her word then dear, you are our tribal leader...send her away and ban her from our tribal grounds?" he gave his advice and her other options.

"Then we will never learn what is in the library, even Jay and his avatar can't look some of contents over for us...it is far too dangerous for them."

"So we have to trust her, she seems to mean well and the group up at ARC told us what she has done so far for them. And most of what she has done...is help, not hurt us humans?"

"Well she did say that her and Sara got along well, plus Sara did not warn us of her at all and I am sure that she would have if she felt anything bad off this Kyley?"

"I am sure they got along, but Eli dear...Kyley hits me, as one GOO that is far older than Sara was and more wise. She is just stuck here and in a new situation not of her own choosing."

"I will trust her for now, but I will watch over her every step very closely."

"Exactly as I hoped Eli my dear, we will all watch her."

~o~O~o~

Friday September 7, 7:30 pm
Visitors parking and drop off

Becky's car came to a slow stop at the schools pick-up bench that I was waiting on and she smiled over to me through the open window, "Going my way? she happily laughed at me.

"Do you have candy?" I jested with her playfully!

"Well lets get going!" she barks at me in a fun way.

I first open the rear door, to drop my backpack and warded book bag in the far back seat of the sedan. Then placed a very large pizza box with a few other boxes and a large bucket in next to them.

"What is all that?" she asks me after taking a short sniff of the great smelling food.

"A Pepperoni...large pizza, with cheese sticks and BBQ wings. I won a contest on Tuesday in math class, for this food each week and five thousand dollars...all for solving some simple puzzles!" I boast to her and get myself seated in the front seat next to her.

"Great!" she grins at me, as I get all belted in, "So how was the rest of the week?"

"Well, the week was fun so far, got my roomie all settled in with me and she is doing better...way better. There was a huge BBQ, plus pool party on Monday that was great. Then for my flying class on Tuesday, I nailed the 'TA' spot and I get paid some for doing that. That day and Wednesday. I helped a kid named Flutter to fly!"

"Great to hear, you getting the 'TA' job and Flutter is a strange name for a kid?"

"That's her code name, she has large butterfly wings and is so very cute! Next thing I got done at the end of Wednesday, I went over to the Medawihla tribal library and did my first look over of their collection."

"I hear a 'AND' in that?" she asks.

"That place...it needs lots of work. We will talk about it later."

"Okay, so the rest of the week then?"

"Well Thursday had a great magic class, it all seems funny for me to have to start so far back in my studies? But that is what they want from me for now? Then in the afternoon, I helped Flutter out again and while doing that I met Mercy or Faith! She is part of a race that branched off from of mine a very long time back. I really like her and I am proud of what she has done so far...very proud indeed! We chatted it up till pretty late in the evening."

"Great, so there are others of your kind or race here then?"

"She is related in a long way, like you would be to the queen of England?"

"Humm I understand it better now, I guess?"

"Faith is having issues with another of her race, a boy named Brand or another name of Vendetta? So if a winged male comes to the door of our place?"

"Don't answer, or give him some cookies and milk till you get there?" she grins to me.

"Yep!"

"So how was today then?" she urged me to finish.

"Elder Gods! That powers theory class is the most boring thing I have ever been through! The human instructors power or mutation, it must be a combination of slowing time and boring others to death or into utter madness!"

"It can't be that bad?" she giggles out to me.

"Fine then, you and me switch places in our heads next Friday and you sit there!"

~o~O~o~

Later in Dunwich

Becky drove up to a short row of very new looking town homes and pulled into the garage that opened to us, "Home again!" she sung to me.

As I stood up out of the car, then started to grab my bag and the food. Becky hit a button on the wall to close the door, "This is the garage door closer and opener, the light switches are right next to it. There is a second set at the top of the stairs too Kyley." she explained to me, because she was very sure I had NEVER seen one before in my life!

The garage door rolled into place with a small bang and two large bolts slid into the frame driven by motors mounted within it. "Is that normal?" I questioned all the workings of the door just now.

"Awww nope? ARC made that change for us, it's armored and has extra locks. You know them, overkill is normal?" she shrugged to me.

Becky then lead me up stairs to a wonderful new home, "I had to look all over for this one, this is the only floor plan I liked. The living room, dinning area and kitchen all on one floor, with one small bath. Up a half level is a small office off the stairs and then on top most level. Are two bed rooms with full baths, one for me and yours of course."

I dropped the food on the kitchen's breakfast bar and looked around the room. Becky had done real well for us, the living room had a large sectional sofa with recliners built in at each end and two other large chairs. One wall had a very nice entertainment center with a huge flat screen TV in it.

The kitchen was made up of top of the line appliances from what I knew of them from my watching TV of late? Then she lead me up to the office laying just up one short flight of stairs, in that room was a large wooden roll top desk that nearly filled the space, a file cabinet and one closet door.

Becky swung that closet door open for me and inside the whole space was filled by a vault door, "This is a safe that ARC put in for you and the room, along with it are warded too."

"So I guess they want me working at home too!" I groaned a little.

"Yep, they think since you don't sleep...work, work and work! Is all you will do for them. Nope, nope and nope!" she shook her head to the thoughts.

Next stop was my bedroom, a nice full size bed was at the center of the room and it had one table next to it. That bed was just a bit bigger than the one I had at Whateley and a large dresser stood across the room from it. The closet was a small walk-in that already held most of my better, more expensive clothes stored inside it. The bath was a nice size one, with a shower-tub combo!

The next and last room, was the main bed room of our new home. A huge king size bed filed the center of the huge room, two chairs next to a small breakfast table lay in one corner and a long dresser filled the other wall. When she waved a arm at the bathroom door and opened it for me, "this is the best part in my mind!" she grinned to me.

A full bath, with tiled walk-in shower that could hold four! And a nice large whirlpool tub filled one corner looking over the woods beyond a huge window. A balcony with chairs, linked a bathroom door and one in the bedroom, plus one door entered at the other bed room!

"Nice! I love it, so I guess all this room is mine and you get the smaller one?" I played with her.

"Nope, but lets get dinner going?"

I grabbed her and quickly tossed her onto the bed, "Dinner can wait!"

"But it will get cold?" she warned me, as I laid down next to her.

"Then it gets cold, I have been waiting for this all week. We may share thoughts, enter one another's minds all day. Cuddle in our dreams all night? But this is what is real to both me and you...and it counts the most, this time we have right now!"

~o~O~o~

Hours later, I was microwaving the cold pizza for Becky while dressed in my robe and serving her some of the just warmed up BBQ wings, "So when are you at Whateley next...to teach me?" asked her as the machine beeped at me.

"I start on the thirteenth of next week?" she said licking her fingers and started nibbling on a wing.

"Aww Thursday, why so long?" I whined to her.

"You are only one student and the other three I have on my teaching list. Two are late comers, the last one is due on Thursday and needs real help. She only speaks Greek right now, nothing else."

"Coming to my cottage?" I asked and dropped two hot slices of pizza on a plate, then slid it over to her.

"Nope, she is headed to Melville I think?"

"Ohh lucky her, she landed in the rich kids building." I said back and took a place on a stool across from Becky.

"Yes very lucky, but my plans for tomorrow?" she implied that there were many by her tone!

"What...we are not staying IN all weekend and....have fun?" I winked at her.

"Nope, shopping for food is first up and since this is your first trip to a supermarket, you need to pay attention during it. Then we go over to the bank and open your accounts up more locally. This new bank account is for your pay checks from ARC, Whateley and who ever else comes later on?"

"Okay, so class is on for tomorrow too? How fun!" I say very sarcastically to her and Becky just stares at me in reply.

"Ohh you need the alarm code and the combo to that vault!" she said and started to write them down both down on a note pad on the counter.

I grabbed her hand to remind her again, "Honey, love of mine. Please remember to just think those things over to me? We don't need to write down stuff that personal anymore...now do we?" I smiled to her.

A second later, all the numbers flowed into my head from her. The alarm code, vault combo and the new phone numbers that needed to get to me. In return, I gave her a 'cheat' to the code for my dorm room door and a way to open 'other' locks just incase.

~o~O~o~

Saturday September 8, 5:20 am
Dunwich, Becky's and my new shared home

But once Becky had fallen asleep near midnight, off I jumped to the center of the house and started my vast list of tonight's work with permanently burning my sigil family crest into the foundation of the building. As I worked for hours on the wards, I made sure to reinforce them at the entrances and especially the front door, plus the garage door too!

It had been a very long and taxing night for me. There I was sitting crosslegged at the center of the house tossing my essence into the wards I had just finished building all night. Since the deed for the house was in my name and Becky's. I was able to add even larger wards on this small house, just like I had back at my old home and having this home in a fully 'ours' only deed, that was a tall order from ARC...Because, leally we owned the house free and clear!

I sat in the center of a huge symbol, a golden crest of mine all spread across the garage floor's smooth concrete and it was good thing that the garage was a large one to give me space! I was meditating and checking on the wards power system one more time. The whole system's need for energy was fed by a gem stone of mine, that was melded into the floor just under the main sigil for my house and that energy was kept charged by a good size Ley line. One Ley line that I had moved to just under our new home. Even without the Ley lines help, that stone could keep the wards active for at least a year unattended and I was never going to do that!

Right now, as the sun crept it's way into the window, lit up the living room and it's light crept down the stairs to me. I was mentally not really there, but I was in astral space checking on all my nights work and having my bird 'Night' recheck it all for me.

I had found that when I traveled the very few and short times in Astral space since getting here at Whateley or even near it. You could actually see how strange the whole Miskatonic Valley really was! Who knows what lurks under it's surface? Sometimes I found little hints to what was near me, but when I glanced it's way? It vanished like a smoke cloud and moved away from my searching for it!

When I was surely done with my new homes wards and Night had rechecked them for me. My body drifted upwards off past them and I changed my form a little bit with a thought to confuse my own wards as to who I really was.

When I looked back down at what should be a small townhome in a row of them. What astral space showed now, was a HUGE silver castle much like the one I used to live in. With a stylized family crest of mine glowing brightly on the door and a smaller one showing on each wall.

Then I started attacking my own house and very savagely! Some of my best attacks hit the warding walls and slid right off them in long glowign lines to the gem at the buildings center, then were changed into power to build them up even stronger...just as I had planed! You could make out each of the wards inner sigils glow with the blows and then the excess power drip slowly into the magic ward to feed it, as it dripped into the gem below.

Night joined me after the first wave of my harsh strikes and added her viscous blows to the carnage smashing against my small home. Each blow should have crushed the small home to matchsticks, but my wards held just as they should! The huge blows just melted off with flashes of light in the astral plain and flowed into powering the wards for the next hit.

All our combined blows and attempts at mass destruction must have 'woke' the neighbors!

Because very shortly I found a man that I had met on campus only once staring at me, along with a Valkyrie girl standing next to him. She was dressed in very sexy, stylish armor of that time and she had a icy spear the matched the nice icy blue color of her eyes.

"Stop that now!" the man shouted at me.

"Why, it's my house and I am testing it's wards?" I questioned his even being there to bother me. Because since my change, I had found only one place that I was not weak in...the astral plain.

He studied me for a short second and the girl was readying her weapon for a fight she must have thought was coming.

"Miss Baron is that you?" he asked the huge winged Amazon dressed in deep black amour floating in the air before him.

"Yes, why?" I questioned him again as I intensified my rain of power at the house below me.

"I am Mr. Geintz or Fubar from the school and this girl is one of my students 'Valkyrie'. I have to ask again what are you doing, all this potential destruction has got more than a few students attention back at Whateley!" he warned me once more.

The girl started to look 'edgy' to me and her spear was looking like she was about to actually use the darn thing on me? "Well sir, like I just said. I just finished up building the wards on my new house this morning and now I am testing them. Along with tempering them harder, with some of my own attacks."

"Miss Baron you should know this is not really allowed here?"

"Allowed where? This is my house and my land and it's NONE of your business what I do after school or what I do while I am off campus is also none of your business?"

"Kyley, doing such acts is not allowed in school or by it's students?"

"Fubar, I am not damaging anything right now and it might be a bit noisy to some? But this has to get done and done right. This is my home outside of Whateley and has to have some protections on it?" I vigorously insist to him.

"Okay Kyley, I will give you a bit more time to finish up and then you have to stop!" he demanded and the girl leaned her spear my way reinforcing his point.

"Fine, sir. I am almost done and Valkyrie?" I slowed my attacks on the townhome to glare at her, "If you lean that weapon of yours anymore my way...You will find I am not such a nice person at or near my own home? I may not start fights, but protecting my new home is my right...little girl!" I warned her and him both by fixing them with a very intense stare.

"Valkyrie! Stand down this second, she is right and I am very sure she could take both of us in the astral plain with ease." Fubar pondered the statement even as he said it, Vantier was a GOO in no uncertain terms or something even worse and he knew from personal experience, that the GOO are not easy prey in this dimension at all.

"Yes Louise, should I go back to Whateley then?" Valkyrie asked him.

"That would be a good idea and when you see Miss Baron out here again. Please give her a very wide birth for me?"

"Yes sir and call me if you need me?" she offered just in case.

After I hit a crescendo of destruction, I could tell my work was done! My wards had held and now were tempered even harder to any damage. You could drop a real world bomb on my home now and nothing would happen to it!

"That should do!" I smiled at my house proudly.

"Fine work Miss Barron, maybe you should start taking one of my classes and do work like this for Whateley too?"

"Keep an eye on the campus you mean?"

Fubar nodded back to me, "Yes I do."

"I already do just that sir, but in my own ways and ones that I can not discuss with you right now." what I did not want to tell him now, was that having me doing this kind of warding for the whole school or working on it's defenses? That would draw unwanted attention from things that I did not want knowing I was alive! As beings of that kind, they could literally 'smell' this style of warding I used. But in this small and hidden house, it would go undetected.

With the energy I had been tossing at the building fading into it's storage and very own walls. The fact that the building even had the smallest ward on it, quickly faded from Fubar's sight.

"Now that is good work Kyley, I can't even tell that building from any other on the block. But I know from watching what you just did, something is keeping it safe from harm!"

"That ward is not only astral but in the real world too, unless my Becky or me let you in that home. You are not getting in at all!"

"How strong are the wards then?" he questioned me with a little smirk.

"Keep trying to get in to many times and you will pay with your death. The wards get stronger and more damaging every time you hit against them."

"Well lets hope that never happens?"

"Yes, but I have to get going. I feel my girl tapping my shoulder to wake me. Have a good day!" and I fade from his sight.

~o~O~o~

"Kyley!" Becky taps my shoulder and shouts again.

I slowly open on eye to her, "Yes love?"

"What was that, I could not wake you up?"

"That was me in the astral plain, just like we do in our dreams. Only lots bigger!"

"What were you doing there?"

"Working on the wards of our house, the new ones I just finished up that defend us while we live here and I was talking to a neighbor too?" I giggle to her.

"Neighbor?"

"Yep, one of the teachers at Whateley overheard me banging on our house to test the wards and came over to see what all the fuss was about."

"Well then, we might have to have them over for dinner one night?"

"Ahh honey, this was Fubar and he does not leave Whateley or eat like humans do anymore since his last mutation?"

"Ohh well then, just say hi to him for me? And you need to go up, get showered and ready for the day. Please dress for a day out, no need for nice things today?"

A few hours later.

Becky was walking just behind me on our path down the aisle, she had driven us to one of the large supermarkets, shown me to remember to bring my own bags for the environment? Then she gave me part of the shopping list for the day, just after she finished off her part of it.

Elder gods I was lost in here, the store at Whateley was a large one. But this one was even bigger and it only had food for sale, aisle after aisle of FOOD! And I had no idea what a box of 'saltines' even looked like, or was!

"Becky, what in the heck are Saltines?" I had to ask her and asking her was now my 'new normal' for nearly everything on the list!

"They are a slightly salt covered cracker." And that was the only hint I got!

"Well at least now I know__ a cracker?"

"It's a cracker Ky?" she corrected me

"It's...it's!" Growled out, now getting a little angry at all of this and then finally spotted the sign above the aisle that said 'crackers'!

I walked fast along the aisle and found the saltines! Then looked for the best price by size and type. Once that box fell it's way into my basket, I had to ask her, "What is that for?"

"Years ago I had this uncle from Maine, he was great, fun to be around and he made Clam cakes for my breakfast or lunch on some days. And what he called them was...New England hot dogs!" she laughed.

"What is that, a calm cake?"

"Simple, add an egg to a crushed pack of crackers and one can of minced clams. Then fry a hand size scoop paddy of that mix, in oil and add ketchup, then EAT!"

"Humm interesting, we made something like it...but used 'other' meats?"

"Do I really want to know the meat?" she cringed to me.

"No not really and I like my shoes the color they are now?" I hinted that she may cover them both in barf, if I told her what we used!

"Well back to shopping, what is next Ky?' she urged me on.

"Eggs!" I almost shrieked to her, as I read the next item on the list. But held back a little joke, that eating an egg was not that bad...I am a hawk not a chicken!

"Ohh sorry, maybe we should use a substitute for the eggs?" she asked, thinking that I was offended.

I laughed at her, "Eggs are just fine, I was playing with you!"

WHACK! She batted me on the back of my head, "None of that out of you!"

"Whoops!" I said, just now spotting the eggs on the end of the row sitting in a refrigerated display.

"Remember to check them?"

"They smell fine to me and I see no cracks?"

"Did you check the date on the box?"

"Date, why read that? The smell they have tells me they are a week old at best?"

"Okay that was your last item on the list, now we can go over to the bulk food section and shop for what you want to try out?" she grinned knowingly to me.

The far aisle we strolled over too, was one that Becky was saving for last and was the farthest in the store too! It opened to my vision as we turned the corner, row after row and shelf stacked upon shelf, of plastic bins with lids. Inside them were nuts, candy, chips, dried fruits, cookies, crackers and things I had never seen before!

"Here you go Kyley, each shelf level has the same cost. So bag each choice in a small bag and place all that in a large bag, so we can weigh it when we buy it. Then repeat for each shelf of stuff you want to try out."

I grinned to her, then madness! I wanted to try them all and gathering all that snack food together took me nearly an hour. I nearly filled a cart and she laughed at me all the way!

At check-out, we had two carts over filled with everything! As this was Becky's first time and mine, at shopping to stock our new home. After we loaded all that up in the car and she was driving us back home. I was trying out a small bag of chocolate balls that had hard crunchy centers that tasted so GOOD! "What is this Becky?" I asked as I tossed another ball into my mouth.

"That was a chocolate malted milk ball candy, Kyley...you like it?"

"Love it!" I sang out happily and I yet one more candy got popped into my mouth.

Back at home, Becky showed me her system on what went were in the kitchen. I had cooked for myself ages ago, but how humans cooked food was very different from that life experience of mine!

In short order we had all of that packed way, over twenty bags of food, baking goods, spices, cleaners and who knows all. Becky tried to explain it all, but it would take time to learn via use.

"You know Kyley, next term you might want to take a home economics class that will teach you to cook?" She told me, as she pulled out a small snack to eat.

"That might be a good idea, I have so much to learn about everyday life here!"

After Becky had a nice snack of some of the muffins we just bought, she gathered up a large envelope with my name in it and she asked for that check I had won in math class.

"What is next today?" I had to ask.

"The bank, we have to get that all setup for you. A checking account and a savings account too. I will explain it all to you as we go?"

"Becky, I know what a check is. We had them on my world too!"

"Ohh?" she questions me.

"Just because we had elves running around swords and armor AND DRAGONS! We were not backwards in the least."

"But you carried gold coins?"

"Yes, think of them as you do dollars today. Everyone took gold no matter what? Check and banks, they were used in bigger kingdoms like mine."

"So you had checks?"

"Yes and cash, paper money. But magically backed in a way?" I say then pull out a 'banknote' for her to see.

"That is money?" she asks as I lay the very large note on the table for her to study. The single 'note' was at least four times bigger than a dollar bill in size.

"This is a Treganought note Becky and this one note is worth what dollars are. But in the millions per note for the largest, all the way down to the simple thousands like this one is."

Becky looks the note on her countertop over and lifts it up towards her eyes to study it a bit closer. When she stares at it long enough, she can see the engraved scenes of life on the note...move and look back at her!

There are person walking around a small town on it, a Huge battle scene that has a fight between all manners of creatures, one picture is in color of a fire breathing dragon, one other is nearly a 3D scene that you can only see by staring through a clear part of the paper and the last, is huge one covering the whole the backside of the note. That last depiction is of a of a huge castle, that towers into the clouds miles above it!

Becky drops the paper note back to the table in fright, "The darn thing moves KY! AND it is watching me!"

"Good, I had hoped you could see that too. Most beings that don't have enough magic in them, so they never see a note do all of that."

"What is this made of Kyley, it's not paper?" she asks and feels her hand slowly across the note.

"This paper is a blend of paper, magical cloth and metals!"

"So what else is different about them?"

"If you say the spell woven into each one and tear it just so. The note turns into the amount of gold coins shown on the face."

"You're kidding me?" she laughed.

"Nope, I am not. But I am not going to prove it to you with this one. I only have five left and I rather any kids I have. They get to see what my home had at one time?" I say almost tearing up from thinking about it.

"Kyley I understand, besides the hall of memories and hall of elders that we have not found yet? This note might be one of the few parts of home you have to show others?"

"It is and look at the battle scene printed on the face again for me...just for a minute?"

Becky picks up the large note and brings it into a better light coming from the window as she studies it again. The battle scene printed on it flows on in it's show, as she watches the creatures fight. Then she spots a tall warrior in armor with wings and a small boy standing next to him with wings of his own. The man points out a target to the boy and off the boy flies to go fight it...that is where the image fades and restarts.

"Hey there was one of your race or more at the end! Was the man you?" she grins at me.

"No, I was the boy in that art."

"Wow you could not have been much older than twelve or a very young teen during that?"

"I was the equivalent of twelve to a human, first years of fighting and that was my very first fight. The man was my dad, sadly one of only a few pieces of art with his face on it. See why that note is still with me and I want to keep it intact as long as I can?"

"Is there a way to copy it?"

"Not a note, that is why they are so secure and can not be faked."

"We will find something that can do that someday?" she soothes me.

~o~O~o~

Saturday September 8, 12:50 pm
Berlin New Hampshire

Becky pulled the car into the small parking lot of the town bank, that happened to luckily belong to a very large banking conglomerate too! The bank was inside a beautiful granite building, made I am sure over a hundred years ago, but still had that charm from back then and it's large windows overlooked the street, plus the river beyond it.

Once Becky led me inside, she spotted a manager sitting at her desk and quickly sped over to her, "Hello, I am here to set up two accounts for me and her." she waved at me standing there, as I studied the building intently.

"I can do that for you, do you want one account or two with your sister?"

"Two is best and she is my ward of the state. We both want checking and saving accounts, plus an investment account for what we have...over ten thousand?"

"Ohh good then lets get you started then!" she smiled at both of us, as she grabbed new files from her drawers for us to look over.

"Kyley, take a seat and see how I do this please? One day, I am sure you will have to do something similar to this?"

"Yes Becky, I am watching closely." I said back as I grabbed a free chair to sit in at the ladies desk.

The manager started our paperwork and the first of many questions she asked was, "Did you want a stock market investment or for your savings above ten K?"

"I am not sure?" Becky pondered, then asked me, "Kyley any ideas?"

"What I overheard from our cottage resident money person...is stay away from stocks for a year or more. Go invest in large state or federal bonds that have small returns, but are stable. There is a HUGE correction DOWN coming in the market soon, she says to anyone that will listen to her and a billionaire can't be wrong?"

"Who is this person?" the manager chirps in surprised that a kid is that rich!

"I rather not say, but she knows her stuff and I trust her. The whole cottage at school is listening to her!"

"Okay, we can put you into the bond only money market then?"

"Sounds good to me, Kyley?"

"As long as it's bonds that we can get out of in less than or about thirty days? That is fine by what I have heard so far from the person at my school?"

"Lets go with what Kyley says then?" Becky adds in to be sure.

The manager studies my paperwork and ID. Along with the request for auto deposits coming from ARC and Whateley. "So you are a student at the school?" she winks at me.

"Yes, why?" I had to ask her.

"Just making sure, we locals know you kids support nearly half the economy around here and we keep silent for it!"

Right then, something grabs my attention as two men enter the bank lobby and go over to a standing counter to fill out paperwork? Then a single man, he enters and joins the existing line of customers on this busy Saturday.

What I feel flowing off all three of them, is an intent to do harm or death and feeling of deep GREED! That one emotion flowing of them, it almost unhinges me in it's depth and fierceness!

Behind all that fear, anger and greed...is a fog of drugs. Just like the one that kept me from helping Becky back at the bar in Sturgis! All three of the men have their senses dulled to the extreme by some sort of drugs flowing through their bodies?

I nudged Becky right then, "We have a BIG problem here!" I whisper to her.

"What?"

"The three men that just came in the bank? I think they mean to do harm or steal something in here?" I question the thoughts of even doing it, as banks where I was from. Robbing one was certain death, they were too well protected!

"You sure?" she asks me.

"Yes, I feel that coming off them!" Now the door opens next, as a young lady walks into the bank and I get the same feeling off her too!

Becky leans over to the manager slightly, as I keep an eye on our backs, "Hey my friend feels something is wrong here and she is seldom wrong. Three guys just came in here and she is sure they are going to rob the place?"

"Becky, make that four. The girl who just came in with the long coat is one too!" I warn her.

"You are very sure Miss Baron?" the manager asks me in a low tone of voice, so it will not carry across the room.

"Yes, if they don't do something here? They will very soon!"

Just as the managers hands start to move off her desk, one of the men at the stand-up table leaps over to her and pulls out a shotgun at the same time, "Keep your hands where I can see them and you LIVE!" he shouts at her.

That gun is only inches from the side of my head, I could easily snatch it and hurt him before he even has time to think! But with his partners around the room...no way to chance Becky getting hurt. Then one moved to the door to cover it with a shotgun and us customers from there, plus keep others out of the bank for now.

The other partner in robbing the bank, pulled out a pistol and leapt over the tall counter. Then shouted out, "Money in the bags now! No tricks or dye packs or you all die!"

The one at the door barked at all of us harshly, "GET ON the floor you sheep! Or die!" His partner nearest me repeated the exact same words.

Becky slowly rolled out of her chair to the floor and I followed right behind her, ~"Night, if they!"~ I warned my bird.

~"They will live a very short time in pain, if they do"~

The man behind the counter, started tossing heavy bags over it and have them fall to the marble floor with hard thuds. Next to us three, that man moved to grab them and the door man joined him.

Once their hands were full, a young man sprung up off the floor near the door and shouted at all of them, "State police, hands up!"

Becky growled at his actions, "GOD damn cowboy, he is going to get us all killed!"

As the young cop spun all around trying to get a better spot on all three men, then that girl...the last one of the group into the bank acted. She shot him in the back and he folded instantly in horrible pain, even I felt it flowing off him across the huge room.

Just after the cop fell to the floor and rolled around in agony. She kicked his gun away as one of the men screamed at her, "Why did you shoot! You should have just shoved the gun in his back and held him there!"

"I don't know? I just reacted and the gun went off!" the girl robber nearly cried now.

"God we are so toast...fucked!" barked the other robber now as he started to freak out and tossed his arms up into the air.

"Get all the money now!" shouted what seemed to be the leader of the group from behind the counters.

The state trooper suddenly stopped screaming, falling very silent, not even a grown of pain and laid on the marble floor very still as the robbers moved to pick-up the bags of money. A pool of dark black blood was starting to flow and surround him now, as he laid there on the floor. As the pools size grew just now, I could feel him dieing...going into the darkness beyond.

That sick feeling of feeling someone dieing, it gripped me deeply and I had to do something...anything and that had to be done right NOW! My great need to help him pulled me to him, I needed to act. That pulling over rode anything else in my mind now, because not acting, meant I had to fell that mans dreaded death happen and happen very close to me.

I stood up very quickly, as Becky tried to pull me back down to the floor, "No Kyley...don't!" she urged me.

"I have to or he is dead." I said back to her and started walking across the floor at a very quick pace.

The girl robber ran over to me from her spot covering the room and shoved a gun right into my face, "Lay down or die!" she barked at me.

"I have to help the one YOU shot or he will die," is all I say back to her and walk right past her and the nearly empty threats of violence. Because from what I 'felt' flowing off her now, she did not have it in her anymore to shoot someone.

The robbers leader was busy at filling bags with money, when he spotted me walking towards the fallen trooper and he reacted by leaping from behind the counter, then he ran over to me just as I was kneeling by the troopers side.

Once there he shoved a huge gun into my face in warning as he joined in the girls shouting at me, "Stop or I will shoot you!" he barked and the girl joined in.

Becky was in tears as she watched on, as a gun only hovered a few inches from the person she loved in life and she hoped that her love could take a shot to the head! But her Kyley never flinched as she spoke up to the lead robber, "I either help this man now or he dies and the police will never give up on chasing you?"

"Do what I said or I shoot!" the robber commanded again.

"I am going to save this man, you shooting me or not? It will not change that." I state truth like it's a fact.

"Do as I tell you OR!" he shouted at me once more as he moved to grab Becky's long blond hair, then pulled her off the floor by it and shoved his gun in her face as he warned me once more, "I shoot her!"

"Shooting her or me will not do much, but killing her will end badly for you I am sure?" I said back, as I ripped the cops shirt open and started looking over the wounds he had.

"Damn it let the girl work on the cop!" his buddy shouted at him, "Grab a bag and lets go damn it!" he urged on and waved at the far door of the lobby. Pointing out that they have to get moving fast now.

"We need a better car now, the cops will be chasing us!" the girl shouted at all of them, as the need for a far better ride than the piece of crap that just barely got them here drifted through her mind.

"YEP we do! So, which one of you assholes owns the fancy BMW in the parking lot?" the leader shouted out to the whole building.

No one moved or said anything, then he grabbed a nearby lady off the floor and held a gun to her head, "Tell me or she dies!" he barked at the room with intent of murder in his eyes and I felt that wave of that emotion flow off him now.

"Becky, give the man the keys now please?" I said calmly while still working on the fallen trooper's wounds.

She tossed the key to the man in charge and placed her face back on the floor once again. But she never stopped watching me, just incase this was the last time for us both!

The trooper's wound was bad, very bad! His liver was shot to pieces, I could tell this by the black blood oozing out of the huge wound in this lower back. He was bleeding out right here and I found that the bullet did not exit his belly, it was still inside him somewhere.? That was very bad! This meant to me, the bullet was all balled up inside him or busted up to bits, as it bounced around inside of him.

With his shirt now torn open to me, I laid my hands on his bare flesh and felt my way into him as I closed my eyes and concentrated on the wounds. As my healing powers searched out inside him, they found the bullet very deep inside him, but it was still in one piece and I was right about all the black blood, his liver was a just mess of large chunks!

My hand started to glow as it slid deeper into him and one of the robbers stood there watching me do it as he tried to walk by carrying his bag of money. Seconds passed silently, then I pulled the bullet out and dropped it to the floor with a 'tink'.. as the black blood dripped off my hands. But the cops belly showed no opening for my hand to pass out of, just the blood dripping off my hands showed I had done anything inside the fallen man at all.

"What in the heck are you!" he asked me more than dumb founded by the sight.

"Old and very mad at you, please go away now. I have much work to do fixing your mess." is all I said and went back to work. My mind was fully occupied at saving the man's life in front of me, I so hated death around me anymore. I had felt it's cresses too much in my long life and hated any of it's presence even near me with a passion!

Once more my hand slid into his skin, melting into it all. My hand just 'passed' into him again and left no opening. As I started to fix the mess of that liver inside him now, I slowly moved the chunks of it back together and made repairs to the torn organ as I went along.

"Grab that blond girl as a hostage and lets beat it!" the leader shouted at his man nearest me, as he passed by carrying a large sack of money.

The robber nearest me, the one fully entranced by what I was doing. Finally snapped back to the real world and leaned over to grab me. When he did, I glared up at him, "That would be a mistake, I am not done with my helping this man yet."

Then he asked me, while watching on and seeing my hands glow brightly under the skin as they worked at fixing the man's liver, "Are you a mutant of some sort?"

"Yes and one that is not scared of you at all. So taking me along as a hostage, that would be a HUGE mistake!"

He gulped a little and I could feel the fear wash over him he had of me. "Hey Boss, I think we should take someone else?" he said over to his leader.

"Grab the one she was with then!" the leader grinned his way at me, his plan of taking Becky was one of revenge aimed at me for not obeying him I am sure.

"Doing that would be even worse" I said coldly back to the robber standing over me, as I kept to my work and held that growing darkness deep within me in check! We don't let the dark monster out of the box...ever!

"Boss, lets just beat it and get this crap as far behind us as we can!" the closest of the four robbers said and dragged one of the large bags towards the door quickly as he could alone.

"Do what I ask darn it!" the leader said dragging a bag to the door next to him. Then he pointed to the door, as he gave the girl of the group a small shove, "Go get the car now!" and she left the bank via the front door, to retrieve what was once our car.

I was still working on fixing the liver, when the leader looked over my shoulder, "Shit you are a mutant?" he gasped at the sight of all the blood on my arms and my glowing hands still deep inside the wound.

"That's right, I am and I am working. So please leave me to fix this mess you made?"

"I should shoot you for not listening to me!" he gave me a empty sounding warning.

"Go ahead, that will not stop me from saving this man here." I said as I pulled out my hand, because I had just finished up with my work inside the wound. Then started to roll the man over and started working on sealing the large wound on his back.

As the leader plus his buddy watched on, my hands started to glow like a fire was deep inside each of them and I started to work on the last large wound on the mans back. Both stood there not knowing what to do with me next, when the last one of his partners grabbed his jacket, so he could drag him outside to the waiting getaway car. "Let's go now, before the cops get here!"

The girl of the team was already driving what used to be our car now and pulled it closer to the banks doors. After she stopped hard in a cloud of dust, the other three men piled into the car. As soon as the last door on the sedan closed, she spun the wheels in a huge cloud of tire smoke and they were gone.

Now with the robbers gone, the manager quickly grabbed the phone off her desk and was calling for help in the small town. Then she yelled over at me, after hanging up, "The medics are on their way, it should be only a minute or so!"

Once the troopers wound had started to seal up again, via the caress of my glowing hands. A cop ran into the building and looked all over for a few seconds for the robbers, thinking that they were still there. Then manager recognized him instantly and he her. They both yelled at one another about the robbery and he was about to leave the bank after the robbers, as he spotted me working by the door.

"Are you hurting him!" he barked down at me, not too sure about what I was doing right now?

"Nope, I am healing him. Go away, I am not done yet!" I barked back at him without even glancing his way.

Now the paramedics started arriving at the bank just as the manger said they would, they came swooping in with several more cops beside them. A few of the cops gathered up with the first one still standing at the door, seemed to make several quick plans and quickly started off after the robbers.

Becky took her time getting up, but was soon standing right next to me and smiling down at my work, "You almost done Kyley?" she asked me.

"I am almost done." I said as a medic started to kneel down beside me and was opening his large bag of medical goods to help me.

He stayed silent as he watched my hands seal the wound and noted what I was doing all the time. "You're a mutant healer?" he asked me very slowly, not knowing what he was watching me do right now or what to make of it.

"That she is and a very good one too!" Becky boasted for me.

"Help me roll him over?" I asked the medic, as the glow from my hands faded and the wound was finally closed.

As we rolled the trooper over, he suddenly started blinking his eyes up at us several times and woke up, then groaned out in pain as he felt over his back. "Hey that hurts a lot!"

"Well it should, you got shot in the back and three ribs were broken. Then add your liver was blasted into six pieces too...well till I fixed it all up for ya?" that is when I placed a still wet with his blood bullet into his hand, "You might want to keep that, it almost killed you. Five more minutes unaided and you would have bled out."

"Is he all fixed?" the medic asked me, as he pulled out several cleaning cloths for me and the man that I had just worked on. The medic started quickly using them on the huge mess of dark blood covering the trooper's back and my blood covered arms.

"Hey, listen to me?" I shook the trooper to get his attention off his pain and back onto me, "That back of yours, it will hurt for a few more weeks. The bones inside you are knitted up, but not firm yet. So no sports or getting hit back there? You should also get some blood into you, as you are still very low on blood and you need lots of rest for the next week...AND quit smoking! That smoking is not helping your life any!" I warn him of what else I found inside him.

After I stood up and started wiping my hands off for the second time. The medic asked me, as he looked his new patient over, "Should I give him an IV?"

"Might be a good way to get his blood volume up a bit? Ohh and trooper you owe me a new shirt and pants!" I grinned his way, as I yanked a bottle of water from the medics bag and used it to wash my hands better, then dabbed at the blood my clothes as best I could.

While I was dealing with the medic and his new charge the wounded trooper that I had just healed up. Becky was talking to the detective that had just arrived to go over the fresh crime scene. She quickly showed him, her ID for ARC and that our stolen car was one of theirs.

What she showed him next, was a car tracker on her phone and it showed where the car was right now. Becky laughed for a second as she stopped the car from a 'app' on the phone, locked the doors and windows. Then for even more fun, she turned the radio up real loud and the heat up to full!

"Well that should get them upset a little!" she giggled over to the detective and he laughed back to her, "that it should!"

A few miles off down the road

The girl robber driving our BMW suddenly found the car falling out of gear and it slowly rolled to a stop, then shut off. She tried in vain to get the car going again by pressing the 'start' button or using the key, while her passengers screamed at her. After the car rolled to a full stop, all of them tried to get out of the car and found the locks not working anymore. They tried rolling down the windows next and not one switch worked inside the car. One man even tried pounding on the window with his gun butt to break it and found that even hitting the window with steel did not work!

"Shit this thing is armored, there is no way out!" the leader yelled as the car's radio played on louder and louder, then the heat started to rise inside the car as the car's heater went into overdrive.

The groups leader was about to fire his gun at the window, but was quickly stopped by the girl with a yank at his arm, "No don't shoot, it will bounce around in here like a ping pong ball and kill all of us you moron!"

Soon enough the cops drove up on them all still trapped with in the car and the first cop walked up to the door of the now sweating like pigs robbers, "Now we will lower a window for you to slip the guns out to us, after you unload them. Or we can wait for all of you to pass out or die in the heat in there and it's ALL your choice kids?" the older sheriff laughed out, as he smiled to them all from his safe side of the thick armored glass.

Back at the bank

The detective was very busy taking Becky's testimony and my much shorter one. He told us after we both finished up, that he would leave the one small fact that I was a mutant off his report, because I kept that state trooper alive.

After he was done with us, we sat back down with the bank manager and completed setting up our new accounts with the bank. Just as we finished up with the last file with the bank manager, the detective tapped Becky's shoulder, "Your car is back and ready for you...have a good day and thanks again!"

Soon enough we were in the car and headed back to home, most of the trip back was in silence. With the exception of Becky asking me if we should eat out, I said "No dear, what we have at home is fine and the sooner we get back there the better."

When we finally got home, I dragged my body up stairs and sat at the kitchen counter. Becky was right behind me and started to grab a frozen pizza out of the freezer while the oven warmed up.

My mind was racing through all the millions of things that could have happened to us today at the bank, the good outcomes and the bad outcomes that out numbered the good ones by too high of a factor that I surly did not like!

"Ky, are you with me?" Becky asked more than concerned after finding me blankly staring across the kitchen at her making a meal for both of us.

"Ohhh sorry love, I was thinking is all?"

"You thinking that hard and not hearing me talk to you...that sounds bad to me?" she asked.

Right then I quickly got up and wrapped her in a huge hug, that even included my wings, "Honey I am so sorry about my ignoring your needs at the bank. It's just that man dieing, it pulled me into helping him so very much! That I blanked out on the most part about you?"

"Ky," she cried back to me softy, "I felt his pain drawing you from our connection, but I was still scared that one robber might hurt you."

"So was I when he pointed that gun at your face Becky, it was all I could do to keep the 'monster' deep inside me sealed in it's box!"

"Well it's all over with and we are both safe now. So lets go eat and try to forget what happened in the bank today?" Becky suggested to me.

For a long time we ate, joked about the robbers at the bank and how the car that ARC had given us ended up being a perfect trap for them. After we had finished eating, I grabbed a few snack bags from the cabinets and both of us laid out snuggling on the couch while watching a movie that Becky had picked out.

As evening came, a soft knock came at our door, "That is Tim, I can sense that it's him. I'll go get it!" I said and leapt off the couch towards the door.

When I opened the door, I found a very nervous Tim standing there, "Hello Tim, come on in please?" I grinned his way.

"Thanks Ky, I got here when I felt it was a good time?"

"Anytime after noon would have been fine with us, but get in here and have a seat on the couch please?" I said as I tugged on his shoulder and pointed the way to the couch, then closed the door.

After I sat back down on the couch next to my Becky, I had to ask Tim who was nearly next to me sitting in his place on the couches other 'leg' of the 'L' shape it was. "So you came to be nearer to me Tim?"

"Yes, the day after you left...I just felt a need to get closer to you again and protect you form harm?" he told me and I could easily tell he was questioning his feelings for me now.

"Tim that makes sense to me, I think you bonded with me on a small level and are now addicted to my presence in some way?"

"I just have that feeling...it came over me, with the months you spent at Homestake."

"Tim, I can cleanse you of the feeling of needing to be near me and I am sure it will vanish over time. But I have to ask you this? Do you want to be part of my seemingly growing family, like Becky is or what other choices may come in your life?"

"I want to be near you Ky?"

"Well lets start with this first," I say to Tim and lean over to him, then grasp his head in between my hands.

I push into his mind, find the small link we have right now and break it for the time being. Next I adjust a small part of him, so that my glamour or my eyes don't affect him for a short time, "There all done, that should fix you for now?"

"What did you do? I feel that need to be near you fading and I don't like that!" Tim said now getting a little angry with me.

"I wanted you to have a fully clear mind, when I put my next very important question to you?"

"What is that question Ky?"

"First I want to tell you to think about this offer of mine, for at least a week and then tell me what you want to do next?"

"I can wait as long you ask me too."

"Good, what I offer to you can be very dangerous for you and you can die from it. First you join with me more like Becky has already done with me," I say and take hold of Becky's hand, while she smiles to me, "And we make an attempt at having you reborn as what I was a very long time ago."

"And what is that and how is that done?"

"What you would be, is a very small part human and look exactly like you do now. With a few exceptions, you would have wings like mine and you could hide them just like I do. Then you would have the gift of 'light' much like I have, with big limitations that if you use it too much of it too fast. You will get very tired and could die from it's over use. But the worst of that power is, that you would have to wear jewelry like my bracelet for the rest of your life. Because without it, you will die violently in an explosion of light."

"Ohh that sounds bad!"

"Life gives you gifts of power sometimes, but most times they have a curse to go along with them!" I almost laugh out.

"I would say that is one big curse!"

I nod to him as I go on, "And there would be other limits to using it, you would take several days to recharge what I can do in a few hours. But you would be much stronger and faster than you are now. Like a mid level exemplar mutant is and have some good regeneration. Regeneration, that as long as what hurts you, it did not kill you outright. The wounds will heal in time, maybe days, weeks or even months for the worst...like losing a limb!"

"So I would be kind of like you, a blend of a little human. I would get wings and be stronger and such?"

"Yes you would be kind of like me and over a long path in your life from there...if you live that long. You could grow to be very much like I am. But I make no promises that you ever will reach that high point. I can only promise that you will be part of me forever like Becky is."

"And how is this little change going to happen to me?" he almost laughs.

"In the past, I would just 'do' it and it would be over in seconds. But since I was 'reborn' here in this weaker version me? So you will have to be 'reborn' into a stronger version of you!"

"And?" Tim asks sarcastically.

"We will use Madelyn from Homestake, I am sure you met her a few times?"

Tim nods back to me, "The girl from the cafeteria that was real sick? Most of us figured out that you helped her out in some way?"

"I did and since she is part of my new family. She will bring you into the family with my help and you will be reborn!"

"She will have me as a kid, that might take a years to get back to where I am now?"

"No, after I transfer your 'soul' as you humans call it, into a blended embryo inside her and one that is a blend of human with my kind. You will come back to us at a much faster rate. I would say a very sped up rate, you would be reborn in several weeks and in a few months from there. You would look very much like you do now?"

"How are you going to do that?"

"Well my light power is going to need some serious rest after all of this! As that is what will be doing or fueling most of the work, think of it as healing at a fast rate blended with aging you?"

"All right, so there is risk?"

"Yes there is, you might die and Madelyn is taking a chance too?" I warn him once again.

"What if I said yes to doing this right now?"

"I would call you crazy and say no to you for sure. I want you to think this over for at least a week without any influence from me!"

"Well if I do this, I am sure that my job at Whateley or ARC as a security guard would have to delayed?"

"I would say delayed, at least till past December and maybe even farther?"

"I am pretty sure that Gunny can get me a delay to starting a job with either of them that long? I will just call it, a long over due vacation or sabbatical!" he grins at me now.

"I am sure that he will, he did like you and said so many times. But what are your plans for tonight Tim?" I had to ask him.

"Well I am going back to my hotel and sleep. Then in the morning I will go to my parents home nearby here and see them for the week. After all that is done, come back here and give you that answer to the most important question in my life?"

"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night here, we do have the room?"

"Nope, you said to leave your influence and that is what I shall do?"

"Good, I was testing to see if my link to you had faded enough and it seems it has. So go see your parents and get back to us when you are ready...don't rush this choice please...take your time." I smiled at him, as he stood up going to the door.

After we said our goodbyes and Tim was gone. Both of us left for the bedroom to watch TV and enjoy the rest of the night.

~o~O~o~

~o~O~o~
Shadowsblade here.

This is my newest story in a joint venture with a group of fan fic authors, so far this group is made up of Nuuan, then Branek and finally myself. We all got together and after a jumpy start decided to make a group of stories that all take place within the Whateley fanfic universe. This one here is my second one and hopefully its a good one.

But remember all. I am not leaving Shadowsblade behind! I will start writing her soon!

To have an idea about the main protagonist this story's will develop
around here is a short introduction.

Angels Peril a Whateley Tale: Written by Branek
Tormented by the past, Angel is struggling between light and dark.

Melvin a Whateley Tale: Written by Branek
They say old soldiers never die, Melvin is about to learn that the hard
way.

The Way of the Dragon a Whateley Tale: Written by Branek
Born for eternity but vulnerable like a child, dragons shouldn't leave
their nest.

Every Rose has it Thorns a Whateley Tale: Written by Nuaan
Watch what you say around rose, could give you more trouble than you ever
asked for.

Kelly a Whateley Tale: Written by Nuaan
Struggling with fate, Kelly has to deal with love and loss.

Shadowsblade a Whateley Tale: Written by Shadowsblade
Created for war and forged in pain, dealing with deamons within and the
out.

Vantier a Whateley Tale :Written by Shadowsblade
Ancient and Powerful Vantier awakens in a foreign world, struggling to
find her place in it.

You might ask yourself what is the Whateley Universe? To make it short,
here is a abstract straight out off the wiki.

Whateley is a Prep School for different teens. VERY different ones. Where else could a kid go to a school that has a resident demon living in the furnace? Or meet magic users, mutants of every imaginable kind, get trained in how to handle some rather odd abilities, and worry about
flunking Freshman English? Come visit Whateley Academy, nestled in the
lovely hills of New Hampshire. Just down the road from a town named
Dunwich... (Mythos jokes purely intentional).
This is the Whateley Academy Universe, a shared universe with over a dozen authors and more than a hundred stories (and counting). The stories range in size from vignettes to novels. It's a Mutant High scenario with both a strong transgender theme and a slightly watered down Cthulhu Mythos theme.

It's also very much a work in progress.'
If you want further information you will find them on.

http://crystalhall.wikia.com/wiki/Whateley_Academy_Wiki

or

http://whateleyacademy.net/

But I have to thank, Both Branek and Nuuan for their vast input and the ability they both have to 'bounce' off ideas and improve them!

To all my readers who have e-mailed me and given support--THANKS!

Please feel free, to add a review to this story and others. As those kind words are 'cookies' that keeps that muse well fed on the 'sometimes' long breaks between stories!

this warning is for our story stealers off site, not the BC family of readers we all know and love!

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