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Hexxatious: Deja-Vu
By- Savanna K. Summersette

Part 1: Feels like Deja Vu
Ezra Falling Bird; September 25th, 2006, 9:56 PM

The faded brick façade of the outside walls, drew my eye. The sky was dark...it was after nightfall, a full moon overhead. Drawing steadily toward the back door, I noticed an industrial style yellow light that flickered on and off, casting odd shadows on the moonlit lawn as I closed in on the paved sidewalk that led to the door. The yellow light flickered, making a humming noise as it came on, silence...after it went off, some flying insect buzzing noisily around it, like a moth drawn to flame...as if just waiting for the light to flicker back on. Which it did after nary five seconds.

The building had seen better days, though it had an undeniable personality about it, the building itself had seen thousands of faces pass within it's hallowed halls, laughing there, playing there, living there. As always, New York seemingly had a life of it's own. The faded brick façade hide halls crowded with jovial tenants, but it was still a rundown apartment I shared with my mother.

The tenants, like my mother and I, are impoverished and live in what most people know as a slum. Although I don't think of it that way...to me, it's my home...and has been ever since my dead beat dad lost his senses during some sort of mental crisis. He's with another woman these days...and my parents have been divorced for a long time.

I looked up, the light just clicked off...in my mind this was a picturesque moment, the full moon overhead...a cloud sliding across it. I smiled as I pulled open the door, ascending the stairwell inside, heading to the second floor, where my mother and I lived in our apartment. My younger sister...who was two years younger than my eighteen attended Whateley...a school for mutants.

Her mutation had happened a little over a year ago. We used to be really close...as close as siblings can be, occasional disagreements aside. Once her mutation happened though...it was as if she became a completely different person. She became snobbish, stuck-up...and she left us. No joke...she rarely even came home on holidays. I heard her say once that shes a cheerleader or something now. Little miss popular...I'm sure. I am happy for her though...despite the means things she's said to my mother and I recently.

She used to be overweight...yes, she was fat and average looking. Not ugly at all though...just unremarkable aside from her weight. She was ridiculed daily, not just by fellow students at school, but also by people outside of school. She was fifty pounds overweight and heart broken by the fact. Boys our age were especially cruel to her...oh nobody ever physically picked on her. But they made fun of her...cruel words spoken by cruel tongues. I think they hurt her the worst...she's always been boy crazy...straight as an arrow, Nizhoni is.

Her mutation made her an exemplar...or something like that. At any rate, it made her exemplary good looking. So her problem with being unwanted by boys our age is undoubtedly no longer an issue. She's gorgeous...and she's happy. That's why I'm glad for her. But she doesn't have to say mean things to Mom or me when we call to see how she's doing.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts away, now standing in front of the metal door to our apartment. I glanced around the hallway as I put my key into the lock, noting that as usual, the hallway and carpet smelt like Lysol. Opening the door and stepping into the small two bedroom apartment I snorted, I shouldn't trouble myself so much thinking about her.

The apartment was tidy...but not extremely so. My mother worked two full-time jobs to make ends meet and didn't have time to clean a lot. I helped as much as I could, and it was due to that team effort that the apartment stayed looking nice. I smiled as I took a plastic bag I'd been carrying, and took it into the small kitchen, and put the groceries I'd picked up for my mother away.

With my back pack slung low over my shoulder I padded across the living room carpet and into the short-little hallway that led off of it, and entered the second bedroom, closing the door behind me. It was a small room...two single beds sat up against the right and left walls, opposite one another. I tossed my backpack onto the bed to the left, which was mine. My sister and I had pretty much always shared a room, since my mother never had the money to get a bigger apartment.

I looked in the mirror over the dresser, which along with the beds made for a tight fit in the small room. In many ways the opposite of my sister, I was slim and had a pretty face. I didn't have much of a figure despite being two years older than my sister. In fact my hips were a little straight, and so I came off looking slightly boyish. Though I was average height and petite, so boyish would never translate into being mistaken for someone of the male persuasion. That, and plus my breasts were small but not THAT small. I smiled at my tanned skin, dark hair...dark eyes. I was Native American, full blooded.

And of course now my sister was a Native American beauty queen. So we were still very much physical opposites. Sometimes I felt saddened that we were so emotionally separated. I missed the days when we were close...when we could just talk and be sisters rather than...well she treats me like some stranger she doesn't know or want to know these days.

Looking at my alarm clock on a shelf over the head of my bed, I saw that it read eight PM...I'd worked late...but my mom wouldn't be back yet for hours. Working two jobs and all. I loved her so so much. I'd do anything for her...I wish I could help her out with more than just rent.

I got decent grades in school, but not good enough to get a scholarship to college. And my mother certainly had no money for it...she was working a second job just to put Nizhoni through Whateley. So I was saving money to put myself through college...but I doubt I'd ever actually bother. I mean, by the time I had enough money saved for even just the first year of college...well, it'd take at least 2 years just to get that much.

I was pooped from having worked myself to the bone for twelve hours straight...no break. I pulled out a movie from under my bed, and slipped it into the dvd drive of my little 13" LCD television I had sitting on the dresser facing my bed. I smiled from my head down to my toes as the title screen of Fern Gully came on.

It wasn't my favorite movie...my favorite movie was Gone with the Wind. But it ran a close second...I absolutely loved Fern Gully. Although I think I like Finding Nemo more than Fern Gully, but only just!

I was happily watching the movie and feeling tired...I felt dizzy...like really dizzy. Luckily I was laying down. Awww, this is my favorite par-.

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

"Ezra?"

My eyes fluttered to the sound of my mothers soft contralto voice.

"I can't believe it...-"

I must have dozed off. I felt disoriented. I was stiff...and I tingled like mad. I was all tangled up in the sheets...however, having un tangled myself from them, I realized they weren't sheets, they were...my clothes. Looking around was an experience...my bed was officially larger than a king size...larger than...well it's as big as a swimming pool. I got to my hands and knees, realizing the bed wasn't bigger...I was smaller. A lot smaller. Standing I felt off balanced. Looking behind me I found the culprit.

I'd turned into a butterfly. The wings looked like they were made out of stained glass...with the light shining through them the way it was. They looked like they were made from stained glass mosaics of various shades of pink, lilac and royal purple.

"Ezra...is that you?" my mother asked. I looked up at her...realizing just how small I was. She looked like a...a giant.

"Yes momma...it's me." I said...giggling a bit when I heard how high pitched my voice was.

"Oh dear...I thought you were too old for this to happen." she said, looking confused.

"You mean...for me to be a mutant? Maybe I'm a late bloomer?" I said, none too sure. "What are we going to do!? I can't work like this!"

"Oh dear...well, I think I have a solution." she said tiredly. The fact that she looked so worn worried me. "Luckily your sister is already enrolled at Whateley. Makes contacting the Headmistress much easier...she'll know what to do."

"Alright, momma." I frowned a little, looking over at the mirror...but at this angle I couldn't see myself in it. I wondered if I could fly over to it? No, thats a bad idea...I don't even know if I can fly. Looking down at the floor, I could see it'd be a bit of a drop. And I wouldn't be able to climb up on top the dresser from the floor...not when I was this small.

"Momma, can you uh-," I blushed and stumbled over my words, "Pick me up and put me in front of the mirror?"

She gave me an odd look, blinked twice and then frowned a bit, "Alright sweetie...never thought you'd ever ask me something like that."

She cupped her hands and put them in front of me, causing me to snigger as I stepped into them and kneeled, so I wouldn't fall out of them. She turned and carried me over to the dresser, setting me down on it's dusty surface. My bare feet trod a couple steps across it turning up little puffy clouds of dust in my wake.

Nearing the mirror...I groaned and frowned. I was never one for teen angst but I wasn't exactly thrilled to be...what looked like a foot tall. My skin was mostly a bright powder puff pink...a lighter shade of pink really. It had bands and stripes of lilac and a light shade of violet crossing my body at long intervals, horizontally. My hair looked to be the color of easter egg grass...or maybe pink and purple cotton candy, it was mainly lilac colored, but had bright pink highlights all throughout. It was still long though...hanging down to my waist...I realized it would probably get tangled up with my wings if I didn't keep it brushed out.

One side of my face was pink...that side had a royal purple colored eye...solid colored, no whites, no iris and no discernible pupil. It looked a bit crystallized, looking real close in the mirror, I could see that it looked...slightly faceted. I realized it was a compound eye. Like an insects. Though it was normal sized and proportioned...and it certainly didn't stick out. It looked human enough aside from it seeming like I was looking into a gemstone due to the reflective facets...what looked like thousands of them.

I giggled...causing my wings to involuntarily flutter a bit which caused me to sway, but not fall. The other side of my face was purple, and the eye on that side was a bright pink...similar in color to my skin. It was the same faceted type of eye as the other. I wondered why my vision was so...normal. Shouldn't I see a million pictures of everything if I have compound eyes? I realized then that my brain was probably just combining all the thousands of images into one composite image. And now that I was paying attention...my eye sight was extremely good. As in, I could see a speck of dust floating around in the air all the way on the opposite side of the room.

I tittered and giggled a bit more at this realization. Turning back to the mirror...I frowned, realizing I was naked. Oh sure, I'd been conscious of it before now, but it's one of those thought process issues...only one issue at a time. Looking at myself I saw two strands of hair swing out, to hang from the front of my head, just behind my hairline. They arced out in a curve, the tips hanging down a bit. I noticed the tips had little rounded nodules. Concentrating on them I realized they weren't strands of hair at all...in fact they didn't have a single hair on them, they were perfectly smooth...antenna! I had antenna?

Focusing on my antenna I realized they were just as flexible as string, and that I could feel all sorts of sensations from them. I had a crazy strong sense of smell with them! I could smell my mothers scent in the air, even though she'd been in the other room talking on the phone for five minutes now. I could even smell myself! I had a...sweet...very sweet scent. My smell was sweet and spicy, and it turned me on in a way I've never felt before.

My sense of smell using my antenna...also was a sense of taste. I can't quite describe it because it had to be stronger and more intense than a dog's sense of smell. But it reminded me a bit of breathing through my mouth when a strong scent was around me, and tasting it. Anyone who has ever smelt sewage and accidentally breathed air through their mouth knows how bad that can be.

My antenna could feel the faintest of vibrations as well. Both air currents and sound were easily felt...causing me to react. I also had a very keen sense of temperature sensing. I squinted a bit and laid the antenna back into my hair. They were pink with purple stripes, so they blended right into my multi-colored hair.

One thing was for sure...my figure was much better developed now than it was before. Had I been a normal sized girl, these would have to be 32E cup's...my chest was petite and small, which made them seem that much bigger. I had a small waist...not super model thin, but wide hips and a pretty padded posterior. I had thick thighs and beautiful legs. Looking at myself, I was pretty certain that I was thirteen inches tall. Perhaps my greatly enhanced vision is better at judging distance based units of measurement.

I saw my mother enter the room in the mirror, and turned to face her. I saw that she was carrying what looked like a cut off sock.

"Mom, whats that?" I asked.

She frowned at me a bit, "It's a sock. I cut the foot off so that it should fit you like a dress."

With that she handed it to me, and I slipped it over my head. It was messily sliced open on one side, so that my wings could go through what was suppose to be the back of the garment. It was a terrible fit, but it covered me, falling down to my knees. It kept slipping over my shoulder, and I kept having to pull it back up...though it was better than nothing I guess. "Thanks, mom."

"Oh sweetie, I love you so much. Always have and always will."

"So did you talk to whoever it was that you wanted to call?"

"Yes...she told me to bring you by tomorrow." my mother answered, smiling wistfully.

"Oh?" I answered...more a grunt really. Thus I suppose I grunted rather than answered.

"You can teleport though right?" I asked. My sister and I had always been aware that our mother was a mutant, but she rarely talked about it.

"Of course honey. Haven't done it in a couple weeks though. You'd better hope I haven't gotten rusty." she answered with a wink. I just shrugged my shoulders at her, looking comical in my sock dress.

"This sucks." I said, frowning up at her.

"It could be worse. At least you got some curves out of it!" she said with a grin, being a beautiful middle-aged woman herself.

"True...at least I'm a hottie," I said with a smile.

"Well hon, I guess you should curl up on your pillow over there and try to get some sleep. I'll take us to Whateley around Noon tomorrow. That should give you enough time to rest."

"Mom? I'm actually starving. Can I eat something first? Like now?" I asked, rubbing my tummy.

"Sure-," she answered starting to walk away.

"HEY! Wait, take me with you!" I yelled, my voice going even shriller than it already was. Walking that far by myself would be a trip due to me being only slightly taller than a Barbie Doll.

She turned and gave me another odd look. "Alright sweetie."

She cupped her hands and I climbed into them, waiting patiently as she carried me into the small kitchen. She set me down on the kitchen table and I sat down crossed legged, waiting for her to bring me some..., "I'd like some watermelon and grapes please!"

She smiled at me, and pulled containers of fruit out of the fridge, dishing them out onto a little saucer dish and setting it down in front of me.

Of course the little teacup saucer was as big as a small table to me, but I sat in front of it and started tearing off little pieces of the chunks of fruit. I ate them quite rapidly, realizing that fruit had NEVER tasted this good before.

"Can I have some slices of an Orange please?" I asked politely, wiping my little mouth off on the sock dress thing.

She obliged, peeling and cutting an orange into slices, and setting two of the aforementioned slices in front of me. She ate the others herself, while I went to work on the orange slices.

Ten minutes later I was full, and had finished eating my two slices.

I was feeling sated and happy. My mother came over and cupped her hands for me again. However I frowned, and decided to be a little more adventurous. I stood on the edge of the table, looking down at what seemed like a two story drop below me. I bent forward at the waist and flapped my wings. The instinct to fly came somewhat naturally, and I flew in a similar manner to a swallow-tail butterfly. Though much quicker I realized as I shot across the room and careened into the wall, bouncing off and falling to the floor below.

Wiggling around in pain I was glad I seemed to me more durable than usual. I couldn't stand, or even get to my knees though and had a serious dizzy spell affecting me, even laying flat on the floor, all crumpled up as I was.

"Oh my God, Ezra! Damnit, don't EVER do that again!" she hollered as she quickly, but gently scooped me up. My wings making me lay somewhat lopsided.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Uh...i'm uh...um I think I'm kind uh...kinda alright. Put me on my pillow so I can go night night." I said disorientedly.

"Oh sweetie...don't do something stupid like that again," she said, her voice tight with worry.

"Okay mommy." I answered sincerely.

She set me on my now seemingly monstrous pillow and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

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

I woke up feeling much better than I did when I went to sleep. I put my "dress" back on, despite the fact that it was quite possibly the ugliest thing I'd ever seen in terms of fashion.

Hopping down to the floor, I walked, quite a bit really into the living room where my mother was waiting, sitting on the couch. The back of the couch was facing me, thus I walked around...to see my mother cradling a hot cup of coffee in her hands as she sat watching television. A copy of the newspaper was folded on the cushion next to her. I had an idea, backing away from the couch I jumped and flapped my wings, immediately shooting forward...neatly landing on the newspaper. My mother heard the crinkling noise that newspapers make when moved...or in this case walked upon and turned, seeming a little surprised to see me.

"Didn't I tell you no flying?" she asked, startled.

"Sorry, no can do. I'm too small to be doing that. I can't imagine having to walk everywhere with my legs being this short. Do you know how long it took me just to walk into the living room from my bedroom? Trust me!"

"Alright sweet heart," she answered noncommittally.

"Oh well, we have to be going. Due to your size it'll be rather hard to take anything with you. Therefore, if you absolutely have anything you can't bare to leave here, it can be shipped to the school later...or if its as small as say...your television, I can pick it up and teleport it."

"Alright momma," I replied thinking of whether there was anything I just couldn't stand to leave behind. "Wait...am I going to be staying there? You just said last night we'd make a trip there to figure out what to do about me."

"We don't even know what your powers are yet...you have to stay for at least a little bit," she replied. "At least until you can be properly tested...and then maybe you might want to stay to learn to use them as well."

I just sighed, as she reached down and I climbed into her hand.

I felt a wrenching sort of vertigo...which caused me to feel...something inside of me, not knowing what it was, I pushed it back down. We were plunged into blackness, and I felt a little scared...which caused my skin to prickle...a voice in the back of my mind told me that the prickles could be dangerous...so I relaxed and told them to relax. Or something like that...hard to focus when you feel like your spinning upside down.

I was still in my mothers hand...I couldn't see her in the darkness but I could feel her hand protectively wrapped around me. Then we seemed to drop...as if on a roller-coaster, and...it was over. We were standing in an office...some lady was sitting behind a desk looking at us with a surprised expression. The name on her desk top name tag said 'Amelia Hartford.'

"I assume you have an appointment?" She asked after a pause.

"Yes we do...Nayeli Falling Bird and Ezra Falling Bird? Here to see Headmistress Carson?"

"Ah yes," the woman said with distaste. Eying me with a look she probably reserved for bugs.

She pushed the button on her intercom, "Your noon-appointment is here, Headmistress."
A voice replied over the intercom, "Well send them in."

"She'll see you now," the woman said, unnecessarily.

We entered the room, and there was an Asian man sitting to one side of the room, and a middle-age woman sitting behind a desk.

"Hello Mrs. Falling Bird, and Mrs. Ezra too I presume?" she said at first holding out her hand, but then retracting it when she realized I was keeping my mothers hands occupied at the moment.

"Yes...that would be correct. My daughter seems to be a bit of a late bloomer...she seemed perfectly base-line until last night when she seemingly instantly turned into the girl you see before you."

"That's certainly odd. You say she was eighteen?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Well that is a bit odd then, it's possible I suppose that her mutation was activated in her early teens...but went dormant for some reason. Or perhaps it did just activate recently." She said, looking me up and down as I stood up straight in my mothers cupped palms. "Either way, that's why I've called Dr. Tanaka here for. He'll take her to A.R.C this afternoon...they'll get her some decent clothes there. And test her fully, as well."

"Well good! I'm tired of wearing this ugly ass old sock," I replied with pure venom.

"For a price of course," Ms. Carson added in response.

My mother spoke up, "For a price? A.R.C is a for profit corporation that will most likely use her to develop and further their own technologies. If they are going to charge for something as simple as a few outfits for someone her size, I'll just take her elsewhere and pay for it all myself...since I'll be paying one way or the other it seems."

"Mother, I have money put away...I can pay for it," I said. She looked at me and grimaced, "You're legally an adult but you hush, and let me take care of this."

I sniggered, wondering how she knew about A.R.C, let alone what they did and how they operated.

"What exactly do you propose then?" Ms. Carson asked with lifted eyebrow.

"That first of all, they don't charge for anything they do. And secondly, that they pay for her education at Whateley. If they do that I'll let them powers test her and benefit from any research they are able to do."
"Are you saying that you believe we'll be able to make any money of such research? How do you know? Even you don't know what her powers are yet," Dr. Tanaka said, speaking suddenly from his place at the right side of the room.

"Really? How many other chances are you going to get to measure a girl who shrank so suddenly in size? I mean...in the space of a couple hours? That's...beyond extreme is it not? Has to be something to it," her voice was a contralto...and she sounded...seductive. Very much so...I could see it was having some effect on Dr. Tanaka who seemed to be blushing slightly.

There was a slight pause and silence as everyone just glanced around at each other.

"Alright, there's a car waiting outside that will take us to A.R.C. She's legally an adult so she doesn't need a parents consent.

"I want my mother there with me," I exclaimed. I couldn't trust a bunch of mad-scientist wanna-be's for anything.

"Alright, well no dilly-dallying. Let's get out to the car then," Dr. Tanaka said with a shrug.

I felt like experimenting, I flapped my wings as gently as I could. I didn't move...I flapped a little harder and I lifted gently, ever so slowly into the air out of my mothers hands. I could feel the wings slap against my sock covered back on their down strokes...so I used my muscles to angle them more out and down. They were close enough to my sides that they didn't have to hit my back when fully depressed in their down stroke.

It worked. I found that I could hover by controlling the direction of the flaps and which direction I had my body angled. For now I just hovered in mid-air, looking around the room with the vibrations from my wings jarring my vision somewhat, making objects in the room appear to shake although they weren't actually.

Dr. Tanaka was watching me with a raised eyebrow...he stood and made his way to the door. I fluttered after him, followed my my mother. I looked back and saw Ms. Carson taking a seat at her desk...she saw me looking and winked at me.

We followed Dr. Tanaka out into the hall, past Ms. Bitchford, past her secretary and out into the hall right out into broad daylight. I turned my fluttering sort of slow flight into faster more horizontal flight...flying towards a black Lincoln S.U.V parked in front of the building. Looking back, I could see the brick building had a sign naming it 'Schuster Hall.'

I was approaching the S.U.V, and decided to circle it a few times for fun. The wind whistled past my ears as I watched the seemingly expansive hood pass underneath me. I banked left and flew around it, startled to realize that using my antenna I could *SEE* the heat coming off the black vehicle...especially the tail pipe and the hood area. I could also adjust my eye-sight, like a camera lense. I adjusted it and the green grass turned red...and the sky turned purple...and oh wow! My vision must naturally be on in the U.V/Infrared range. Before now I was just filtering it out or perhaps turning it 'off' because now I was amazed by all the different colors. It was interesting seeing the red leaves on the trees and red grass. Colors of white seemed so bright, as if they were glowing.

Shades of black and grey seemed much more uncommon with this eyesight. My senses were so alive...my antenna were unfurled and out straight in front of me, seeming to be a good inch in length. I could smell the exhaust from the S.U.V so clearly...I could sense my mother and Dr. Tanaka watching me from the side walk. I could smell flowers and trees and shrubs all around me using the scent receptors on my antenna. My antenna felt the vibrations from the vehicles engine even while flying three feet away from it.

I slowly flew around the back and then towards my mother and the doctor, who were watching me from the sidewalk. I slowed to an oscillating hover directly in front of them. I couldn't seem to hover as stable as a humming bird or a dragon fly...like a butterfly my flight was punctuated with a fluttering sort of oscillating flight. While hovering I'd drop a little bit on the upstroke of my wings, but still remain relatively within the same place.

"Well, let's go," I said to Dr. Tanaka, feigning annoyance.

He frowned at me and opened the passenger side door, climbing in. I saw that the rear windows were rolled down a bit and feeling a bit daring, fluttered forward and glided right through the open gap. Once inside I grinned seeing how roomy it was inside. The door behind me opened and my mother climbed in. She looked younger than her actual age of 46. She didn't look older than 35. I always wondered if she'd ever feel like a sister because she seems much younger than she actually is...but her maternal side is much too prominent for that. She always felt like my mother...you know...a good mother radiates caring and love.

The S.U.V rolled away from the curb and even though I was flying in a circle within the vehicle, I was mostly unaffected by it's movements. Gotta love the theory of relativity. Kept me from becoming a splat on the rear window as the vehicle accelerated to highway speeds on it's way to the A.R.C facility.

---

Entering the A.R.C facility is an experience...it's like a building within a building. Since the outside structure is actually an armored enclosure for the old asylum inside. There were offices and labs everywhere...some with odd plants in them, some of which seemed strangely sentient. The place was pretty amazing...though I'd never been anything like a geek in terms of personality or interests. Technology and science didn't interest me much...although...maybe I'd changed. I felt interested in these things.

We went down to the basement level via the stairs, and entered a huge lab. There was a machine...which Dr. Tanaka kept calling 'Microsoft' and a large spherical device at the center of the room. Eventually I wound up inside the weird spherical contraption and had to lay on a sort of table. Which of course seemed huge to me. I was small enough to use the provided pillow as a mattress of sorts. The machine clicked and clanged a lot...interspersed with eerie moments of silence. It didn't take too long...less than thirty minutes.

I flew out when the metal door opened, fluttering over to the little area where Dr Tanaka and my mother were talking to the weird Microsoft machine.

"The analysis is complete," the machine said in it's weird robot voice. "Height...fourteen and a half inches. Weight...twelve ounces. Subject appears to have GSD...a butterfly/human hybrid, with skin coloration resembling the warning coloration of a poison dart frog. Origin...subject is a product of her own BIT and reality warping power, which explains her extremely quick transformation. Reason for late manifestation of mutant ability...hypothetically, hazarding an educated guess...reality warping?"

The machine paused then asked in it's machine voice, "Ezra, what were you doing prior to the manifestation?"

"I was...watching Fern Gully," I said with an odd little giggle.

"Well that explains her specific GSD pattern then. Reality warping is almost certainly the cause of her altered BIT and GSD pattern. It's also the reason for her expedient metamorphosis."

"What about her powers?" Tanaka asked, seeming impatient to hear the juicy details.

"Exemplar 2. Wizard 4. Reality Warper 4b (r/p/d)." the machine mono-toned. In then paused and...laughed, "Subject also has the ability to compound virtually any chemical found on earth...and probably many that are not. Subject's skin while seeming smooth as silk to the touch, is actually covered in hundreds of thousands of microscopic cnidocytes."

"In what?" my mother asked.

"Nematocytes." the machine replied in it's odd mechanical monotone. "Like a jelly-fish. Microscopic stingers. In addition to the nematocytes, subject appears able to secrete oils from her skin glands...there are apparently glands storing a great deal of Batrachotoxin. However this variety seems capable of permeating the skin easily on touch. Lethal dose is 100 mcg...the weight of two grains of fine table salt."

"Do the nematocytes store the same venom as jellyfish?" Dr. Tanaka asked...seriously interested in this little science session. Strangely I seemed to be following all of this technical talk quite well.

"Venom is a compound. The neurotoxin is almost exactly the same as a box jelly-fish's, in fact the two seem almost identical. The other portion of the venom is a hemotoxin. The two seem to combine to form a venom similar to the Mojave Type A venom...however fifty times more deadly. Symptoms are proteolytic and causes severe necrosis and hemorrhaging. Neuro toxin is 1.5 times more toxic than a box jelly-fishes neurotoxin...it is what would kill the victim. The hemotoxin wouldn't be a factor unless the victim survived the neurotoxin."

"Assuming a accidental stinging during a casual touch...whats the toxicity? Chances of survival?" Dr. Tanaka asked.

"Assuming victim is a baseline with no regeneration powers. Lethal LD50 is...as little as thirty-five mcg. Death will occur within 180 seconds. Should the victim survive...they will suffer crippling necrosis near sting site. The hemotoxin can travel through the blood and affect other areas as well. Chances of survival...near zero without immediate treatment. Subject carries enough toxin within her body...to kill as many as two-hundred adult humans. More deadly than a box jelly-fish."

I just looked at the weird cylinder like Microsoft machine. My biology was kind of scary when you account for the crazy poisons.

The machine spoke again, "Her wings also contain oil secretion glands. I believe she could spread chemical compounds as an aerosol using them. Lastly...subject has near super-senses due to her incredible U.V/I.R eyesight...and her sensory antenna."

"Are her reality warping powers active?" Dr. Tanaka asked, looking worried.

"Active, but not in use. Last use...over 16 hours ago...during time of manifestation."

"Are they unstable? Are they a threat do you think?" he asked, looking only a little calmer.

"Stable...well controlled. I would guess that it takes a strong act of focused concentration to use them. Therefore accidental use should be extremely unlikely. Threat? Only if she wants to be," Microsoft said more quietly than before.

Dr. Tanaka turned to my mother, "She can create any chemical? Any compound? You were right. We'll pay for her education and give her a stipend for clothing and living expenses. $30k a year salary plus 5% royalties on any products or profit made from any research concerning her. She'll be required to work on call for us...no more than twenty-hours a week. She gets her salary regardless of hours worked. We won't make her work during regular school hours...however school-nights are up for grabs, but no more than 4 hours at a time."

"10% royalties. 30k is low for how much profit A.R.C makes in a year."

"Deal," Dr. Tanaka said with a huge grin.

I smiled and jumped in the air from my place on a nearby desk, "Woah! That's more than I made at my old job! Woohoo!"

"Yes dear, well we really should be getting back to Ms. Carson for details of your lodging and school schedule," my mother explained.

"Ah, but first...Microsoft had some clothing manufactured by a custom devise he built in a nearby room. It should be a perfect fit and hold Ezra over until she can do some shopping of her own," Dr. Tanaka informed us.

He handed a small package which seemed to be wrapped in a plastic vacuum sealed wrapping to my mother. It was no larger than a brick...but it might have been too heavy for me to carry. Well, I'm an exemplar...so I could carry it, but maybe not fly with it.

"Can I put something on now? This sock is so seriously grating on my nerves, we might end up having a reality accident."

My mother just frowned at me and ripped open the package...pulling out a little mini-dress made of pink silk. It was see-through at the mid-riff, but perfectly solid-opaque at the bust and in the skirt. It was adorable. I threw off my ugly sock right there, feeling perfectly comfortable in the nude, and took the mini-dress from my mothers outstretched hand, slipping it on, quickly. It fell to my lower thigh, and seemed to have no underwear. Okay...so I was going commando...like Paris Hilton likes to do.

It was a perfect fit, I twirled in the little strapless pink mini-dress...delighting in the silky feel of the material. The back was mostly open down to the small of my back, leaving my back bare, but giving my wings excellent range of movement. Looking back at the package, I decided not to try and carry it...I'd let my mother carry it in her purse for me.

Before we could leave the room, my mother frowned and handed me a piece of clothing no bigger than the fingernail on her little finger. I grabbed it and realized it was a tiny little g-string. I slipped it on with a smirk wondering what went on inside that weird Microsoft machine...oddly enough it's little cameras seemed to be blinking rapidly. I wonder if it was...enjoying my display of nudity? Weird!

----

The ride back to Whateley was mostly uneventful. The S.U.V took us back to Schuster Hall.

"Hey mom, why not just teleport us back? To avoid the car ride?" I asked, staring out the rear passenger side window.

"Sweetie, I'm not quite that powerful...once a day is quite a lot for me. Especially considering how far we traveled earlier today. I'm not a super-hero you know," she answered softly with a frown.

"Well you're *MY* super-hero," I replied sincerely.

She looked at me then, smiled so much she blushed, "Thanks sweetie. I love you very much. I just wish you sister felt that way."

"Yeah well she's an ungrateful little bitch," I replied dismissively.

"Honey, don't say that! She is your sister after all," my mother answer, genuinely taken aback.

"Well she doesn't act like it. We used to be close sisters...as close as two siblings could be. But...she's changed. A lot."

"Sweetie, she just needs time to adjust," my mother answered...still frowning.

I looked at her, lying on my stomach on the leather bench seat, my wings flexing back and forth above me. We were both sitting in the back, she was sitting on the drivers side looking at me sadly. I still wasn't use to how shrill and high-pitched my voice was...it was still very pleasant sounding though...not at all like a chipmunk. It was...strangely seductive...despite being a sopranino. I thought it was sexy, and I'm a girl!

"Mom, at this rate...she's going to only get worse. I wouldn't be surprised if she became a super villain."

"Now you're just exaggerating," my mother answered slowly. Looking at me, though I was unable to read her expression.

"We'll see...been a long time since I saw her. Maybe I'm wrong," I replied, quiet voiced.

The vehicle pulled up to the curb, and my mother climbed out, I fluttered after her unable to open the door on my side. I followed her up the sidewalk, saw from a clock inside the building that it was still only three o'clock in the afternoon. Ms. Hartford still had that seemingly permanent bitchy expression on her face just waved us in. Evidently Ms. Carson must have just told her to send us in when we got back. I was still feeling so carefree, I loved flying.

We entered her office, and sat in the large leather chairs...well she sat, I stood on the front edge of Ms. Carson's desk, facing her.

"First off...for at least the first semester, you'll be lodged in Hawthorne cottage," Ms. Carson said.

I just looked at her curiously.

"Hawthorne? Whatever for? She isn't dangerous," my mother pleaded, making me frown wondering why this Hawthorne place seemed so bad.

"Just in case; if she does well in Hawthorne and the school in general, we'll transfer her to Whitman cottage next semester," Carson replied with no room for compromise in her voice.

"Her schedule will exclude most of the classes she already took in high school. But after examining her transcripts, she'll be re-taking the entire math curriculum here. First hour, Algebra I. Second hour, Basics of Magic 101. Third hour, advanced biology. Fourth hour, Powers theory. Lunch. Fifth hour, Chemistry I. Sixth hour, Chemistry II. Seventh hour, Costume design."

"Okay, so seven classes a day? I can handle that," I said carefully...but confidently. It was better than working twelve hours a day like I did at my old job.

She then looked at us again, "You're starting a month late. We've had five other students start late...just this week in fact. So don't worry...catching up won't be too hard."

"Yes Ms. Carson," I replied in what was suppose to be an obedient tone...although on second thought it sounded more sarcastic really. I frowned thinking about it.

"Alright, off with you then. Go get yourself settled in your cottage. Hawthorne, room 13."

"Room Thirteen?" I asked curiously.

"That's what I said," Ms. Carson answered curtly.

I frowned, turned around and fluttered off her desk and out of the office, waiting for my my mother just outside the door. She followed with an odd look on her face.

"Mom, whats so bad about this Hawthorne place?" I asked. Ms. Bitchford laughed out loud but didn't look in our direction.

URGH! That pissed me off, she wouldn't think shes so funny if her coffee had laxatives in it! I felt that weird tingling rush flow through me...then it was gone. I watched her take a sip of her coffee...she frowned a bit, as if it tasted a little bitter or something.

"Don't worry hon. It's only for one semester if you behave yourself. Remember to keep a tight control on your powers alright? Good."

She talked as we walked, leaving the building. She'd gone here in her teens, so I figured she knew where she was going. "Hawthorne is the cottage for students with special needs, who may or may not have GSD. As well as the students who are dangerous, or could possibly lack control of their powers. I guess this whole reality warping business has them worried...otherwise they wouldn't have put you there."

"WHAT!? They are putting me in the freaks dormitory? That's a bunch of crap!" I nearly screeched. I can't fucking believe I had to start school in some dorm they reserve for the freaks and crazies. I was SO going to be unpopular for this. There went my daydreams of having a decent school year.

"Don't think of it like that...in fact, look on the bright side. All the rooms are singles!" she said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but failing. So much for optimism.

The cottage itself looked like a normal dormitory...standard brick affair...with gargoyles on the roof ledges. I thought that was pretty cool, reminded me of me and my moms apartment. You could see the place had a lot of character. The inside looked much like a college dorm would. Had a couple of sitting areas with only a few odd looking students sitting in them. Most of them were reading or talking quietly. I was surprised to see a homely looking woman...short, chubby...with a weird pair of tech goggles on, the lenses glowed a bright neon blue. They completely covered her eyes, pulled tight so there were no gaps to see if her eyes were what was glowing. Not to mention her bulky looking wrist watch looked like some sort of James Bond reject. I'm guessing she made it herself...maybe it had a cool laser beam device built in. It was still totally gaudy and heinous looking...cant believe she'd actually wear it in public. She might as well have tied my sock dress to her wrist.

I fluttered in front of her...she appeared to be waiting for us specifically. "Ezra Falling Bird? And her mother I presume?"

We just smiled and nodded our heads in assent.

"Good, right this way please," she said with a genuine smile.

I flew slowly behind her as she walked, my mother following me. We went straight...all the way towards the rear of the cottage. We took the stairs down, Ms. Cantrel pointed out some ventilation ducts that didn't have covers, "You can use those to get to your room since you aren't large enough to open doors and what not. But we'll take the actual way for now."

She led us down the stairs and through a door which led into...an underground tunnel? I saw two tunnels branching off from the landing at the bottom of the stairs, with another door off to the side that apparently led to the first basement level of Hawthorne. She led us just a bit up into the tunnel and then to a door to the right, almost doubling back to where the stairs landed, but with a wall...one you can only get around by entering the tunnel just a ways.

The door was unmarked. She opened the door, which led into a weird vertical shaft with a catwalk...it reminded me of an empty elevator shaft...or maybe a mine shaft. There was a mechanical lift to one side...but the cat walk lead straight across...the shaft seemed to be about twenty feet wide and...well, I couldn't see the bottom, so hard telling how deep it went. The cat walk crossed the shaft to a door on the far side, which was marked with the number '13.'

"Uh...what the fuck is up with this room? Is this a mine shaft?" I asked, weirded out by this weird ass school.

"It's your dorm room. As for the shaft...it is one of the supply shafts for the underground facilities. We use it now to dispose of toxic waste and store...supplies and machinery for the campus facilities. It also connects to tunnels and underground facilities running all throughout the campus underground."

"Alrighty then," I replied...still wondering why I had to be in THIS room.

Opening the door to the room, I was surprised...it was large by dorm room standards. HUGE when you took into consideration how small I was. It was weird looking...it was circular with a dome like ceiling...at the pinnacle of the dome there was a large industrial exhaust fan, which led into some sort of ventilation shaft. The room was lit by blue neon tubes ringing the upper walls. Yes neon lighting! Party shack, much?

The room was also like a...green house. It had hydroponics planters lining the walls with grow-lights. There were at least a hundred different types of flowers. On the floor were some hydroponic planters arranged in an unbroken ring around a circular open area in the room which had a...bird-bath, the planters seemed to be...the bottoms of them were filled/covered with compost. I realized that they were all growing mushrooms. Quite a few different varieties.

"You growing magic mushrooms in here?" I asked with a smirk.

"Actually...yes," she replied with a vague smile.

"If you take care of these plants Ms. Carson will pay you, consider it to be a student job...I used to do it but you can do it just as easily if not better. Just keep them watered...they have automatic drips and sprayers built into the planters, and you can add fertilizer into the water using that LCD touch-screen here by the door. Consider it to be a paid gardening job for Ms. Carson as well as Circe and the magic department."

"This room used to be...a special room. Wasn't originally used as a dorm room, that ventilation shaft leads to all the levels of Hawthorne...there are directional signs in the ventilation ducts to help direct you where to go. This room used to be a ventilation room for the underground facilites below, used to bring fresh air down to the lower levels of the underground network. It's been renovated several times since then obviously, making it habitable."

She paused, then went on, "All the active fan ducts have covers on them...so don't worry you cannot get sucked up into the furnace or anything. The main ventilation shaft also leads straight to the roof. Giving you a way to get in and out of Hawthorne without using the front door. Perfect for you considering your size. The room gets a little cold in the winter, but stays cool spring and summer...especially if you turn that fan on there. Just remember, not to try and fly through if it's running. or it'll dice you up like finely chopped parsley."

"It gets cold?" I asked frowning.

"Ah yes, don't worry though, it's had a heat blower installed over there to the right. The dials are small enough for you to use."

"Whats that?" I asked, pointing at a weird stainless steel bird bath in the middle of the room.

"Thats a special unit, built for you and delivered only an hour ago. It's a bird bath that has running water. Hot and cold respectively...it even has small shower sprayers built in to help you bathe.

She then pointed to a nearby wall mounted shelf. I fluttered over to it, realizing it had a small bed and dresser, and some cabinets and a armoire...all dollhouse furniture sized. I realized this was custom built stuff...made me wonder how they made this stuff so quickly when Ms. Carson only knew I'd be coming since...yesterday.

"Well, I'll leave you to get settled then," she then pointed at a digital clock on the room, reading 3:36 PM in bright red LED lit letters, "Dinner is at 5. You should go, see if you can meet some new people before your classes start tomorrow."

She smiled and left the room.

"Well...this is all certainly more interesting than I thought," I replied.

"True. I have a feeling this is going to be a very interesting year for you," my mother said with a smile.

She set the package of clothing down on that glass shelf, "Need anything else sweetie?"

"No...I'll call you after dinner," I answered flying slowly around the room.

"Alright, call if you need me," she said, before kissing me on he cheek and vanishing in the blink of the eye.

"Well...this...if nothing else is going to be a *VERY* interesting year," I laughed a little.

Then I spotted one wall of hydroponic planters...the tray variety which lined all the walls top to bottom, lit by the fluorescent U.V lights, which made everything glow to my U.V/I.R vision. I looked at the plants in these particular planters for a minute uncomprehending...then realized what they were.

"What the hell? Is this...these are cannabis plants!" I said aloud.

The headmistress is growing weed down here? Or at least Ms. Cantrel is!

I practically fell on the floor laughing. This is going to be such an interesting year.

I looked at the industrial fan...and decided I was going to fly all around campus and explore until it was time for dinner, since it was such a nice day out.