A Second Generation Whateley Academy Adventure

Sprite 2: I Think I'm A Clone Now

by

Amethyst

(Thanks to Domoviye and Fiddlerfox for assistance)

Part Four

The Tunnels
Saturday, November 12^th, 2016 - After Dinner

Eating dinner with Shannon was a little awkward after what happened at Emerson Cottage. Shannon was quiet, even for him, and I had no idea what to say to make things better. I had already probably made an utter ass of myself with that hug and getting all emotional like I did. Maybe he was trying to mentally unpack what had just happened, and the fact that he had lost his shit for a moment there, and that I had seen it.

Honestly, I couldn’t be sure. I might like to say that I know that he’s thinking, but it’s guesswork at best, and he was probably in a pretty fucking dark place mentally right now, with his mom bailing on him like she did. I still wanted to strangle the deadbeat bitch for doing that to Shannon after getting his hopes up. So, he didn’t say much as we ate, and neither did I, since I had no idea what to say to make it better.

All I could really do was reiterate that I was his friend, that (unlike his bitch of a mom) I did give a shit about him, and that I had his back if and when he needed me. So, a silence weighed upon us both while we ate. I guess I should be grateful for that, though, since no security had found us to haul Shannon in for questioning and/or detention. Maybe Weaponeer was too fucking terrified of crossing Shannon right now, so there was nothing to interrupt our meal and the silence.

I didn’t think that it was a good idea to bring up Parents’ Day, like at all. I was trying to get Shannon’s mind off what had happened, and I didn’t want to rub my good day and supportive family and mentors in his face. So, since I didn’t want to risk bringing up any potentially sore topics, that left us with precious little to talk about. All I could do was just be there, keep him company, and hope that was enough.

When we left Crystal Hall, I led Shannon into the tunnels, and in the opposite direction from Emerson. I thought it was best that he got some time away from that place after what just happened, at least until he had to be back for curfew. There were some nice, quiet places in the tunnels to be alone and think, or talk privately, and Shannon and I had found one of them that had kind of become our spot since we started hanging out. The place had been locked when we found it, but there ain’t no padlock around that could stand up to either Shannon or me when we used our powers.

It was kind of out of the way and hard to find, and I figured that it must have been a clubhouse or something at some point, since there was some comfortable, if a bit dusty, furniture inside. There was a table with eight chairs around it, an old mini fridge in one corner, a big ole couch, several posters of anime cat girls on the wall, a sign on one wall that said ‘Cat-astrophe Corps’, and some truly massive spiderwebs hanging from the ceiling and in the corners, probably from being abandoned for so long. At my size, I did not want to run into whatever spider made those webs, but we hadn’t seen anything dangerous there yet.

The silence in the tunnels was suffocating. I longed to fill it with some words, something that might help cheer Shannon up, but I just couldn’t think of what that might be. Finally, when the silence became too much, I blurted out. “I met other Fairies. They gave me flower booze.”

I couldn’t tell him about The Grove or the World Tree, but I figured that Fairies were safe since I obviously was one. I just needed to keep quiet about the really secret stuff and try not to say anything that could give away their location and stuff. I hoped it would at least get a smile out of him.

As I had hoped, the F word caught his attention and drew him out of the funk he was in, at least a little. His eyes lit up a bit as he asked, “Really? Where?”

Damn, I should have thought this through or at least had some sort of story prepared. Of course, he would want to know where he could find other Fairies. It was during the following quiet, as I was trying to formulate an acceptable reply, that I heard someone talking, and it certainly wasn’t us. The sound was coming from just ahead, and I think that Shannon and I realized in the same instant that it was coming from our spot.

We stopped in our tracks, Shannon’s foot scuffing the ground as he stopped walking. There was a second voice, sharp and quick, and the first voice went instantly silent. Had they heard us? Well, I guess that gave us two choices then. We could turn around, walk away, and maybe give up our little spot for good, or we could…

“Let’s go evict some fucking squatters,” I said quietly in Shannon’s ear. “Umm… but maybe no powers at first? We can tell them that’s our place and try to get them to leave nicely. If they don’t… well, I guess we both have some aggression to work off. I’ll go first, I’m a smaller target, and more agile, so I’ll be harder to hit if they attack.”

My psychic friend nodded and began to move slowly and quietly toward the door while I zipped ahead as quickly as my wings could manage without a PK speed boost. Not that I wasn’t using my PK. I had my PK shell up and ready, just in case things got violent.

As soon as I entered the familiar room, I saw two figures seemingly chilling on our couch. One was a girl about my age who was wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and well, the only word that I could think of to describe her was… distinctive. Her skin and hair were a patchy mixture of pastel colors, like she was something that a unicorn barfed up. Beside her was a… cat?

Oh, hell no. I recognized that cat, that was Shisa. She was a student, like us, and I had seen her around campus. She had a reputation. I mostly avoided her since she was known to eat small animals, and I was snack-sized.

As soon as I entered the room, that feline bitch looked right at me, licked her lips, and said, “Food’s here,” sending a slight shiver down my spine. I locked eyes with her for a moment and then took a deep breath to steady myself. Fuck it, this was our spot, and I was not going to be intimidated.

“Hey, Rainbow Bright, this is our spot, so you and Fancy Feast over there can fuck off and go find your own.” I guess I could have been nicer about it, but that furball called me food.

The pastel-colored girl stared at me for a moment before looking at Shisa and inquiring, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing? Or did you just slip me some really good LSD? You told me there was some weird shit at this school, but cutesy little Fairies? That’s wild.”

I practically growled in reply, “Well, at least I don’t look like a three-year-old’s paint-by-numbers project.”

 “Yeah, I haven’t heard that one before. I wish my acid trip was a little more original,” she retorted.

“That’s big talk from someone the cat dragged in,” Shannon interjected as he stepped into the room behind me.

The girl in the leather jacket seemed unbothered, as if she was used to casually trading insults with people, and grinned as she asked, “So, who’s your girlfriend, Tinkerbell?”

 “FYI, crazy cat cunt, I'm a guy,” Shannon snarked back before I could.

“Sure, a guy with bigger tits than me, what are they feeding you at this crazy school?” she shot back.

While I was mumbling about fucking Devisor chocolate, Shannon didn’t waste his shot at a comeback. “That’s not a very high bar. Is your cup size in the negatives?”

He kinda had a point. Now that I got a better look at her, she wasn’t exactly gifted up top. Whatever her reply was, I never let it leave her lips as I jumped in to say, “Bitch, I’m five inches tall, and I have bigger tits than you do.”

At that, both Shisa and her friend stared at me for a moment before finally collapsing onto the couch, wheezing with laughter. Wait, they were laughing? Finally, the pastel girl managed to stop laughing enough to get out, “Shit, Shisa, I like these two. Can we keep them?”

Just like that, the tension evaporated, and Shannon and I eventually joined the pair on the old couch. Pastel (that was her actual codename) was the new kid at school, having only arrived today, meaning that Shannon and I could now give up that role. She wasn’t really as bad as she seemed at first. Shisa wasn’t as bad as I had originally feared, either; as we talked, I discovered that the pair were just… well, a lot like me and Shannon, actually.

All four of us were snarky, bitter to varying degrees, and gave absolutely zero fucks what most people thought of us, or at the very least, we all tried to give that impression. They both admitted to being street kids for a while, so they’d had pretty shitty lives for a while, too, before coming here. That was something that Shannon and I could get behind: how much life sucked and how few people really give a shit about others down on their luck. I knew that I was lucky in that regard now, but I knew suffering up close and personal after being raised by shit parents and then being Blythe’s and her mother’s science experiment.

It was like we all just fit together, and trading friendly jabs occasionally was kind of fun and relaxing. It was like my relationship with Shannon; there was no pressure, and it was okay to be an asshole because we all were. Shannon relaxed a bit, too, and I was hoping that making some friends other than me who had some shit in common with him would help him to feel less alone.

It did manage to get Shannon’s attention away from my earlier admission that I’d met other Fairies, at least for now. We all just hung out together in that abandoned club room until curfew loomed over us like a storm on the horizon. When we finally left to return to our respective cottages for the night, I had the distinct feeling that Shannon and I would be hanging out in that room with Pastel and Shisa a lot, whenever we all had the time.

Weapons Fair – A hidden location somewhere in the tunnels
Saturday, November 19^th, 2016 - Afternoon

I was feeling very dejected as I left Smith’s table. Honestly, he hadn’t told me anything that I hadn’t already been told by others today, or even anything that surprising, but it was disappointing that I couldn’t find anyone to make gear for someone as small as me out of magical materials. It just sucked to have it confirmed, unless I could find someone who was both good with miniaturized detail and with some magical knowledge.

It had been an idea that Becky and I had been talking about for the past couple of weeks, making armor and weapons in my size out of magical materials that would hold enchantments well. Yeah, I know, I’m already pretty damn durable and have my PK shell as well, so do I really need extra protection? Yes, I do.

Honestly, I wasn’t too sure how my PK shell would hold up against magic in a fight, and there is nothing wrong with redundancy when it comes to safety. So, the idea had been to create armor with powerful protective enchantments drawn in runes, and perhaps a weapon as well, with runes that would focus and enhance my spells. Not only would it be practical, but having a magical weapon and armor would also be badass as hell.

While I was greatly disappointed that I couldn’t find someone to make the idea work, I wasn’t all that surprised either. It was a pipe dream at best, I knew that going in. Even if I could find someone to make it work, I would still need to gather enough of a suitably magical material to work with. I was drawn to mithril for some reason that I couldn’t explain, but I had also seen the prices for the magical metal. Even if I wouldn’t need much to outfit someone my size, there was no way that I could afford it with the meager funds from my allowance and work study.

So, I knew that this wasn’t in the cards, no matter who I asked to do the work. I was already half-expecting the idea to be unworkable, and I might not be so disappointed if that was the only failure I had encountered during this year’s Weapons Fair. Most of the stuff for sale just wasn’t suitable for someone my size, so finding any sort of holdout weapons seemed to be a lost cause. My hope that I might be able to find something to store and carry my stuff met with similar results as well.

Most of the Mobius and extra-dimensional storage options that I saw at some of the tables would have been just as big and awkward for me to carry around as what I wanted to store inside them. They didn’t exactly have wearable options in my size either. Coming here had just been a big waste of my time.

I was almost ready to just call it a day, but I did promise to take a look at Helsing’s table, just to say hi since she didn’t have anything I was interested in. She could probably make something custom in my size, if I asked, but I didn’t see myself chasing down ghosts any time soon. I mean, I have enough on my plate with Fairies and magic, I don’t need to add ghostbusting to my resume as well.

I had finally spotted Helsing’s table when I was met with two surprises. The first was that Shisa and Pastel were there as well, and it looked like they were hanging out with Helsing and Emiko. It was a little unexpected, but I suppose that I couldn’t fault my newest friends since Emiko and Helsing seemed to be decent people. I wasn’t sure if I would call them friends yet, but my experiences with the two of them had been mostly positive so far, so I wouldn’t rule it out someday. Emiko and I were both from Calgary and had some other stuff in common, too, so there was always that.

The other surprise was a table right near Helsing’s. There were all sorts of unusual animals there, in even more unusual colors. There was even an adorable purple mini-Godzilla or something. Sure, the animals were all a bit cutesy for my taste, but Becky did warn me that I should start looking into getting a familiar soon, and maybe the redheaded girl who was in charge of the table might have something cooler… or at least somewhat more ordinary looking. It was worth a shot.

I flitted toward the table with overly cute animals on display and asked the redheaded girl, who was currently absorbed in rubbing the belly of one of her animals, “Hey, this may be a weird question, but do you have anything with magical potential?”

“Huh, you’re the second person to mention that today. Sorry, but I made my babies to be…” she started to answer as she turned, only to stop short and gape as she caught sight of me. Then she let out an ear-shattering squeal,” Omigod! A Fairy! You’re soooo cute! You have to join my club!”

“Club?” I asked, more from stunned shock at her sudden and exuberant reaction to me than any real interest.

“Yeah, we’re called Wondercute! We love and protect all things cute! I’m Petshop!”

O…kay. For a moment, all that I could do was stare at her as I tried to process that. I was too stunned to even snark, which was probably a good thing since I might need this girl’s services. When I finally could speak, I tried to at least be nice and let her down gently. “I’m Sprite. Umm… sorry, but I’m just way too busy to be joining any clubs right now with my work study and extra magic lessons and such, and I already promised to help a friend with her club next term.”

The cute redhead’s face fell in momentary disappointment. “Aww poopie. Well, if you ever want to join, just come find me!”

“I’m really just here looking for a familiar,” I insisted.

Petshop’s expression turned pensive for a moment as she thought about my request. “I’m a Devisor, I don’t really know much about magic, or how to give my babies magical potential...”

As she trailed off, my shoulders slumped in disappointment. I should have known this would be another strikeout. “Thanks anyway, I guess,” I muttered after letting slip a long, breathy sigh.

Just as I was starting to turn away, she called out, “Wait! Well… there might be someone I can consult with for the magical stuff… and I would have to do a custom job, so it might take a couple of months before I have something ready, but I’m willing to try! Even if it doesn’t work, I can still make you the cutest animal companion for a Fairy ever! Since it’ll have to be a custom job, do you have any requests?”

Honestly, I was hoping for something not so… cutesy. I had a reputation to maintain after all, but if she was willing to help, I wasn’t about to turn her down. Maybe I could guide her away from the sickeningly adorable and toward something more badass. “Well, I was thinking of something cool and intimidating, like a mini dragon or something. And maybe something that I can ride, and that can help me carry my stuff too. Being this small is a pain in the ass.”

She seemed to consider the idea for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Oh yeah! I think I can make that work out! I’m going to make you the best dragon ever! Trust me, Sprite, you’re totally going to love this!”

I grinned, pleased that I seemed to have gotten her attention with something that wasn’t likely to be as reputation-shatteringly adorable as the animals she currently had on display. We quickly exchanged contact information so she could get in touch with me when my new ‘baby’ was ready, and then I headed in the direction of Helsing’s table once again. Emiko was still there, hanging out, as were Pastel and… wait, where did Shisa go?

It was while I was heading toward the table and pondering the missing Cat-girl that a loud, explosive *CRACK* rang out, making my heart leap in my chest. The sound was immediately followed by a crash at the table I had just left. I briefly spotted a flash of fur that I was fairly certain was Shisa before the table leg broke from the impact, sending all Petshops ‘babies’ sprawling onto the floor with a flurry of adorable sounds and bright colors. As the cutesy critters scrambled for cover, a chain reaction of chaos was caused that would end the 2016 Weapons Fair. I didn’t stick around to see it, though, as my instincts urged me to fly over the heads of the other fair-goers and toward the exit as quickly as possible.

Kane Hall
Sunday, November 20^th, 2016 – 10:16 a.m.

I was a little bit concerned, not to mention confused, as I approached the security desk. I didn’t think I did anything to garner the attention of Whateley security, at least, not since the Halloween Heist, but nobody had approached me about that before, and three weeks seemed a bit too long for them to finally take an interest in my party shenanigans. Why then had I been summoned here? Was this about that asshole, Huntsman? Or maybe it was something to do with the incident between Shannon and Weaponeer last week?

Possibilities, each more terrifying than the last, rushed through my frazzled mind as I landed upon the desk and told the man in the security uniform, “Umm… Vanessa Gordon, reporting as ordered, Sir?”

The security guy, Officer Rollins, if his nametag was to be believed, looked pretty average, to be honest, brown hair and eyes, somewhat pale skin, and clean-shaven with a fairly fit build. He jumped a little in surprise at the sound of my voice and the appearance of a five-inch-tall Fairy standing on his desk, but he collected himself fairly quickly and shook off the surprise, and I guess that made sense. The security people at this school probably must get used to seeing some pretty weird shit after all.

He didn’t seem angry or stern or anything and even gave me a faint smile as he assured me, “You’re not in any trouble, kid. You have some visitors.”

Once again, I found myself completely flummoxed by that revelation. Who in the world would be coming to visit me? The only likely candidates I could think of were Marie or my sisters, but I had just seen them last week, and they hadn’t mentioned anything during our regular video call on Friday.

Regardless of the puzzlement presently perplexing me, I passively pursued Officer Rollins as he led the way to a private room, where Campus Security had arranged for me to meet my unexpected guests. When Rollins opened the door for me, I was even more surprised than before at my guests. I had absolutely no clue who these two women were, let alone what they might want with me.

The first of the two women who stood up from their chairs as the door opened was fairly attractive with a nice figure, sandy blonde hair, and cornflower blue eyes. She was kind of classically pretty, I guess, and looked like she was in her mid-twenties. As pretty as she was, though, the other woman definitely had my complete attention as soon as I caught sight of her.

It wasn’t every day that a person meets an honest-to-God Drow, after all, unless one happens to live in Karedonia. She was gorgeous, inhumanely so, especially with her slate black skin, snow white hair, and sapphire blue eyes. That only begged the question, what would someone from Karedonia want with me?

The Drow was the first to speak once Rollins closed the door, leaving me alone with the two women. “Miss Gordon, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m Belphoebe Blackadar-Wilkins, and my associate is Shelly Wells-Carson. We’re here representing the Clone Appreciation and Protection Society,” she offered with a smile and a British accent.

“Wait, what?” I asked after a moment of stunned silence. The Clone Appreciation and Protection Society? I wasn’t even sure where to start with that.

“CAPS is an organization dedicated to clone rights and ensuring that people like us have everything they need for a productive and fulfilling life,” the blonde explained with a sympathetic look. “Belphoebe and I are clones, just like you, Vanessa. We started this organization to fight for human rights for clones and other artificially created sentient lifeforms. It’s a bit of an uphill battle at times, and in many countries, like Russia, for instance, clones are still legally declared non-persons.”

Belphoebe nodded before adding, “We do more than just fighting for clone rights, though. We do check-ins like this to make sure clones are being treated fairly and as real people in their homes, workplaces, and schools, and have everything they might need. We also provide help with getting an identity set up and acquiring legal documentation and identification, and we offer peer support and counselling when needed. We’ll give you a phone number, and there will always be someone available if you need to talk about things that only other clones might understand.”

“How…” I began to ask, but I wasn’t even sure how to finish the question. How did they know I was a clone? How did they find out about me? How did this happen to more people than just me?

The Drow smiled, her teeth blindingly white in contrast to her dark skin. “Your faculty advisor, Nikki Reilly, is an acquaintance of ours. She knows about our organization and thought that you might benefit from our services, and possibly from knowing that you’re not so alone. She spoke with your adoptive mother last week and got her consent to contact us. I saw in your file that you’re seeing Dr. Bellows, but I know from experience that some things are just easier to talk about with someone who has had similar experiences and can offer useful advice for a situation that frankly doesn’t happen all that often. If you need to talk, almost everyone in our organization is either a clone themself, or someone who has helped a clone through a rough patch in the past.”

She made a very good point, one that I found hard to ignore. Dr. Bellows might be an empath, but I couldn’t bring myself to confide in him. In part, this was because I didn’t have a choice in seeing him, so I was digging in my heels and refusing to play ball, but there were always those niggling thoughts that even if he could sense my emotions, he would never be able to understand what I’d been through. How could he? He was a real person. Maybe talking with someone who could actually relate to most of my problems wouldn’t be so bad, though. Belphoebe even seemed to have the whole ‘not human’ thing as well as the clone thing, too.

I had a feeling that there was more to this visit than just the sympathetic ear angle, though. If it were just that, this could have been done with a phone call. I wasn’t quite sure what to say, so I just came right out with it. “Umm… okay. Don’t get me wrong, the support thing seems nice... in theory, but why did you come all the way here?”

“As Belphoebe said earlier, we like to do check-ins with new members of our little family and make sure they’re doing okay and have everything they need in place. Technically, it’s an intake appointment of sorts, but we prefer to think of it as a get-to-know-you session. We’d like to know more about you and your situation, what special needs you may have, and you can feel free to ask us any questions you might have as well,” Shelly said as she relaxed a bit more in her chair.

“Right,” Belphoebe agreed, “so why don’t we all get more comfortable? You can tell us your story, how you came to be who and what you are now, or if you don’t feel comfortable with that just yet, I can always tell you my story first to break the ice.”

I decided on the latter. If Ms. Reilly had brought these people here for me, then I could probably trust them, but I wasn’t quite sure that I wanted to tell my personal horror story to anyone else yet. Things had been different with Shannon and Becky, the only two people outside of my adoptive family that I had personally told the truth of my situation. I had tried to pass off the whole thing as a joke to Shannon at first, and with Becky, I kind of had an emotional breakdown at the time. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to repeat either in this situation.

The pair seemed to understand my reluctance, and they both told me about their own situations. While the circumstances of their ‘births’ were slightly different than mine, there were a lot of similarities between us as well, particularly between Belphoebe and me. More than that, I could tell that these women had genuinely been where I was, that they could understand me. They had faced some of the same doubts about who they were, that feeling of being a fake person, and Belphoebe understood what it was like to become something not human and to not recognize the person in the mirror, to hate it until she could start seeing herself there instead of that other person.

These women weren’t just all talk, they really had been where I was now, and they had gotten through it and insisted that I could too, that I could find the person that I wanted to be. I wasn’t alone in this whole clone thing, or rather, I didn’t have to be if I didn’t want to. After hearing them talk about their lives and what it had been like for them, I found it easier to talk about myself.

And so, I told them everything, much as I had that day, weeks ago, with Becky. I told them about my life before, the mistakes I had made, and then what Blythe and her mother did. How they had put me in Blythe’s clone, intent on keeping me as some sort of pet and torturing me for the rest of my life, and then how I had escaped. I told them everything until the point where I got to Whateley, but I stopped there because I really didn’t want to reveal any secrets, such as the Grove and the World Tree, and I was getting emotional enough that I was afraid I might reveal too much if I continued.

To say that they were pissed about what Blythe and her mother did to me would be a gross understatement, and they vowed that they would have people keeping an eye out in case Blythe or Mistress Mechanicha popped up anywhere. What they did and had planned for me was exactly the kind of abuse of clones that CAPS was created to put a stop to. They were none too happy about the way the airline had treated me on my flight to Whateley, either, and vowed to pursue the matter from a purely human rights standpoint.

They were very happy to hear that I had a supportive family, though, one that treated me like any other family member, and that I was all set up with an identity. They were all ready to help with my needs related to being so tiny, too, at least until I told them that Peter had built a shrink ray for the necessities. Though they did offer to look into getting a special phone made for a person of my size.

We kept talking well into when I would normally be having lunch, and they told me a few things that I needed to hear, things that I couldn’t accept hearing from anyone else. The big one was that I wasn’t Aiden anymore, and I never would be. I wasn’t Blythe either, or some cheap copy of her, like that nasty voice in my head kept telling me. I was Vanessa, I was my own person, and I was the only person who had the right to decide who Vanessa would be for the rest of my life.

They gave me some pamphlets with cheesy titles like ‘No Clone is Alone’ and ‘Who You Are Is Not Who They Were’, which contained a lot of useful information about the challenges that people like us face, coping methods, phone numbers to call for support, and the address for their website and private chatroom. There were others like us, other people that I could talk to.

By the time that we had finished talking, I was tearing up again. And they told me that was okay, because to be fair, I had a lot to process right then. My heart felt heavy, but almost in a good way, and that weight that had been on my shoulders since Blythe killed my old body in front of me felt lighter somehow. It wasn’t completely gone by any means, maybe it never would be, but I felt less heavy and suffocated than I had in a long time.

Finally, the pair stood up from their seats, and Shelly said, “It was nice meeting you, Vanessa. Take care of yourself, and we’ll be in contact about those issues we discussed as soon as we make some progress. Sorry to chat and run, but I want to go see Mazarin while we’re here. Hopefully, he’ll have some sort of update about my mom and the Trustees.” Then she gave me a very gentle hug and left me alone with Belphoebe.

“I understand, Shelly, I’d feel the same in your place,” the Drow offered with a nod as her blonde compatriot headed for the door. Then she pulled a business card from the pocket of her blazer, placing it with the brochures before hugging my tiny form as well. “I should let you go eat some lunch, Vanessa, but if you ever need anything, just call the number on this card. I mean it, this is my personal number. If you need someone to talk to, or just listen, if you need advice or support from CAPS, or even if you’re visiting Karedonia and need a tour and a place to crash… I’m just a call away if you need me. Remember, clones like us, we’re siblings of circumstance, and we’ll always have our sister’s back.”

I was understandably lost in my thoughts as I made my way into Crystal Hall after dropping off the brochures and stuff in my room at Hawthorne. Honestly, Shelly and Belphoebe gave me a lot to think about, and now that I was alone with my thoughts and not all emotional, I wanted to seriously think about some of the things they had told me. Admittedly, I’m not a real big deep thinker; usually, I prefer to avoid thinking about certain things, so I decided to get my meal to go and eat in my room. Most of the people that I usually ate lunch with were no longer around by the time I got there anyway.

I spent most of the afternoon just thinking about things and looking over the CAPS pamphlets and stuff. I found myself occasionally glancing at the business card the Belphoebe had left with me as well. She seemed nice, I found myself genuinely liking her, and if anyone could get what I was going through, it was probably her. Maybe it would be nice to talk with someone about this stuff once in a while. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to make it a regular thing, like official therapy or something, but maybe I could give her a chance and see where it goes.

Maybe I should go see the other Fairies in The Grove again soon, too. They had accepted me, welcomed me even, and Belphoebe and Shelly told me that I was the only one who had the right to decide who I was and what I wanted to do with my life, and I was drawn to that place and those people like a moth to the flame. So why the hell was I avoiding them now? Because I was a little embarrassed about things I did when under the influence of their flower nectar moonshine?

That was fucking stupid, and I knew it. I’m Vanessa Fucking Gordon, and since when do I give a single solitary fuck about what people think of me? That was Aiden’s weakness; I wouldn’t let it be mine, and I wouldn’t repeat his mistakes. I wasn’t Aiden anymore; that simpering, selfish shit was fucking dead, and so were any ties I had to his parents, including the need for their approval. I wasn’t going to let anyone live rent-free in my head again, unless they earned that place, like the family and friends I made who actually proved that they give a shit about me.

Yeah, deep down I wanted the other Fairies to like me, even I realized that, but they should like me for who I really am, and they already seemed ready to accept me, flaws and all. What was the use in obsessing over gaining their love and approval when it seemed like I already had it? They weren’t my… Aiden’s parents. They didn’t seem the type to only dole out a bit of affection and approval when they needed me for something or to make themselves look good.

They were genuine, and my instincts kept telling me that I could trust them, that I belonged with them, even if my brain kept trying to tell me not to believe that shit and good people like that didn’t exist. I had the same issue accepting Marie and my sisters at first, and the few friends I’d made, too. I guess I just had a problem believing that people might actually give a shit about me for who I am, maybe that’s why I’m so bitter and snarky. Fuck, I hate this introspection shit.

By the time it was time for dinner, my mind was set, though. I would try to slip away and spend some time with the Fairies after dinner tomorrow night, and I would try to call Belphoebe the next time I needed to talk to someone about shit. Not about the World Tree and the other shit I had promised Ms. Reilly I would keep secret, I could talk to Becky or even Ms. Reilly about that stuff, but there was a lot of other shit going on in my life, and I would feel a hell of a lot more comfortable talking with Belphoebe about it than Dr. Bellows.

I guess it says something about me that I would trust a literal Dark Elf with my mental welfare over the man whose job it was. Yeah, I’m funny like that. In my mind, though, she had done more to earn my trust and comfort in a few hours than Bellows had in months with his leading questions and professional attitude. I didn’t need a professional; I needed someone who I could feel actually gives a shit about me.

When I arrived at Crystal Hall, Shannon was waiting for me. The plan was to get our meals to go and eat in our secret club room in the tunnels with Shisa and Pastel. It wasn’t until we were well into the tunnels that he asked, “Is everything okay? I heard you got called to security earlier, and you weren’t around at lunch.”

“I was kinda freaking out about that too, when I heard the announcement,” I admitted, “but it was no biggie. I wasn’t in trouble or anything, I just had a couple of visitors. They were actually pretty cool. They’re clones, like me, and they work with an organization to help people like us.”

I just caught his raised eyebrow out of the corner of my eye as he asked, “What the fuck, dude? There are more of you? Isn’t one enough?”

“Rude! They aren’t exactly like me, it’s not like I was rolled out on a production line making surly Fairies, but I guess that there are a surprising number of other clones and other artificially created people out there. One of them was a Drow; she’s pretty cool. Their organization tries to make sure we get the same human rights as everyone else, and helps with any problems we might have, so they just wanted to make sure that I’m doing okay and see if I needed help with anything. Y’know, like a proper identity, someone to talk to about clone shit, and all that. There were pamphlets and everything, dude. I told them they should just xerox that shit instead of getting it done by a professional printer, it’s less expensive and feels more appropriate, y’know?”

Yeah, I was trying to make light of it. Because when things are hard, or I have trouble processing my feelings, I deflect with snarky humor, or at least that was what Dr. Bellows insisted. It was probably stupid to try to hide my feelings behind humor with an empath, too, but I didn’t want to whine about it and burden him with my problems when Shannon had enough problems of his own. I knew he’d listen, and even get a sense of how I feel, but how could he truly understand? It would probably only make him feel worse.

Honestly, though, it was hard to talk to anyone who wasn’t a clone about this kind of shit; the feeling like I’m not real, just a bad copy of someone else, and taking months to accept that the girl in the mirror is me and not the person who took everything from me. The person I betrayed. Fuck, I was probably going to be using that number that Belphoebe gave me sooner than I thought. I was burying a lot of shit inside.

We were both quiet for the rest of the trip through the tunnels, or maybe Shannon could feel how messed up my emotions were over all this stuff, and was just giving me some space to work through things. He didn’t, like, run off or anything, though, so if I did decide to talk, he would probably listen. I wasn’t going to, but the option was always there.

When we approached our hidden club room, Shisa and Pastel were already there, chilling out and talking quietly. Shisa probably heard us approaching, though, and when we stepped into the room, Pastel was placing a bowl of milk on the table. “What’s that? Shisa’s lunch?” Shannon asked, teasing the cat-shaped girl.

Pastel was the one who replied, though. “No, Shisa and I were just talking about what a fucking mess this place is.”

“It was like this when we fucking found it,” I protested, “and what the hell does that have to do with milk?”

“Oh, this?” she taunted in reply. “This is to summon the Fairies, so they’ll clean the place up at night, like in the fairytales.” The bitch was smiling and looking right at me as she said it.

“Do I look like a fucking Brownie to you?! I’m one little Fairy, and I ain’t got no cleaning spells! Speaking of messes, though, I think someone smeared playdough all over you… Oh, sorry, that’s your face.”

“No milk for you then,” Shisa replied, struggling to get the words out clearly, before hopping up on the table to start drinking the milk from the bowl.

“Well, you don’t want me cleaning it, you pint-sized bitch! I'm from the street, and when was the last time you saw a clean sidewalk around a bunch of street kids? We make messes, we don't clean them,” Pastel shot back, either unaware or uncaring that Shisa was drinking her bribe.

“But Shisa and Shannon are both, like uber-TKs it should be easy for them,” I countered.

Shisa didn’t even look up from drinking her milk as she complained, “Precision is... tiring."

We all turned to look at Shannon, who made a show of rolling his eyes, “Yeah, sure, look at the foster kid when the topic of cleaning comes up. Assholes. I don’t do precision; I’d probably make the mess worse. Besides, didn’t you say that you met some other Fairies recently, Vanessa?”

Shit. Me and my big mouth. I should have known that Shannon’s Fantasy-brain would latch onto that bit of slipped information like a steel trap. He looked so eager, too. And now all three of them were looking at me as Pastel grinned and said, “Well, shit, maybe this Fairy thing could work after all. My parents know this professor of folklore, and he swears by that shit. Sure, his property mostly looks like a landfill got dumped on it, but the inside of the house is always spotless.”

“Stop looking at me like that, you’re all creeping me the fuck out. I ain’t making no promises. That’s probably just some Fairy stereotype or some shit, and they’ll probably just laugh at the gullible humans,” I grumbled. Well, okay, the Fairies I met in The Grove didn’t seem like the type to go that far, but I was fairly sure that the whole cleaning services in exchange for milk and honey was a Fairy myth.

“Come on! At least try! We’ll leave them an offering of milk and a takeout box from Crystal Hall with whatever you think they might like,” Pastel pressed.

Jeez, it was like dealing with a bunch of children. Just to get them to shut up about it, I said, “Fine, just stop looking at me like that, and for fuck’s sake, stop smiling! You look like some fucking demented, patchwork Care Bear. I was going to go visit them tomorrow night anyway, I’ll see if I can bring it up then, but I don’t think they’re gonna go for it.”

It seemed to work, even if Pastel didn’t stop smiling as she enthused, “Sweet! Let’s eat, and we can talk about what to get for the care package.” I think the bitch was still smiling just to fucking mess with me. Why were these people my friends again? Oh, right, because we were all equally fucked up.

The Grove
Monday, November 21st, 2016 – 7:08 p.m.

It took longer than I would have liked to slip away into the woods unseen after dinner, and I was a little worried about being able to find the Fairies in The Grove on my own. I guess that wasn’t going to be a big problem, though, because as soon as I entered the boundary of The Grove, I could feel the feeling of happiness, welcome, and affection wash over me. Maybe the other Fairies could feel that as well, and it announced my arrival, but it wasn’t long before they found me.

“Vanessa! You’ve returned!” Rhissara’s familiar voice squealed in delight a mere instant before I was smothered in an aerial hug.

It felt… nice, nicer than I could ever remember feeling, and not just because I was crushing on Rhissara. Sure, Marie and my sisters showed me honest affection, far more than I ever got from my birth family while I was Aiden, but the size difference made it a bit suffocating, and it was different being hugged by someone close to my size; someone who actually means it, has real affection for me, and isn’t afraid to show it. This wasn’t like those theatre hugs my parents would rarely give me in the public eye to make them look like loving parents; this was real, maybe for the first time in my life, and it felt like being wrapped in sunshine that warmed me to the core of my being.

It says something that my almost immediate mental reaction wasn’t just to enjoy the feeling, but instead was the activation of my suspicion reflex. I subconsciously found myself looking for the cameras or the watching eyes, wondering where the important person was. It took a moment, while I was wrapped in that hug, to realize that maybe I was the important person, that I was being hugged because I was important to her, the other Fairies, and The Grove itself, and that they were genuinely happy to see me. I couldn’t even come to a normal person’s conclusion when I could literally feel The Grove’s happiness at my return.

I guess that shows how fucked up I really am, and it would give me a lot to talk to Belphoebe about. I wanted to get better, though, to get past all this trauma and shit, and become the type of person who earned their love and affection, even if right now I would take what I could get. Baby steps, Vanessa, you can learn, you have plenty of time.

When I was finally released from that warm embrace, I was smiling. Rhissara wasn’t alone; some of the other Fairies who had greeted me when I first came to The Grove were there too and quickly pounced on me to give hugs as well. While playing and spending time with them during the welcoming/coming-of-age party held in my honor, I had learned that they were among the younger of the adult Fairies, not that much older than Rhissara and me, though Fairies don’t seem to perceive time in quite the same way as Humans, so for all I knew, that could just mean they hadn’t hit their first centennial yet. I tried not to think too hard about that.

I recognized all of them, and including Rhissara, there were half a dozen in total. The others were Kevali, Alora, Nyssavi Tohala, and Savar. Between them, they made up a rainbow of colors, not just in their hair and eye colors, but in wings, antennae, and skin tones as well.  Savar was the only male of the group, and I flushed a bit as I remembered waking up in a cuddle pile with him and Rhissara using my big tits as pillows after getting very drunk.

The others were in that cuddle pile as well, now that I thought about it. It seemed like they were a group of close friends who had decided I should join their little group while they were welcoming me to The Grove and the ‘clan’. They were all kind of a welcoming whirlwind, a little overwhelming at times, but I could tell that they meant well and just wanted to be my friends.

Once they were finally done getting hugs, and I was able to finally get a word in through their happy greetings, I told them, “It’s good to see all of you again.” I was somewhat surprised to find that I actually meant that as I quickly added, “I can only stay for a couple of hours, though. I have to be back at my dorm by ten o’clock.”

Not that I had a reliable method of telling the time out here in the woods, unless I wanted to use my PK to lug my phone along with me. Honestly, though, I wasn’t even sure if it would work in The Grove if I did bring it, since the magical field that The Grove used to keep outsiders away made the place kind of fucky for compasses, basic electronics, and shit, at least stuff that isn’t magically shielded. Which was why Becky said she would come to find me later and get me back to Hawthorne before curfew.

Fortunately, that meant that I could just have fun with the group and wouldn’t have to watch the clock, so to speak. I had brought some Halloween candy from the heist to share with my Fairy friends as a sort of peace offering for not coming back sooner. Well, one package of Rockets or Smarties or whatever they were called, but that one package was a lot for people our size. I had briefly dropped it while I was being hug-ambushed, but fortunately, I had managed to find and retrieve it before a squirrel or something else could swipe it. So soon, we were all stuffed with the giant sweets (from our perspective) and playing games.

Since they seemed happy trying to help me improve my antennae sense, which was nowhere near as good as theirs yet, that meant that we were playing a lot of blind tag and hide and seek. Let me tell you, playing those games with Fairies was already a wild enough experience, but doing it while we were all buzzed on what amounted to pure sugar? That was fun. It was while we were taking a break and just hanging out after an energetic game of tag that I found myself telling them about the club room being such a mess (totally not my fault, it was like that when I found it) and venting about Pastel’s assumptions about Fairies.

“Honestly,” I huffed, “This family friend of hers had her thinking that we’re some kind of supernatural housekeepers or something. She thinks I can get a flotilla of Fairies to just swoop in and clean the place for a bottle of milk and a takeout box of food or snacks.”

Alora, the one with green hair and eyes and a slight blue tint to both her wings and skin, murmured, “You know, that’s not a bad deal. We don’t get milk very often.” I was pretty sure that she was the oldest of us, and she was like the big sister of the group, always looking out for the others. She was the one who thought we should work on improving my antennae sense, and she had promised to teach me to use my new spear as well. I guess she was already teaching Rhissara and Nyssavi; we just needed to work out a way to get me involved in their lessons, if I could find the time.

“Yeah, especially if we can get some things that will be hard to get during the winter,” Kevali agreed. She was very pretty, with long, black hair, snow-white skin, piercing pink eyes, and a dark purple tint to her wings and antennae. “We have some wild vegetables, nuts, and such put away for the winter months, and some berry jams, but usually there isn’t much variety for food during the winter.”

“Woo! Let’s go clean Vanessa’s mess right now! Maybe we can get more of that candy stuff!” Nyssavi exclaimed eagerly. The redheaded Fairy with a pink tint to her skin, antennae, and wings was still buzzing from the sweets, and she was usually the most energetic of the group in the first place. Maybe it was a mistake introducing them to candy. Nah… what harm could come of it?

“Hey, it’s not my mess, I just found it! And… umm… Nyssa,” I began using the shortened version of her name. “I love the enthusiasm, but Fire-Starter will probably be coming to take me back to the school soon, so I probably won’t have time to lead you all through the tunnels and show you where the club room is tonight. We don’t have anything set aside as payment yet, either, but I could probably arrange it for tomorrow night, and maybe I can add some of the candy from my stash, if you’re all that interested in doing it.”

“We should get Rose Blossom’s help. She’s good at fixing things, and she knows the school-place well,” Tohala suggested. I had noticed that she was the most practical and pensive of the girls of the group, even though, visually, she kind of reminded me of a valley girl from California and sounded like one, too. Seriously, she had golden hair and antennae, dark tan skin, blue eyes, and a slightly chirpy voice. If it weren’t for the fact that she was five inches tall, lacked the valley girl accent, and had mint green fairy wings, she could have been right out of central casting.

“Yeah, Rose Blossom would be helpful to bring along, she goes to the school-place often,” Savar agreed, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

The sole male of the group had bright green eyes, a very faint lavender tint to his skin, pale green antennae that stood out starkly against his dark brown hair, and ruddy brown wings. Like most Fairies I had seen, he had a slight and muscular build, just the male version, sort of like a swimmer’s physique. He was much like Tohala in terms of personality, very quiet and reserved, so he usually didn’t talk much unless it was important.

Not that I could blame him. If I were still a dude and lucky enough to hang out with a bunch of pretty girls, I would probably shut up and go along with whatever they said too. Honestly, though, I didn’t think that was the case with him. Nor was he all like, “I’m the man” and all possessive of the girls he was hanging with. In fact, from what I had seen, the girls seemed to be protective of him, rather than the other way around. Fairy social dynamics can be weird.

Since both Tohala and Savar thought it would be a good idea to get Rose Blossom involved in this little cleaning venture, we headed toward Rose Blossom’s hut in the tree village. Her hut was something to see, filled with comfortable furniture and little gadgets, and it was brightly lit with little LED lights. It was a cozy little place, and warmer than I expected once we entered the door to step inside. I later discovered that all the huts in the village had things like the lights and heat installed, as Rose Blossom had attempted to make the lives of the Fairies in The Grove more comfortable, especially during the somewhat long winter months.

Rose Blossom’s hut was unique, though, since it had her gadgets strewn about, most of which I couldn’t even figure out the purpose of at a glance. It even had what looked like a cuckoo clock. No, it was a cuckoo clock, or at least a Fairy-sized version of one. A few minutes after we entered the hut and the others began excitedly telling Rose Blossom about the cleaning proposal, the clock struck nine, and a tiny, intricately carved fairy emerged from the little door to clap a pair of little cymbals together nine times.

By the time I had run out of things to stare at, it seemed that the others had reached some sort of agreement with Rose Blossom. She promised to guide them through the tunnels to the club room tomorrow night and help out for a share of the loot. Would she even be able to find the right room in the tunnels, though?

“Are you sure you can find the place?” I asked. “I know you used to be a student there, but the tunnels can be weird and hard to navigate. I stumbled upon it by accident, and even I have trouble finding it if I’m not paying complete attention to where I’m going.”

“Sure, I can do it if you can show me the way tomorrow. I sometimes go to Whateley to do jobs there, like maintenance and other things, in exchange for equipment and parts. It’s not like I can make a solar-powered engine out of roots and clay,” she explained.

“Huh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” I admitted. I had never really considered where she got the parts for her gadgets the last time I was in The Grove. “So, tomorrow then? If you can meet me at Crystal Hall at lunchtime, you could help me fill the takeout box, and then I could show you the way before I have to go back to class.”

It turned out that Rose Blossom was considering going to Whateley again soon anyway, to work off some new parts she needed, so she agreed to the meeting, and the others started to rapidly suggest types of food to fill the takeout box with until I could sense Becky entering The Grove. It looked like my time with the Fairies was up for the night, so after promising to see everyone again soon and enduring (enjoying?) more enthusiastic hugs, I left them to track down Becky and return to my dorm.

Crystal Hall
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016 – Lunchtime

When Rose Blossom showed up to meet me at the entrance to Crystal Hall, it looked like she had been working. Her hair looked a little bit frizzed and disorderly, and she had a few small stains on her left cheek and her clothes that I thought might be some sort of grease.  She seemed in a cheerful mood, though, but from what I had seen last night, it looked like she enjoyed tinkering and stuff like that.

After quickly exchanging greetings, we headed inside and got into line for food. I got a little thimble of milk, and one of the plates for the few people my size loaded up with a nice big blueberry, and the best attempt at a chicken Caesar salad that they could manage for someone as small as me. My croutons were like literal crumbs that had dropped from their bigger brothers, the lettuce was a small piece that had been very finely shredded, equally finely shaved roast chicken cut into slices, and there was a small drop of dressing on top.

It was a big meal, at least compared to how much other Fairies ate in a sitting, but I assumed that had something to do with me being a mutant as well as a Fairy. I needed to eat just as often as they did to keep up with the fast Fairy metabolism, but I still ate almost double what they did for each meal. Then I saw how much Roes Blossom had on her tray and found myself gaping.

Seriously, that was like close to half her body weight in food, and a good portion of that was a small (compared to regular-sized people) slice of meatloaf. Wait a minute… she could eat meat? And how could she possibly eat that much without exploding? I was so fucking jealous as we looked for a quiet spot to eat.

I had already told my usual lunchmates that I wouldn’t be able to eat with them today, so we could talk alone. Shannon probably would have loved eating lunch with two Fairies, but I was kind of worried that The Grove might come up in conversation, and I had promised to keep that secret. Eventually, we found a nice, quiet spot in a corner that wasn’t occupied, and then sat across from each other on the table top to eat and talk.

I thought that we might start right in on what kind of foods to fill the takeout box with after we were done eating, but apparently, I was being a little too obvious about staring at the massive portion of food that she was starting to devour. She noticed, and once she had finished chewing and swallowing her latest mouthful, she smiled at me and explained, “I need to eat close to my body weight in food every day. I have to avoid too much sugar, though.”

“Wha… how?” I blurted out, words failing me as I tried to process that information.

“I'm not a 'real' fairy,” she said with a shrug. “I'm just a human who is really small, with wings and a few other changes. This was all done by a devise, and it can't be reversed.”

I continued to stare at her in shock, but this time it was because it seemed we had a lot more in common than I thought. For a moment, I couldn’t speak; I could barely breathe. My feelings were ping ponging between sympathy because I had gone through practically the same fucking thing, and anger for her sake. When I could speak, all I could think of to say was, “Fucking Devisors.”

She was still smiling, though, and it was hard to tell if she was even bothered by it at all until she said in a soothing tone, “Hey, don't worry about it, Vanessa. I don't actually remember ever being a normal human, so I just live my life with my friends and don't think about it. I'm happy, and I don't have all the stress that 'civilization' causes. I get to work on my gadgets, and if there's ever a shortage of food or something, I just come here with Nikki or Becky, or one of the staff, and get a bag of food delivered to the village, or at least to the edge of the Grove. They let me run up a tab, and I pay it off by helping them with blueprints and doing small jobs. Literally small jobs.”

I took a breath to calm myself and let go of the anger. If she was happy, then that was the most important thing, and I liked that she seemed to be looking out for the Fairies in The Grove like she was. There was probably no shortage of work for her when she needed it, either, especially as good as she was with gadgets and stuff like that. I knew from my own experience in maintenance that there were always little jobs like that needing to be done, sometimes in places that would be very difficult for a baseline human to reach or with a need for very fine detail.

We were both quiet for a time after that as we ate our respective meals. Rose Blossom looked thoughtful as she ate, and it wasn’t until she had finished eating that she announced, “We're going to have to teach you how to speak Fairy soon.”

I could only blink at her in momentary confusion. Finally, I managed to sputter, “What the fuck? They’re actually speaking English? Huh, I guess that explains the strange accent. I thought they were able to talk to us because of some kind of magical Fairy shit.”

Rose Blossom laughed and shook her head. “They're being polite using it all the time you're around, so you can understand them. And they like practicing their English; they never used to speak it until Absinthe, Nikki, Tink, and I started teaching them. Well, not so much Tink, she was usually too busy playing, studying, and spending time here at Whateley. She was always a bit too rough. You can thank me for teaching them the more childish and exciting things. I was a lot more childish back then, and seeing people my size made me even more silly for a while.”

“The others want to teach me to learn to use a spear as well, but my schedule is already packed this term. Between that and basic magic lessons with Becky, I don’t have a lot of free time,” I said with a frown. Sadly, it was my own damn fault, too. Past-Vanessa’s attempts to avoid making friends were now biting me painfully in the ass.

We decided to discuss the possibilities for making language and weapon training doable while we flew, since we still had to get the takeout reward, and I needed to show her how to get to the club room before I headed to my next class. The first task was easy enough, as I requested a bottle of milk and a take-out box, filling the latter with the various suggestions that we had discussed the night before. The fresh berries would be a nice treat for the Fairies at this time of year, and it wasn’t often that they got to partake of things like cheese and grains.

Since the takeout box was nearly the size of a small house to Fairies, we mostly tried to focus on things that would keep a while: things like cheese, some crackers, granola mix, and a small container of honey. There were also some treats, though, like the berries, a few cookies, and a small Cornish game hen that smelled delicious.

I might have to try one of those sometime. It’s only red meat that we can’t tolerate, and Rose Blossom said that it was rare for the Fairies in The Grove to get poultry to eat. Sometimes they got a bit of fish, but we thought the hen would be a nice treat for them with Thanksgiving coming soon, even if it did take up almost a quarter of the box. Speaking of treats, I also donated several packages of the candy that Nyssavi seemed so eager to get more of from a portion of my Halloween heist hoard, which I had stuffed in my school bag for snacking and energy boosts between classes.

We had to hurry through the tunnels, and that task was made slightly awkward by the fact that I wasn’t just hauling my school bag around with my PK, but also a large takeout box and a bottle of milk. By the time we arrived, though, Rose Blossom seemed confident that she could find both her way to the club room and back to the forest with the other Fairies later tonight. I placed their reward in the mini-fridge for now, so they could easily claim it after they finished the cleaning, and then I surprised myself a little by impulsively giving Rose Blossom a quick hug before saying goodbye and hurrying back through the tunnels to get to class on time.

Crystal Hall
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016 – After Dinner

Crystal Hall was uncharacteristically quiet during dinner, with the majority of students either packing their bags to go home for Thanksgiving weekend or having already left. For those of us left behind, either because we weren’t on good terms with our families, had no family left, or for other reasons, there was an air of despondence that nobody really wanted to bring attention to. Most of my very few friends were among those staying at school for the rapidly approaching holiday.

The only one that I knew of who was actually going home for the long weekend was Becky. From everything I had heard from her, though, she was very close to her adoptive family. I could tell that she felt kind of bad about going home when I couldn’t, but I had seen her off after we finished up my magic lesson and told her to enjoy herself. I had other friends to keep me company here, and she shouldn’t even think about missing out on time with a family that loves her during the holiday for my sake, especially when she was obviously looking forward to it.

Becky had invited me to come with her last week, but I had turned her down. Sure, the middle of North Dakota would probably be the last place that Blythe and her mother would ever look for me, and it would have been nice to leave the school for a bit, but I didn’t want to intrude. So, I told her thanks, but I would be fine hanging around at Whateley and spending some time with the Fairies and my other friends. Maybe I would spend some time with Ms. Reilly, too, if she was around.

I knew Shannon didn’t have anywhere else to go, and while I knew that Shisa would be leaving for Boston tomorrow morning with Helsing, Pastel would be staying at school. I hadn’t really pressed them for details. If they wanted me to know shit, then they would tell me; that was how our weird group of friends worked. We all just sort of accepted each other for who we were and took things as they came, and it wasn’t my place to stick my nose in their personal lives unless they asked.

As for the twins, they had decided to stay at school rather than go home after the awkward disaster that was Parents’ Day. They had been close to their parents for most of their lives, but everything changed when they manifested. Polly had confirmed my suspicion that their parents hate mutants, especially the more visible ones, and the twins got hit with both barrels on that count.

Polly and Peter were ostensibly sent to Whateley so Polly could learn to control her powers, and while that was necessary, Peter suspected that the heroes who had sponsored them, Ermine and Vole-Tear, mostly wanted them somewhere that they would be safe from their parents. Both of the Milwaukee-based heroes had extensive GSD as well, and since they were sympathetic to the twins’ situation, they sponsored them to come to Whateley. I couldn’t blame them, since I had only encountered the Twins’ parents for a moment or two, and I didn’t like what I saw either.

Given the disgust I had seen on the faces of those assholes on Parents’ Day when they were briefly confronted with Danielle and me, and how they couldn’t even look at their own kids, I figured it was probably a good thing the twins decided to stick around Whateley instead of going home. I’d have been worried about their safety if they did go, and I suspected that even if their parents didn’t do anything to actually harm them (physically or psychologically), it wouldn’t have been the happiest of family gatherings. Any time their parents were even mentioned, Peter still got furious, and Polly looked like she wished she had the power to sink into the ground to avoid everything.

Not that they would be sticking around Whateley for the entire weekend. Peter needed to go to Berlin on Saturday to meet with a former Whateley student who was interested in purchasing the rights to a miniaturized power generator that Peter had recently completed for a new line of personal protection devices. The mini generator wasn’t a devise, which surprised me since I thought Peter was just a Devisor, but I guess he’s a Gadgeteer too.

Peter had invited Polly and me along for the ride, so we could all get away from campus for a bit, and at lunch today, he told us that the trip had been approved. We needed to have a teacher act as an escort, but there was one who had agreed to take us since he had some errands of his own to see to in Berlin. Polly was looking forward to getting away from the school for a while and going shopping in a real mall rather than the school store.

I had grudgingly agreed to go along, both to keep her company and to keep her from going all klepto. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her; it was that she didn’t trust herself. She had specifically asked me to come, not just so we could hang out together, but so that I could keep an eye on her in case she got distracted or something and snatched something without realizing it.

While I wasn’t into the whole shopping thing, I was happy to hang out with Polly and do her this favor, because she trusted me and wanted me there as her friend. I also would feel terrible if she got snagged by the cops for shoplifting or something. She didn’t want to steal things; she just couldn’t control her kleptomania.

She had asked for my help, as a friend, and I wasn’t going to push her away when she needed me. It would have been easy to say no, but that was a short step away from turning my back on her, then turning the screws on her to push her away, and stabbing her in the back. She would turn against me, hate me, and lose her mind, just like…

“No, not again. Never again. Stop thinking about that shit, Vanessa. She’s not Blythe, and you’re not Aiden anymore. You don’t want to be him, you’re better than him, and you’ve learned from his mistakes.” I told myself, trying to dig my way out of the cycle of guilt and self-loathing that was already building up as a storm of anxiety in my chest. “Think about something else, concentrate on now, on being better.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself and looked around me. Things had been so hectic in Crystal Hall at lunch while Peter, Polly, and I discussed the trip, but now, as I finished dinner with Shannon, Shisa, and Pastel, the place felt a lot emptier and the mood more subdued. I wasn’t terribly interested in finishing the last few mouthfuls of now-cold food on my plate, so I huffed, “This place is fucking boring with hardly anybody around, let’s go hang out at the club room, maybe the Fairies managed to make some progress on cleaning the place up.”

“Maybe they’re still there,” Shannon murmured, his bored expression flipping to one that held a lot more interest. He probably wanted to meet some real Fairies, and I couldn’t really blame him. Sure, I might be one of them genetically, but I wasn’t raised as one; I didn’t know much magic yet, let alone their history or the really interesting cultural stuff.

I was just some poor shmuck who was being punished for the crimes of my past life. Not that I saw my new life as a punishment, at least, not anymore, but that was what it was intended to be. I was getting used to it, and yeah, some things might be harder than if I were still human, but there were positives as well, and looking at the friends I had made, I knew that I was far from being the only one who had made that particular trade-off.

We made our way through the tunnels and toward the club room, occasionally trading little verbal barbs with each other along the way. When we arrived, Shannon didn’t get to see any other Fairies, but we were in for a surprise. As one, we all stopped, just inside the doorway to gape at the state of the club room.

The place wasn’t just slightly cleaner, which was the best that I had personally thought we could hope for. No, it was spotless, gleaming in fact. The floor and walls looked almost as if they had been polished, the spider webs were gone, and there wasn’t a speck of dust inside. Even the furniture had been deep cleaned, to the point where it almost looked brand new. Holy shit, Fairy magic for the win. I would never give Pastel the satisfaction of telling her, but maybe that crazy hippie friend of her family was actually right.

We all just stood there quietly for a very long moment before inspecting the room to look for any signs of the former filth that we had inherited with the room. There was nothing, though, even the inside of the fridge had been cleaned, and it was empty now that my Fairy friends had taken their reward.

Pastel was the one who finally broke the stunned silence that had fallen over us. "Fuck... Can they clean my room for me, too? And scoop fuzzy butt’s kitty litter box?"

Crystal Hall – Some time earlier…

La Maupin watched Blythe’s clone leave with her friends, absently touching a hand to her face. Shisa and Pastel had been hanging around Sprite quite a bit as well, as of late, and that pair reminded her of the crazy devisor bitch. The mere thought of Helsing made her nose and jaw ache. Pursuing the Dickinson Nun had been a fun challenge while it lasted, but it wasn’t worth the broken nose, busted jaw, and cracked ribs that bitch, Helsing, had given her in return.

It had been two weeks since that attack, and despite the thorough healing at Doyle afterward and the intervening time since, her nose and jaw still ached from the experience. At least the other Amazons still had her back, despite Helsing’s attempts to turn them against her. Still, it was probably smart to lie low for a while, so she would try to keep avoiding the Nun and anyone associated with her, for now.

She was only watching the clone for Blythe’s sake. She’d been keeping an eye on her, waiting for an opening for her friend to be able to either retrieve her lost property or get her revenge. She didn’t care which; it was Blythe’s business, and she was only sticking her nose in it this far as a favor to help her longtime best friend.

She couldn’t go so far as to help Blythe get onto campus, though. If she did that, she didn’t doubt that it would soon become apparent that she was the one helping her friend and spitting in the face of Whateley’s vaunted neutrality. No, it was far better to wait for an opening for Blythe to make her move well away from Whateley’s campus, and any risk to La Maupin herself.

Unfortunately, there were precious few opportunities like that since the clone had arrived at Whateley. The staff was being very careful not to let her leave campus, and when she did, it was never alone or with other untrained freshmen. To her knowledge, the clone had only left the school grounds once since arriving, for a trip into Dunwich to purchase clothes from Roger’s Boutique.

Despite having L34K set an alert for any mentions of the clone’s adopted name on the school servers, that trip had happened too quickly and too close to the school for her to have time to alert Blythe and allow her to properly plan. Not to mention that the student escorting her was a senior and the fucking protégé of Nikki Reilly. She had seen enough of FairyFire in last year’s combat finals to know that neither she nor Blythe wanted to cross her. The Sidhe would complicate things. Hell, she already had, given that she hardly let the clone out of her sight.

Last night, though, L34K contacted her about an opportunity, one that should give Blythe time to plan and the opportunity to act. Once the clone and her friends had left Crystal Hall, she stood up from her seat at the Amazons’ table and excused herself. She waited until she was firmly ensconced in her room to make the call, her privacy assured by the fact that her roommate had already gone home for the long weekend.

It was three rings before Blythe picked up the phone. “Oh, hey, Emilie. I didn’t think you’d be calling until the weekend… unless…” There was a catch in her voice at the word, and then her tone turned hopeful and eager as she asked, “You have good news for me?”

Emilie smiled, and not just because she was about to make her best friend very happy. The clone had been gravitating toward Helsing and the Nun’s circle of friends lately, proven by the time she was spending with Pastel and Shisa, and any little hurt she could deal that group of misfits without being personally implicated would be a nice little bit of payback for what Helsing had done to her face. “Yeah, I think you’re going to like this, Blythe.”

“Tell me,” Blythe replied. It was only two words, but they carried weight, a sort of manic anticipation and bloodlust, like an impatient predator that finally had prey in sight after a long hunger.

Perhaps it was better to temper that feeling, for Blythe’s sake. This would probably be a narrow window of opportunity after all. “If you’re hoping to hear that the clone is going back home for the long weekend, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you, Blythe.”

There was a hiss on the other end, a sharp intake of breath. Frustration. Emilie hoped to stifle that but keep Blythe’s expectations realistic with her next words. “The clone has been approved for a day trip on Saturday. I’m sending over the details now,” she promised, even as her fingertip flicked along the phone’s surface to begin the file transfer. “Her only company will be a pair of other freshmen, neither of whom should be a problem for you, and a teacher.”

“Will the teacher be a problem?” Blythe pressed.

“I doubt it, unless you directly attack him. I’ve taken World History with DuChamp, and he was a supervillain, like our mothers. I doubt he’ll give a shit about some froshies unless it personally inconveniences him. I overheard them talking about the trip at lunch today, too. DuChamp and the boy should be taking care of personal errands, which should give you an opportunity to go after the clone and the other girl. I heard them talk about hitting the mall in town, so it should be a good place to wait for them. Try and keep my name out of this, please. I don’t want to be expelled… or worse.”

Somewhere in the greater Vancouver area…

Blythe’s heart fluttered as she disconnected the call, her face twisted into a manic, wide-eyed smile at the news she had just received. A giddy giggle escaped her as she opened the file she had received during the call, and she started to look over the details. Finally! She would finally be able to pay Aiden back for all that he had done to make her suffer.

He thought he had escaped her by going to that school, with whatever sob story he and those heroes had conjured up. After all he had done to her, he had the balls to go to that school, using some codename like he was some kind of big hero. No, he didn’t have balls anymore, and he wasn’t big either; she and Mother had made sure of that. Still, it was a slap in the face.

He wasn’t a hero. He wasn’t even a person; he was a cheap copy, and he belonged to her! Mother promised her that! She loved him, and he betrayed her. She still did love him, and she’d tried to make sure that they would be happy, but he’d run away from her, and now he needed to be punished. She needed to make sure that he would never do that again, that he would know that he belonged to her. He would be hers again; they would be happy together, because she would leave him with no other options.

He wanted to be a hero? Well, she would make people see him as a villain. He’d have nowhere to hide, and then she’d show him that the only place where he would be safe was with her, where he belonged.

“I’ll need to arrive in Berlin before Aiden and his friends to prepare the trap,” she thought to herself as she started a web search. She needed the GPS coordinates for the teleport patch. The coordinates of the city would be enough, but the location of the mall itself would be better. She needed to get it right the first time, too.

She only had three, maybe four trips left in the patch, less if she could manage to bring Aiden back with her. Mother’s devises were starting to fail, ever since she had woken up in her new body. Most of them were already unusable, and those left probably wouldn’t last much longer. A few trips with the teleport patch, less than a full charge for the two shock sticks, a little over half a dozen single-use grenades of varying types, and a dozen attack mechs, though the latter would have to stay hidden at home to protect Mother.

Mother had come out of the cloning chamber too soon (something else that was Aiden’s fault), and it was taking an uncomfortably long time for her to regain her strength. Even the basic exercises to get her new body in peak condition exhausted her. She was slowly improving, though, except for the headaches, which sometimes left her screaming in agony, and nothing Blythe did seemed to help.

She looked toward the doorway to her mother’s bedroom, as if the mere thought of those headaches might summon another. It was quiet, though; hopefully, Mother was resting well. At least the quiet meant that she should have time to plan this out properly and do her research. Yes, she had found coordinates for the mall. This would make things much easier, and if she showed up early enough on Saturday, Aiden’s reputation would be in tatters before he arrived.

“So much for the ‘hero’ Sprite,” she thought with another manic grin. No, people would know him by a different name after this, one that she had carefully chosen for her vengeance. It must be fate, trying to bring her and Aiden back together, that had Emilie call her now, of all times.

She was still smiling as she reached for her purse and pulled out the MID that she had gotten only two days ago. It was a fake, of course, but a very convincing one with her picture and a best guess at the powers that Aiden had used during their fight. The codename emblazoned along the right side of the ID was Spite.

To be continued…