Shatter Complex: Part One

When you are finished with this entry please read Shatter Complex: Part Two as it is the ending of this first part. Thank you and enjoy!

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Alex sat in her new room staring at her hands, thinking about the past. Her family had just moved here from Michigan and she wasn't exactly cheerful about it. What with leaving all of her old friends behind. Ha, yeah right. They stopped being her friends after it happened. She was different now. She had changed so much. Too much. Maybe moving was the best thing after all.

"Does it still hurt?"

Alex spun around and saw her mom standing in her doorway. She felt a little guilty getting caught staring at her hands. The rest of the family seemed to have moved on. She was the only one still dwelling in the past. But she was the only one truly affected by the change. She was the reason they moved, the reason they left their old life behind. Alex mentally shook herself. No sense in despairing about it. Maybe it's time she did move on.

"No. I was just... you know... thinking about how they used to look." Why did she feel so stupid saying that?

"Well honey, you know that the people here don't know how you used to look. You shouldn't worry about what they think anyways. Maybe you could go out without your gloves and glasses?" Her mom gave her a hopeful smile. Alex felt the guilt rise again. For the first time she actually considered going without covering up, but decided against it. It was selfish and her mom would surely be disappointed, but she didn't know. She didn't know what it was like to just suddenly become a freak.

"I don't know mom. Maybe later. Just not now. Not with my first day at a new school tomorrow."

She looked disappointed, just as Alex knew she would be. But she also seemed to understand and Alex felt a surge of gratitude for her mother. She would keep encouraging her, but understood that it would happen when she was ready. She came over to Alex, knelt down, and gave her a reassuring smile. Then she took her hand in hers and felt along the skin.

"At least you can be thankful the skin is still smooth."

"Yeah. That's true. And it definitely doesnt hurt anymore. I just need a little more time mom. Just a little longer to get used to it. Okay?"

She sighed, "Okay. I suppose I should stop pressuring you. But you know your mother, I hate to see you hide yourself like this. Especially when you hide your eyes."

"The eyes are worse than the skin. I don't know if I'll ever get used to them."

"Hmm. Well, we'll see, won't we. I'm sure some boy is going to come along and show you just how beautiful you are."

Alex laughed. "Geez, if it's not my hands it's my love life!" She became a little more serious. "Uhh... mom? I've been thinking about it lately, and... I'll give this place a shot. I'll try my best to fit in here. It will probably be a while, but... anyway, I'll try." Her mom stood up and kissed her on the forehead and gave her another smile.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'm sure you'll love this place once you get used to it. You'll be making new friends in no time. To tell you the truth, I don't think your old friends were that good for you. I didn't like the way they treated you after... it... happened, or before either. Anyway, you should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. G'nite honey."

"G'nite mom. Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks, you know, for understanding."

She just smiled and closed the door behind her.

----

God she hated this. First day at a new school. First time ever in an all graethian school. She still felt like everyone could see her skin, even through the long sleeved shirt and pants, and gloves. Her eyes were safely hidden behind her sunglasses, spelled to let all light in but none out. She watched all the kids walking around, some were joking around and laughing, some were practicing their abilities, and still others seemed to be doing the same as her; watching. She took a deep breath and started walking toward the front doors.

"Hey! I don't remember seeing you before. You new?"

She jumped and looked around and saw a tall girl walking towards her. She was definitely a graethian, she seemed to have quills instead of hair, arranged to look quite attractive and the dark brown color matched nicely with her deeply tanned skin. She had spikes coming off her shoulders, elbows, knees and even her ears, there were claws instead of nails, and she walked on the balls of her elongated bare feet. Her nose also seemed to be animalistic, like a dogs or cats. The whole effect was both intimidating and rather cute. She was wearing an off the shoulder top and a jean skirt. Alex looked a little closer and noticed that she was wearing a g-string and left the straps up so everyone could see. Wow, kinda brazen, Alex thought.

"I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" Alex asked after her brief examination.

"Yeah. Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She looked sheepish, if sheep could tear you to shreds.

"Oh. You didn't startle me. You just look kinda... uhh... never mind."

"Don't worry about it, I get it all the time. Anyway, are you new?"

"Yep. First year here."

"Then let me be the first to welcome you here." She smiled and Alex noticed her very sharp canines. She seemed the epitome of never judging a book by it's cover. Despite her appearance she was very nice and cheerful. "My name is Annabeth. Annabeth Mall. My charaname is Annymal. Not that clever but it's been handed down the family. Technically I'm the third Annymal."

"Nice to meet you Anny, my name's Alex. Alex Katin." She held out her hand and Anny shook it. Then they started walking toward the front doors together.

"Katin huh? With a K?" Alex nodded. "That means you'll be in my homeroom: 308, J through M. So I'll be the one showing you around campus. I volunteered to show new students around this year." She looked proud of this and Alex couldn't help but giggle a little. Luckily Anny didn't take offense and just giggled along with her. "So... ummm... if you don't mind me asking. What's with the gloves and glasses? It's a bit warm out and the sun isn't that bright."

Alex slowed down a little at that. Dammit, she didn't expect to deal with this already! She's definitely not shy, that's for damn sure. "It's kind of a story I don't like to get into. Let's just say that I don't like the way I look."

Anny looked a little stunned at this. "What do you mean by that? Your a graethian, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so shouldn't you be used to it by now?"

"I became a graethian last year. So, to answer your question, no, I'm not used to it." Her tone started getting snappish and she forced herself to calm down a little. "Look, I'm sorry. I just... I just haven't gotten used to it yet." She finished lamely. Why can't she ever get the damn words right?

"Oh, that's alright. I probably should have guessed your an unnatural graethian. There's a few of them here. Linx became one not too long ago either. Although his doesn't affect his appearance too much. I guess that's why you didn't mention your charaname? Haven't chosen one yet?"

"Actually I never thought about it before. You, uhh... said there's others like me?" She sounded hopeful. There was no one like her back home! Maybe there was someone here who actually understood what she had gone through!

"Yeah. Let's see, there's Linx and... hmmm... actually, Linx is the only one I know." Alex looked a little down at this. "But I know there's more than just him. And he's a really cool guy, kinda funny and kinda dorky, but pretty cool all around. He became a graethian around two years ago. It's a great story but you'll have to ask him about it. He has a twin brother that was born a graethian. Kind of a strange occurance but they're pretty close. Anyways, I'm sure your gonna love it here. Everyone is pretty nice and any abuse of abilities or magic is strictly punished." They turned down a hall and stopped in front of door. "Well, this is 308. Homeroom is always first hour so we might as well go in now. Oh! And I'll introduce you to Linx! He's in here too. His real name is Sig Jeyld."

"Sig?" Alex inquired. "Kind of a strange name."

"I think it's short for Sigla, cause his brother's name is Rune. But I don't know for sure. I've never asked and the teachers tend to go by charanames or nicknames. I think I'll sit next to you, that way we can talk for a while longer."

They sat down and Alex and Anny chatted while others came in to take a seat. It seemed that Anny loved to talk. She could chatter on endlessly about anything and switch topics at light speed. Alex found it refreshing, all her old friends were kind of reserved and didn't really talk to each other much. Anny pointed out Linx to Alex, he was a little tall and kinda skinny. He was wearing a long sleeve black button up shirt and dark brown cargo pants with what looked like two chains looping from the front to the back. He had a black hat on and his hair was dark brown as well. He had a small beard that looked far more red than his hair. He looked over at her and she quickly looked away. Anny giggled and made a joke about her blushing but quieted down when the teacher walked in.

"Good mornin' class. Most o' ye know me by now but fer those who don't, I'm Kidrin ShatterShield. Mr. ShatterShield to ye. Before any of ye start gigglin' about me name or askin' stupid questions, I'll have ye know that I'm a dwarf." Someone started to speak but he cut them off. "A true dwarf. One o' the ones that emerged from underground after the Year o' the Magi, not one o' them graethian upstarts." His black eyes glittered and Alex thought that underneath the gruff and tough exterior he was probably a decent sort. But what an exterior! His hair and beard were braided in the dwarven fashion and a deep dark red. He was maybe five feet tall but very stocky and wide. All of it must have been muscle though because he didn't look fat at all. If he was scaled up then he would have been a huge bear of a man.

"Anyway," He continued, "we've a couple a new students wi' us this year. Please stand up front and say a few things about yerself when I call yer name. And get used to such torture, because I love watchin' ye squirm." He chuckled a bit at this and there were a few reciprocating laughs, although a couple sounded nervous. He cleared his throat, "Alex Katin. He here?"

Alex stood up and walked to the front of the class. "Yes, she is." A few more laughs and Mr. ShatterShield apologized and waved her to continue. "Umm, my name is Alex. I just moved here from Michigan. This is my first time in an all graethian school but I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. I've already made a friend." Anny smiled at this. "Uhh... there are a few things I don't like to talk about: My gloves and my glasses. Just don't ask, seriously." She started to head back to her seat but stopped when she saw a black sleeved arm raised into the air, it had a silver chain around the wrist. "Yes?" She asked him.

"You said you've never been in an all graethian school before? But all schools are either all graethian or all wielder...so... I'm assuming there's a story behind that?" Linx asked her.

"Oh. Uhh... well... I kinda don't like to talk about that either. But I became a graethian last year. I wasn't born one." Please don't ask anymore! But he nodded his head as if she just confirmed something for him and didn't say anything else. She went back to her seat and Anny whispered in her ear. "Wow, pretty brave of you just to tell everyone to leave ya alone like that." She giggled to show she fully approved and leaned back.

"Thank ye Ms. Katin. Ummm... Yun Ki. Will ye please come to the front o' the class?"

A small asian boy with long black hair in seeming full oriental dress stepped to the front of the class. "My name is Yun Ki." He emphasized the pronunciation as yoon kai to make sure everyone knew it wasn't yunn key. "Me and my family just moved here from China. We all speak perfect english, so no jokes please. Anyway... umm... I wear these clothes because I feel as comfortable in them as you do in your jeans and t-shirts. Uhh... my charaname is Phade, and I have certain ephemereal abilities." And he disappeared. "Such as invisiblity and..." He reappeared and his hair was now a ghostly silver. He seemed to have a faint aura about him. Then he walked through a desk to show he was completely insubstantial. "As you can see, my name fits me well." The aura disappeared and his hair went back to black.

Everyone applauded politely, and Alex could here a few of the guys making some observations about the possibilities of Phade and the girls locker room. Looks like he won't have any problems making friends, Alex thought to herself.

The rest of the hour passed by with the usual first day repoir. School rules, reminders of holiday dates, and the passing out of useless papers that held information no one read. Then they got their schedules and, true to her word, Anny was assigned to show the new kids around and make sure they knew where their classes were. Just as the bell rang Mr. ShatterShield called out one last thing.

"Alright ye wee beasts. I'll be seein' most o' ye in me history class. So ye'd better be behavin' fer the rest o' yer teachers. Otherwise, well, let's just say I like to have a bit more fun wi' ye if yer a troublemaker. Now get."

Alex, Anny, and Phade walked out together. Both Alex and Phade seemed a little intimidated by the dwarf but Anny just laughed. "Don't worry about him. He's an excellent teacher, one of the best here. Although he's not joking about liking to have fun with troublemakers. So you might want to reconsider that offer from Meld, Phade." He paled a bit as she said this and then blushed at her grin. "I have excellent hearing." And she tapped her spiky ear for emphasis, then laughed again. "Besides, the locker rooms are spelled to keep all intruders out. So you couldn't even if you tried." She sighed theatrically. "You'd think me showing these off," and she snapped one of the straps to her g-string," would be enough for the guys, but no, they all want the full show. Maybe some day they'll get it." And her and Alex laughed as Phade blushed furiously, but he was grinning a little hopefully too. Oh yeah, definitely brazen. With a friend like her, I think I'm gonna like it here after all. And Alex just followed Anny, feeling truly optimistic about the move since it happened.

----

The rest of her morning went by smoothly. After Anny showed them where their classes were she left them to their own devices. Alex had math in second hour and Phade went off to his own class. Third hour was science and magic. Alex had always done well in these classes so she wasn't intimidated at all by the heavy workload the teachers warned them about. After third hour was lunch, she got her food and was looking for a place to sit when she saw Anny waving her over. She weaved her way between the tables and saw that Anny was sitting with Linx, Phade, some big bug looking guy, a girl with shoulder length black hair and completely white eyes, and a tall gothy girl with short spiky black hair with long bangs swept to one side to cover one of her glowing purple eyes, she seemed to have no nose at all.
"Uhh... hello." Alex felt a little nervous with all these new people around. She sat down and Anny started the introductions.

"Alex, this is Linx, who I pointed out to you earlier." He nodded and Alex shot Anny a black look for mentioning that. "And this is Cricket." She pointed to the big bug like guy and he nodded and said yo. "This is Smudge." She said hi and waved cheerfully. "And this dark princess is Nytemare." She gave Anny a look and stuck her pierced tongue out at her. "I'll let them get into details about themselves and whatnot if they want to. I'm hungry and I want some food." She got up and headed to the lunch line, leaving Alex and Phade alone to deal with this crowd.

"So," Smudge said. "How you guys liking it here so far?"

"It's alright." Alex piped up, "My classes seem to be cool and everyone has been really nice to me so far. I think I'm gonna enjoy it here."

"Cool." Linx nodded and grinned. Alex couldn't help but grin back at him, though she felt kind of stupid for doing it. Calm down, Alex! He's just a guy for craps sake!

"It certainly seems nice. It's a lot different from my old school but that's to be expected. It is a different country after all." Phade seemed a little more nervous around this many new people, although that wasn't stopping him from casting a few glances the girls' way. Alex got the feeling that he wasn't looking at their bodies but at the distinct difference of their clothes. Smudge was wearing a loose zip-up hoody over a tank-top, and jeans with, for some reason, a frilly skirt. Nytemare was wearing a black belly shirt with long fishnet sleeves and a plummetting neckline, a short plaid skirt, black and white striped leggings and big black boots. Looking at the two, you wouldn't expect them to be sitting next to each other at lunch. Linx and Cricket were a little bit more traditional. Cricket was wearing a button up short sleeve shirt and regular khaki pants. He wasn't wearing any shoes though. Probably because his feet were like an insects. He stood on the balls of his feet, like Anny, but only because he had no choice, the rest of his foot was narrow and spiky and not designed to hold his weight. He seemed to be covered in a black chitinous shell with spikes along the forearms, feet, and neck. His antennae would twitch every once in a while and Alex tried to remember what sense they were used for. I'm really paying attention to peoples clothes lately, I wonder what's up with that?

"So, uhh, if you don't mind me asking, why are you called Linx, Cricket, Smudge and Nytemare?" She asked them.

Linx spoke up first. "Ah, well, to tell you the truth, I'm actually the same as you. I became a graethian around two years ago. There was a demon attack and Rune, that's my brother, and I went to check it out." Alex winced at hearing that. Demons were extremely dangerous. Going to 'check one out' was one of the stupidest things you could do. Apparently Linx knew this because he said, "Yeah, yeah, I know. We paid the price. I was left with a part of the demon and Rune was, well, broken I guess is the only way to describe it." He paused for a second as if listening.

"Alright." He said to no one, then looked over at Alex again. "Ok, Rael told me to tell you that he wasn't a part of the demon but his weapon. And he chose to stay with me when the demon was banished." He rolled his eyes. "He tends to be a stickler for accuracy when it comes to things like that."

Alex was lost. She didn't hear anyone else speak. Noticing her confusion Linx lifted his right sleeve and showed her the chain that she saw before. "Alex this Rael. Rael, Alex." After the strange introduction the chain lifted itself off his wrist and seemed to be looking her up and down. Seemingly satisfied it nodded, or waved, and settled back down. Alex stared at it. She had seen telekinisis before but chains were one of the hardest things to move. The best one could do was move one or two links and drag the rest. But this chain moved like it was alive. She looked closer and noticed that it didn't look like Linx was wearing it around his wrist but that it was wrapped around his wrist. "Uhh... wow." Was all she could manage to say.

Everybody laughed. Cricket looked over at her, "You get used to it. Pretty soon he'll just seem like one of the group. Quieter than most perhaps." At that he tilted his head over to Smudge. She scoffed and hit him. There was a dull thunk and she shook her hand like it hurt. "When will you ever learn." He laughed at her and she looked like she was gonna hit him again but started laughing too.

"So... what is he?"

Linx considered for a second. "The closest I could come is that he's a sentient, polymorphous chain of infinite length. Nearly infinite, maybe. We don't know for sure. Really he's an archangel, at least according to what the demons have been telling him. He doesn't remember anything before he was forced to possess the chain. And he's been in there for millennia. He doesn't really mind it though. Not since I've been wielding him. The only thing is that he drains magic from me, so I can't cast spells anymore. I think it's a fair trade off, he's pretty handy and can react to my thoughts. I've gotten to the point where I can use him instinctively. A nice bonus is that I don't have to be conscious for him to act either, he protects me while I'm sleeping. Anyway, Rael is why I'm called Linx. Like chain links only with an X."

Alex nodded, geniuinely impressed. Rael sounded like an ideal companion. She wondered if he could ever get any privacy though. That thought led to others and she almost started blushing again. Geez, what the hell is wrong with me? Just then Anny came back from the lunch line and put down her food. Cricket looked at her plate, "They've got burgers today? Sweet!" He jumped up and headed up for his own lunch. She sat down, "Whatcha been talking about?"

"I just introduced her to Rael."

"Ah, got the full speech complete with demonstration?" She laughed and looked around the table. "Hmmph. I thought it was funny."

Smudge perked up, "Yeah, but there's no accounting for taste." Everyone laughed at that as she dodged Anny's swat.

"Smart-ass." Anny gave up on trying to hit her and sat back down. "Whose turn now?"

"Might as well be me." Smudge gave her a little smile as she started her introduction. "Ok. Mine's a little complicated. You ever take a pencil and make a really dark mark, then run your finger across it so it kinda runs down the paper?" Alex nodded that she had. "Well, I can do that with anything. This table, your food, even the air. But if I do it with food than it kinda becomes inedible." Alex still looked a little confused. "Here, let me show you. Umm, I can't do it to school property, so..." She waved her hand through the air and it left a long streak where it passed. Then she grabbed it and handed it to Alex. It felt like glass, only warm and not as smooth. She handed it back to Smudge who wiped her hand across it again and it dissappeared.

"That's pretty cool, but what can you do with it?"

"Oh, lots of stuff. I can put a hole in the wall. I can make a weapon out of thin air, literally. I can even kinda fly with it." Alex raised her eyebrows at this. Smudge laughed, "I can guarentee you'll see it sometime. It's how I get anywhere. I've been doing it since I perfected the technique."

"How does that work?"

"Well, I need to get a running start to build momentum. Then I just slide and smudge the air under my feet. I can make it as smooth as I want, to the point of complete frictionlessness." She paused for a second and said that again under her breath but shook her head and decided it didn't matter. "Anyway, If I start to lose my balance I just smudge a little under my hand to right myself and I'm good to go. There's no danger of falling because I can catch myself on air. It's awesome." Alex nodded at that. It certainly seemed like a fun and very handy way to get around.

"What about you Anny?"

"Me? I thought I was obvious."

"Well, yeah. But is there anything that's not obvious?" Phade asked her.

"Hmm... Oh! I can do this." And suddenly her quills became hair. It was the same color and length as the quills but shinier and bouncier. Alex reached out and touched it to see if it was really hair and it was. Anny turned it back when she was done. "It's not the most useful thing in the world but I can do it with any hair on my body, even my claws can become soft if I want them too. It helps for when I don't want to tear the shit out of something. Plus, if any boy goes any farther than I want him too, he gets a spiky surprise." She laughed a very evil laugh and all the girls laughed too. A second behind them was Linx as he got it. The only one left in the dark was Phade. Nytemare leaned over and whispered in his ear. He blushed again.

"I suppose I'm next." Nytemare said after they were done laughing. She looked at Alex and Phade in turn. Suddenly everything seemed darker. The sounds of the cafeteria faded to less than a whisper. It got to the point where they could only see her one visible eye, glowing that bright purple and hear only her voice, whispering in dark portent. "I am the mistress of the night. The shadows bow to me as their queen. All of darkness is my domain and I travel freely in my domain. I can step through the shadows as easily as you can step through a doorway. I can wrap the darkness about myself and become hidden to all eyes. I can see all under the night sky, no one can hide from me in my realm. My life is gloom. My heart is an everchanging lightless landscape. I have given myself to the darkness and the darkness gave all back. When the lights go out, I am in control of your well being."

"Sleep tight." A voice whispered into her ear.

Alex jumped and spun around. Everything became bright again and she could see Cricket laughing behind her. She couldn't help but laugh along with him. Nytemare certainly knew how to draw people people in. This close she could see the two little spiky potrusions off his top lip. Kind of like mandibles, she thought.

"So, you control darkness?" Phade asked Nytemare.

"Yep. Shadows, anything to do with lack of light. I can even use it to change my shape. I prefer to turn into a big black leopard."

"You mean a panther. Leopards have to have spots.." Phade told her.

"I do have spots. They're purple is all."

"Oh. Well, you said you could see anything under the night sky, but I doubt you could see me." He looked a little proud at this.

"What makes you say that?" She asked him. Apparently she didn't know about his demonstration earlier.

Suddenly he dissappeared again. "This is why." His voice came out of thin air. A few seconds later he reappeared. "I can completely mask myself from all sight, magical or otherwise." It was everyone else's turn to be impressed. Alex, Anny and Linx had already witnessed his abilities before but they were no less awed.

"Show them what else you can do." Linx told him.

Phade's hair turned silvery again and the aura appeared around his hand. Then he passed it through the table. He reached forward and grabbed a fork and the aura enveloped it as well. He then passed that through the table as well.

"Whoah. You didn't mention you could make other stuff insubstantial. Can you make it invisible too?"

In response he put his hand down and the table dissappeared. Anny had been sitting with her legs propped up and everyone could see up her skirt. "Oops!" Phade switched it back quickly after he realized that. Everyone laughed, Anny most of all. He kept apologizing to her but she told him it was okay and to warn her next time.

"You can do that with anything?" Cricket asked.

"Yes," He was still blushing, "I can even make it invisible only one way, so you could see through it from the top but not from the bottom."

Cricket got a big wide grin on his face when he heard that. Alex had an idea of what he was thinking and was glad she wasn't taking gym. Apparently Anny caught wind of it too because she spoke up.

"Cricket. If I hear you made him do anything to the locker rooms I'll squash you like the bug you are." Everyone laughed again. "And if I find out you did it willingly you'll get the same." Phade looked alarmed at that and the laughter was redoubled.

"Your turn Sam." Linx told Cricket as he was taking a bite of food.

"Hmm? Oh! Right." He swallowed. "I'm a big bug." And he took another bite.

Everyone looked at him expectantly. After a few seconds Smudge hit him again.

"What? Fine. Umm... I've got an extremely tough and durable shell, and my leg muscles are genetically different from normal muscles. It makes them much stronger and lighter than other peoples. So I can jump really high and recover easily from long falls. Oh. And I can stick to walls. Because of that and my shell is black, I chose the name Cricket. My sisters is red and the muscles in her arms are superior. She can lift about a ton without straining herself. So I'm like a cricket and she's like an ant. Her name is Queen o' Hearts though. 'Queen' cause of the ant thing and 'o' hearts' cause she's red."

"So the bug thing runs in the family?" Alex asked him.

"Not really. It just happened that we turned out similar."

"And your real name is Sam?"

He nodded, "Sam Hoffman," then looked over at Smudge and Nytemare. Smudge looked up, "Oh! Sorry, I'm Ren Haze."

"And I'm Nara Ronalds."

"Sig Jeyld."

"And I'm Anny!" Everyone looked at her. "I felt left out." Everyone laughed again. Then the bell rang signaling that lunch was over. Alex headed to her next class and Linx seemed to be headed in the same direction. When she got to her door he stopped too.

"English?" He asked her.

"Uhh... yeah." He was in the same class as her! Part of her was thrilled but another part was nervous for some reason. She didn't know what to say so she just headed inside and sat down. He came over and sat down next to her. He gave her a smile then looked away hurriedly. Is he blushing? She had a strange feeling that this would be one of her favorite classes.

----

English was just like all the other classes on the first day. A few papers handed back, a few lectures on what to expect and what the rules are, then they had the rest of the hour to themselves.

"So where is your brother? I've heard you talking about him but I haven't met him yet." Alex asked Linx.

"Oh. He... had to stay home today. He's... not really himself." He seemed a mix between amused and apprehensive.

"Ok... what exactly does that mean?"

"Alright... you know the four horsemen of the apocalypse?" She nodded that she did. "Well, he can sort of become them. Well, not really become them, but become like them. Three of them at least. Anyway, ever since the demon he hasn't been able to control the transformations. So occasionally he'll just turn into War, Famine or Pestilence and all hell breaks loose. He does have some marginal control while he's transformed, so he doesn't destroy the house or go on an eating binge or anything, but he has absolutely no control over when and where he does transform."

"Wow. He must have it pretty difficult. It would suck not to be able to control your powers."

"Yeah. Sometimes I have to stay home to help keep him in line. War and Famine are the worst. He can control them most of the time but it doesn't stop him when he loses his temper or gets hungry. Pestilence isn't too hard to control but he's very contagious. The only times I've gotten sick is because of that one."

Alex thought about the implications of not being able to control your abilities. She shuddered to think of what she could do without control. Suddenly Linx looked up at her. She knew exactly what he was going to ask and she felt like an idiot for not seeing it coming.

"Ya know. We've all told you our powers and stuff. But you haven't shown us what you can do. Anny told me that you haven't chosen a charaname yet but you should still know what your abilities are. Even a low level identification spell could tell you that much. So what can you do?"

Alex felt panic rising. This was why her friends ditched her last time! But he isn't like them. He knows what it's like. He's been through this before. She still didn't want to tell him, not yet anyways.

"I... uhh... that's kind of a trust thing with me. I... lost some friends in my old town because of what happened to me and... I know your not like them or anything but... still... I just don't feel right yet. Maybe later. Ok?"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "I understand completely. When I couldn't get the chain off and then it started talking to me I panicked. When I finally did tell someone about it... she... she was my girlfriend and... she didn't like it. She left me a short time after it happened." He looked a little down but perked up a bit. "Uh... anyway. What's your next class? I've got history with ShatterShield. Pretty much everyone else is in there too. Anny, Nytemare, Cricket, and Smudge. I even think that Phade guy is in there."

Alex checked her schedule and was delighted to see that she was in there too. She showed it to Linx and he seemed just as happy as her. It turned out that their last class was together as well. She was looking forward to spending her afternoons with him. Then the bell rang and they headed to room 308 together. They met up with Anny on the way.

"God. You would not believe the bunch of jerks in my gym class. One of them has some sort of vision thing and was trying to spy on us while we got changed. I think it's actually connected to his eyes somehow because when he hit the spell we heard him cry out and he was holding his eye when class started. Oh, and Meld is in there too. And he's getting better. He actually managed to join with the wall while we were taking showers. He just chose the wrong wall and got stuck. Coach had to help him through it and he's been suspended all next week. Serves him right. Did I tell you that he melded into a pair of my panties last year? God that guy is an ass."

"Meld can join himself into anything." Linx said for Alex's benefit. "At first he could only take on characteristics of the things he melded with, like becoming metallic or really light. But as he got more powerful he could actually become the object he was joining with. So he can hide himself in anything. But he usually makes a crucial mistake when he's trying to spy on the girls."

"What's that?"

"Well he has to have his eyes visible in order to see. Kind of a giveaway if suddenly there are eyes in the wall. Or on your panties." He smirked and Alex could tell that the only reason he wasn't laughing outright was because Anny didn't think it was funny at all.

"If he just acted like a decent guy instead of trying to spy on us all the time he would probably get a lot further. He is kinda cute." Anny mused.

"How did he get into your panties?" Alex asked. Then she thought about what she said. "OH! I mean, how did he meld with your panties? Sorry." Linx laughed and tried to cover it with a cough.

"I was heading to a sleepover that night and had some extra clothes in my bag. I don't know how he found out or how he got a hold of them, but I was going through my bag to find one of my books and I saw him peeking out of them. He's lucky I didn't have Pyre burn them with him inside." Anny seemed to still be furious about it so Alex didn't make any jokes.

They reached their class and they all sat down together. Linx seemed a little dissappointed that Anny sat next to Alex but he sat down across the aisle without complaint. Pretty soon Cricket came in and sat next to him.

"Hey Anny." She looked up at him. "I'm sorry about what those guys did during gym. I had a little talk with them after class. They won't be trying that again any time soon." Cricket told her.

"Thanks Sam. That was sweet." She smiled at him and he smiled back. Alex got the idea that maybe something was going on between them but just then Smudge and Nytemare came in leading Phade.

"He got turned around and we found him across the school." Smudge explained.

"Good thing our math class is over there or he would have been pretty damn late." Nytemare sat down on the other side of Anny and Smudge sat next to her. Phade sat down next to Cricket and he took the time to talk to him about the dangers of spying in gym. Phade assured him that he had no intentions of spying on anyone and that he didn't even have a gym class.

"I thought that Cricket was in on the plot to peek on the girls?" Alex asked Anny.

"Nah. He jokes around but he finds it really offensive when someone actually tries it. He's a decent guy. One of the last." Anny got a wistful smile on her face then gave Alex an almost calculating look. "Linx is a pretty decent guy too. He's never tried to spy on the girls even though he's probably the only one who can do it. He told me once that Rael can sort of see the protection spell on the locker room. Apparently it's like a net that Rael can slip through. And they can share sight. But both him and Rael are very honorable. They've never even attempted it to see if it would work. Anyway, it's not really a plot either. It's more like tradition. The reason the school doesn't expel everyone that tries is to keep their spell up to date. If someone breaks it than they know that they have to get it upgraded. They're probably doing it now. Meld got too close. He probably figured out a way to meld with the actual spell in the wall. Just imagine how much he's learning about himself in trying to be a pervert. If he can meld with magic as well as objects than he must be getting very powerful." Alex nodded her agreement but hadn't actually been listening since hearing that Linx had never tried to spy on the girls. For some reason, she felt really good about that.

Mr. ShatterShield walked in the door and everyone went quiet.

"Bein' the firs' day an' all. We're gonna have ourselves a little review." He told them. "Everyone prepare yerselves. This counts as a quiz." His eyes twinkled as everyone groaned. Great, Alex thought, what's he gonna put us through?

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