Question Tink: Quest for Essence (Completed)

Saturday, September 8th

Three little witches sat around the table in Crystal Hall, looking at all the other kids who could cast great magic spells, while they were still stuck making nice tea and struggling to get even the tiniest bit of essence that other kids seemed to pick up just by breathing.

Clover pulled her hat down as a freshman waved his fingers and his tray went sailing across the cafeteria to join the rest of the dirty dishes. “It's a new year and we still can't do anything really cool!” she whined.

“It's all because we don't have essence,” Abra said, taking a savage bite from her salad.

Palantir focused in on some freshmen who were talking excitedly about their classes and sharing the few spells they knew. “Well lets go get some. There are so many new kids here we can get some of their essence to spark ours before they know what we're doing.”

“But what about Kayda, she won't give us anymore herbs for the tea if we steal essence,” Abra pointed out.

“I did some research and I found a website that sells everything we need. So even if she finds out before we succeed, we don't have to worry,” Palantir explained.

“Yes! We just have to move quickly we can do it!” Clover practically shouted. “We just need to find the best person to take it from.”

Abra looked off into the distance. “The closest we came to getting essence was when we took it from the ghost...”

“We are NOT going after a scary ghost again,” Clover said, hugging her familiar Buttons to her chest.

“No, no, no,” Abra agreed quickly. “But there are magical students here. There's one in my dorm, a fairy girl. She has to be loaded with essence, and she doesn't seem to know anything about magic.”

“Is that the one who started the food fight on the first day? She seems kind of scary,” Palantir said, unthinkingly rubbing her shoulders. Seeing the girl hanging from a light by her bra looked painful.

“She's not that scary Pali. I live on the same floor as her and she doesn't seem to pay a lot of attention to anything. We can trick her easy,” Abra assured her. “She has detention at Hawthorne, and always takes the same way on green flag days.”

**

Teri rushed across the campus to get to her detention. She was suppose to help a spider girl with her English homework and after the crummy way Venus Inc., had acted, she was hoping for something nice and relaxing. So she never noticed the carefully drawn runes hidden in the tall grass until she ran into an invisible wall nose first.

“OW!” she screamed rubbing her face. “Ok, who hardened the air?” A quick check showed she was surrounded on all sides.

She heard some muttering from the nearby bushes. “Hey, help me outta here, I have to get to detention and I don't want to be late.” No one came out.

Tapping her foot, she put her chin in her hand to think of a clever way out of the trap. Her eyes lit up as the answer came to her. She flew straight up keeping her hand touching the side of the invisible wall. At ten feet it started to curve inwards, at fifteen feet she hit the top of the sphere and started heading back down.

“Ok, someone is in a lot of trouble, I'm now late for my detention!” she shouted as she landed on the ground.

Jutting out her chin, Teri began to fly in a circle her wings just touching the side of the trap. She picked up speed. She was not going to stay in this stupid trap any longer, she started going so fast the trees and bushes around her were a blur. Then she hit the wall... and bounced. Refusing to slow down, she hit the other side and bounced backwards, each time she went a bit faster getting more and more frustrated.

**

“She's like a ping pong ball, shouldn't she be slowing down?” Clover asked.

“Don't worry,” Palantir said, “just give her another minute or two and she'll realize she can't escape, then we go and make a deal with her.”

Abra looked at the blur of movement bouncing around the circle. “Yeah, sure. If she's still conscious.”

“One more minute and she'll stop.”

**

Ten minutes later, sweating, suffering a headache and ready to spit nails, Teri finally sank back to the ground. “Great, now my hairs a mess to. And I'm so late!”

Walking to the edge of the circle, she saw a carefully drawn line, kicking it didn't do anything. Neither did grabbing a piece of grass and poking at it. Then she had a eureka moment. Getting down on her hands and knees she started digging, focusing her PK field around her hands into something like a shovel so she could take out big piles of dirt in one go. In less than a minute she was crawling out the other side.

“Great, I'm filthy and late!” she cried, taking to the air and leaving a comet tail of dirt behind her as she flew to Hawthorne as fast as possible.

She never saw the three young teens come out of the bushes, staring at the magic circle.
Clover and Buttons looked at Pali, “Sure, lets wait for her to get annoyed and give up. She'll give us anything to get out.”

“I didn't even know you could dig your way out of a magic circle,” Palantir said.

“Don't worry our next trap will work perfectly,” Abra assured them. “And hey, we can have a sleepover. I don't have a roommate until next Friday.”

They cleaned up the circle and headed back to to Whitman to talk about the next plan.

**

“I swear, I was trapped in a some kind of invisible trap. I didn't want to be late,” Teri said as Ms. Cantrell glared at her. “Look at my clothes and hair, I had to dig my way out of it.”

“Get to work, you know what room you're to go to. And you're making up the time so don't take off at five like you usually would,” the big woman said.

“Sure,” she replied, as she flew off.

The door was open when she reached the students room. Inside was a girl who didn't look that scary from the waist up, but her lower half was all spider, a big one, with a red patch on the back. She was busy writing something while looking in a history book.

“Hi, Emilia right?” Teri asked flying inside.

“Yeah, that's right, Teri. We're in the same costume class,” she said putting her pen down.
“Oh right, I remember seeing you in there. Why do you sit all the way at the back? It must be annoying to look through everyone's head.”

She pointed at her spider butt. “I'd be in the way of everyone else if I was near the front.”

Teri gave a shrug to that. “So what exactly do you need help with? I'm in English II, so I should be able to help you.”

“Composition. Mr. Lord says I need a lot of work on writing essays,” she practically whispered, hiding her face with her hair.

“That's easy to fix. What do you like?” Teri asked, sitting on the desk.

“I like fashion.”

Teri pulled over a piece of paper, and then grabbed a pen for Emilia. “Ok! I like fashion to, I'm a model actually. So let's pick a topic, your favourite fashion brand. First you need an introduction. To do that...”

**
As Teri flew back to Whitman, thinking about having to wash herself for the second time that day, she never noticed the three girls who were trying to watch her while looking like they weren't. If she had noticed them, her week would probably have been much more peaceful.

**
Sunday, September 9th
Whitman Cottage

“Are you sure this is safe?” Abra asked her friends, as they sat in her room in Whitman looking at the equipment for the next trap.

“Sure,” Clover said, playing with the net she and Buttons had borrowed from the grounds keepers earlier. “They use this type of net to keep birds from eating the seeds when they plant flower beds. Tink won't get hurt by it.”

“And we know she can't get hurt by sugar. She just gets a little hyper and silly. So we put the net over her window tonight, put some sugar on her snacks and get her to follow the pretty ball. She gets caught in the net and we take her essence. She won't even know what's happening until we're long gone.” Palantir said. “It will be easy.”

“Alright. Teri should be coming back from detention soon, and Serena is out, so we need do this now if we're going to,” Abra said.

The three little witches, two of whom not so little now that they were fourteen and freshmen, casually walked down the hallway. Since it was a sunny Sunday the dorm was pretty much empty, even the girls who were doing homework were outside taking in the sun at one of the tables, benches or simply sitting on a blanket on the grass.

After knocking on the door to make sure both girls were gone, Abra opened the door using a tiny bit of magic. With the coast clear they slipped inside. Each girl had a small bag of sugar, Abra went to the small dresser opening it up to see a small pile of doll clothes, and lots of snacks all of them sugar free. There was an open bag of trail mix on top. Carefully opening the sugar, she began pouring a little bit in the trail mix when there was a knock on the door.

All of them stopped dead, not even breathing. There was another knock. Abra's nose started to itch, she had to sneeze. She scrunched up her face, fighting the urge as best she could. Finally, just when she was sure she couldn't hold it in any longer, they heard footsteps going down the hall. They gasped in relief, and she scratched her nose. Then she gasped. The bag of sugar was empty.

Looking at the trail mix, she saw everything was covered in sugar. Giving it a couple of shakes, made the sugar less noticeable, but not by much.

“I'm done,” Clover said closing the small mini-fridge. “Let's go.”

Putting the trail mix back, Abra didn't say anything as they made their way out. A little extra sugar wouldn't hurt anything.

Back in Abra's room, they hugged each other for a job well done. But Clover had a question, “Pally, where did you get the sugar? I thought the lunch ladies would yell at you for taking that much.”

“I didn't get it from Crystal Hall, those lunch ladies are scary. I just grabbed some I found lying around, no one was using it,” Pallly replied.

**

The Tunnels

Hazmat looked around his workshop, very confused. He was missing one of his new sugar derivative samples, that if successful would revolutionize energy drinks. He'd worked on it all summer, and after some safety tests, he wanted to show it to Ayla.

“Belphegor, if you've taken it I'm going to... do something very nasty,” he said to himself, stalking off to find the thief.

The Tunnels

Teri flew through the tunnels following the directions written on a sheet of paper. She was smiling and bobbing happily in the air, having had a good day, all of her homework was done, she'd been able to play with India and Dr. Heavy for her detention, and now she was going to meet a devisor to get a bag of holding.

She came to a door, looking at the note she saw that it was the right one, and knocked loudly. A pear shaped boy, with thick glasses, that reeked of science nerd, even without looking at his lab coat opened the door. “You're Tink?” he asked looking at her in fascination.

“Yep. You're Mobious I guess. I really need your help,” Teri said.

“How can you think with such a small head?” he asked.

She crossed her arms and gave him her best glare. “Why does every scientist say that? I'm really smart!”

“Sorry, come on in. You want to buy some of my bags right?”

“Yeah. And I have an idea for a weapon I'd like built,” she told him flying into the rather large lab.

“I don't do weapons, but if you tell me about it I can point you to someone who does. How big do you want the bags?”

Tink pulled a piece of paper out of her change purse. She'd drawn it large enough for big people to see it. “I have all of it written down here. It's really small for most people so I think I should be really easy to do.”

He took a few moments to look it over. “My pinky wouldn't fit through the opening of this pocket.”

“My head is as big as your pinky,” she pointed out.

He cocked his head, looking at her again. “Well, you've got me there. The satchel is easy enough to do, the belt is impossible, it's way too small. But a belt with some larger pouches on it could work. And you want the tubes for your... fairy claws coming out of them, it would definitely be easier to make them into pouches that clip onto your belt, that way you can switch the load quickly.”

“So how much?”

“Five thousand for everything. Usually I'd charge three times that, but these are small enough I don't need to spend much on material or time.”

“FIVE THOUSAND! That's ridiculous! Two thousand,” she countered.

“Do you know how many people want my bags? 4800.”

“Hah! I'm not some stupid kid who doesn't know how much something is worth, three thousand.”

They finally agreed on four thousand dollars, half up front.

“So, about the weapon, who can make me my claws and everything?” Teri asked, after they finished transferring the money on the computer.

“For something this small, you'll want to talk to Generator. She's -”

“Oh I know her, we're in Japanese class together!” Teri exclaimed. “She can do this?”

Mobius nodded. “Yeah, her devises are useless to everyone else, but for detail work you won't find anyone better.”

Teri flew up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for everything, Mobious. I'll be back to to pick up the satchel in a week. Bye bye!”

Mobious didn't respond as Teri flew out the door, he was holding his cheek with a look of shock that a pretty girl would kiss him willingly. Even if she was only six inches tall.

**

That night, Teri went up to the tv room where a bunch of the Whitman girls were watching Shrek 3. Some girls had made up a huge barrel full of popcorn,and there were sugary drinks, candy and chocolate being shared freely. She watched the chocolate being eaten with big puppy dog eyes, but since everyone knew what had happened Friday, no one was willing to give her any. Instead she got a big bowl of popcorn dripping with butter and shared it with her her roommate Selena, and her friend Page.

Halfway through the movie, she needed something with a bit of sugar, even if it wasn't a lot. Flying to her room, she grabbed the open bag of trail mix which had raisins, dates, and small pieces of dried fruit in it, which was just enough to satisfy her sugar cravings.

Wanting to get back to the movie, she just reached in and grabbed a raisin to tide herself for the flight back upstairs. She never noticed the grains of sugar coating it. It touched her tongue and her hyper metabolism went to work.

**

Palintir, waited outside Whitman, floating on her ball of energy, while her friends waited down below. The net was in place and in the darkness it was virtually invisible. They each held a couple of ropes that were tied to the net, so that as soon as the fairy girl flew into it, they could pull it down. All they needed to do was wait for Teri to eat some trail mix and she'd catch the girl's attention.

The tiny door opened, and she saw Teri fly inside. The window was open, so she could hear a drawer open and plastic rustling. There was a high pitched whine, which might have been a squeal of joy.

The little witch made a ball appear just outside the window and made it dance. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Drifting closer to the window she risked looking inside, there was nothing there. Had Teri left the room? Maybe she hadn't grabbed the right bag. She risked a closer look and screamed.

A tiny face appeared out of nowhere, as if it had teleported. It was grinning so widely it looked painful, it had pure black eyes, purple hair was standing on end, and it was vibrating.

It opened it's mouth and another high pitched squeak filled the air. The next thing Palintir knew, she was yanked off her ball and flying through the air hanging onto the rope for dear life, with Clover and Abra screaming in terror along for the ride.

**

Teri felt wonderful.

She finished off the bag of trail mix which was the best food in the whole entire world. NO! The whole entire GALAXY! And now she was floating on a cloud, moving peacefully and slowly. Something bobbed outside the window, it looked like it was in slow motion.

She watched it for what seemed like hours, and then she casually flew over to the window to get a better look. Everything was such pretty, pretty colours. The moon was dancing in front of her. It was pretty to. She wondered why the sun hadn't risen yet, it had had more than enough time to rise. Maybe it was being lazy and wanted to sleep in.

Yeah that made sense.

“Hi moon. Can I play with you?” she asked.

The moon seemed to nod.

“Oh thank you!” she said, flying through the screen not even realizing it was there.

The moon suddenly vanished. “Oh you want to play hide and seek do you?” she asked. “Ok, I'll find you.”

Teri flew off to find the moon. She could hear it laughing, but she couldn't actually see it, there were just some big birds following her.

**

Clover managed to climb up high enough to get her hands around the net itself. Her knuckles were white and it felt like her hair was being ripped out, and she couldn't feel her hands, arms or shoulders anymore, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't fall to her death right away. Ducking her head, she could just barely see Pally and Abra hanging onto the net, through her half closed eyes.

“CAN WE JUMP?” she shouted, hoping to be heard.

“NO! TOO FAST!” one of her friends screamed. She couldn't actually tell who it was.

Maybe if they waited a few more minutes, the fairy would tire out. They could hang on for a little longer, they weren't really doing anything other than going fast. She could hold on, she told herself.

Clover began feeling some hope that they just might survive as they started to slow down. When they stopped, she started to giggle, then laugh in relief. They were at least a hundred feet up in the air, but they'd stopped. Pally was a few feet above her, and Abra was at her feet, they were laughing to.

“We're alive,” Clover said.

She never heard her friends reply as they went from zero to sixty in about five seconds and kept going faster. Then the loop de loops and barrel rolls, started.

**

Teri couldn't find the moon anymore. “Moon! Oh Moon! Where are you?” she called out, zipping around Crystal Hall a few times for fun.

She finally came to a stop in the air. The birds were still following her. She'd never seen birds so persistent before. They were talking to each other a little bit below her.

Maybe, she thought, they were trying to catch the moon. That was why the moon didn't want to play anymore, it was scared of the birds. It made perfect sense. So if she got rid of the birds, the moon would come out to play.

“YES! DON'T WORRY MOON! I'LL SAVE YOU FROM THESE NASTY BIRDS!”

She started flying again, slowly building up speed.

**

“I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!” Abra screamed.

She could see some people flying through the air after them, but anytime anyone came close, Teri did some crazy midair maneuver that sent them flying high into the sky or almost into the ground and the rescuers were left heading in the wrong direction.

And the entire time it sounded like a squirrel was laughing on fast forward.

Someone came flying straight at them. Abra somehow found the strength to bend her arms and clutch the net even harder. As expected Teri did a ninety degree turn and somehow went even faster. Not that it matter to Abra or her friends.

Abra screamed as the net suddenly went slack, she saw Teri flying away, the tiny figure bathed in the light from Crystal Hall, as she, Clover and Pally were left far behind and falling towards the ground. No one was close enough to save them.

Suddenly a big blue ball appeared in the middle of the net. Their fatal fall slowed and a few seconds later they hit the ground painfully but not fatally.

Letting go of the net proved almost impossible, but somehow the three little witches, managed to untangle themselves and stagger away before anyone caught them.

**

The birds had finally gone away, but there were more birds following her now, and the moon was still too scared to come out. Yawning, Teri decided that this game wasn't any fun anymore and it was time to go to bed.

Flying back to her room, she saw two windows, and went through the one that seemed the most stable. There was a loud crash and a scream, but she didn't care. Landing on her bed, it was a lot pointier and less comfortable then she remembered. She was too tired to care, without a care in the world Teri fell asleep.

**

Hive walked into Whitman, with a full security detail behind her. Mrs. Savage met her at the stairs.

“Admiral, I don't believe you need this many men with you. Whatever Teri was doing, she is asleep now. The only damage I've heard about is a hole in the wall, so this can wait until morning,” the house mother said.

“I'm sorry Mrs. Savage, but there are a dozen reports that she was dragging three students behind her. We need to investigate this and see if anyone was hurt as quickly as possible,” Hive said.

They marched up the stairs and went to Teri's room, where a group of girls, including the other occupant of the dorm were looking inside with worried expressions. They got more worried when they saw the armed security team.

Hive walked in first, there was a large hole in the wall about five feet away from the window, and a baseball size hole in the comforter, sheet and mattress. Loud snoring could be heard from the hole. Kneeling beside the bed, she loudly said, “Teri, time to wake up.”

There was some mumbling, followed by louder snoring.

Sighing, she stood up, and projected her voice in the best military fashion. “TERI MOUSER! You're late for class!”

The mattress jumped up and exploded in midair. Plaster fell from the ceiling where a basketball size hole seemed to just appear. A second hole opened up in the ceiling, followed by screaming, and yet another hole was torn in the wall.

Everyone blinked in amazement.

Twenty seconds later, Teri was standing in the window covered in plaster, leaves and dirt. “It's too early for school, Mom. Just let me sleep for another hour.” She fell to the floor, snoring before she hit the ground.

“Let's get her to Doyle. We need to see what her blood sugar level is.” She did a quick scan of her files and found the name of Teri's roommate. “Serena, what did she eat today?”

One of the girls stepped forward. “She had some popcorn, and she said she was going to get some trail mix. But she's had it before, it only has some dried fruit which doesn't affect her.”

Hive looked at the floor and saw a small bag with a few seeds at the bottom. She picked it up carefully and sealed it so they could see if there was sugar in it. Taking Teri in her other hand, she carried the sleeping girl out of the room.

**

The three little witches sat in Abra's room, since they'd asked Mrs. Savage very nicely if they could have a sleepover. They were busy trying to work some feeling back into their arms.

“Let's never do that again,” Clover said.

“Right. For the next plan, NO sugar!” Abra said.

“Don't worry I have a great plan. And just think how much essence she must have to be able to do all of that!” Pally said.

They all leaned in to discuss the plan for tomorrow night.

Monday

“I'm telling you, I didn't plan on eating sugar!” Teri said to Chief Delarose. “I've been framed! I had to search for an hour finding snacks that would help keep me filled up and had had the right amount of sugar the doc's recommended.”

“So what were you doing flying around the school with three students hanging from a net behind you, breaking holes in walls and causing mayhem, beyond what you usually do?” he asked.

Her face turned beet red. “I was playing hide and seek with the moon, and trying to get rid of some birds that were flying after me and scaring away the moon.” She scowled at them. “Hey I was drugged, it doesn't have to make sense!”

“Do you know why someone would want to drug you?”

“They're afraid of my great beauty. They want to see me acting silly. The ancient enemy of my people wants to see me killed so his three sons can destroy the world. How the hell should I know!”

He sighed, “Do you know who the three girls flying with you were?”

“No clue. They looked like big talking birds to me. Can I get ready for class now? I need to talk with Generator about somethings and I don't want to miss anymore classes if it's not an emergency,” she asked.

“Fine. We've got your statement, if we find anything we'll let you know. For right now, we're marking it down as a prank that got out of hand. If you notice any other problems please tell security as soon as possible.” With that he left the hospital room so she had some privacy.

Stripping out of the makeshift hospital gown which was actually just a dishcloth with a hole for her head and a slit on the back, Teri quickly got dressed in a business suit that Serena had very nicely brought for her the night before. A quick check out with the nurse on staff, and she was flying off to Whitman to get her school supplies.

**

Chief Delarose got to his office, and was met by Hive.

“Good morning Chief, I've got an analysis of the sugar Teri was given last night, and I've already spoken to the devisor who made it,” she said, without much preamble.

“Devisor sugar?”

“Yes. Hazmat reported to his teacher that a batch of sugar he'd made with an idea of marketing it as an energy enhancer to sports drink companies was stolen from his workstation early Sunday morning. So he's not a suspect.”

Delarose shook his head and thanked whoever was listening that Teri had only decided to go flying rather than following whatever caught her attention. “Any suspects?”

“His first thought was Belphagor, but he's not doing any projects that require sugar, and he has no reason to go after Teri. So we really don't know.”

“What does this sugar do? Will we have more students on sugar highs?”

“It's about twice as potent as regular sugar, and when perfected it won't let the person crash quite as hard. From how Teri went to sleep and wouldn't wake up after her flight, I'm guessing this batch was a work in progress,” she told him.

“Lovely. Go check her room and see if anything else has been dosed with it.”

**

Teri made it to Japanese class with ten minutes to spare, thanks to grabbing a couple of granola bars from Crystal Hall. Generator came in a few minutes later and sat down beside her, bringing out the three fairies.

“Hi Teri. I saw you flying last night, that was pretty cool. I didn't know you could go that fast,” the Japanese girl said.

“I didn't either. The doctors told me I got to about a hundred miles an hour.” She flexed her wings. “I'm definitely feeling it this morning. Can you help me with something? I was told you're the go to girl for making fine detailed things.”

“Sure, what do you need?”

She pulled out her plans for the fairy claws. “I need a hold out for martial arts, and thought this would be a cool idea. See I want to make a larger set of metal claws to go over my hands, and there will be a sprayer that can put out puffs of things like itching powder, stink gas, pepper spray, and things like that. I've already got Mobius working on the pouches to hold everything.”

Generator looked at the plans, while her fairies read over her shoulder. The four of them started talking about what they'd need, how to improve it, and how long it would take. “This is going to be hard. The basic stuff is easy, but getting a pump that small will be a problem. What if we made it into something like a bracer. The pump can be strapped along your forearm, I'll armour it so you have like a little shield, and instead of having it come out the claws, it will be at your wrist.”

“Oooo, armour is good.”

“I could also make you a magic fairy wand. Have the tube attached to the end, acting as a rope so you can't drop it, and the wand is just the pump, made to look pretty.”

Brunhilda the fairy flicked Jade's ear. “You're over thinking things. We can get one of the belt pouches made about twice as big, and put the pump in there. It keeps the actual weapon nice and slim, and we can put more armour around it so it won't be crushed the first time she's hit.”

“Oh, right, that makes things so much easier.”

“So you can do it?” Teri asked.

“Oh yeah, as long as you can get Mobius to make one of the pouches about twice as deep, we're in business. Because everything is so small, all you'll really have to pay for is the pump and time,” Generator began scratching out the details on the paper.

“Hurray!” Teri shouted. “And can I get the fairy wand to?”

“Yep.”

Teri jumped up and began doing a little dance in the air.

“If everyone can please sit down, pull out their homework and stop dancing on the ceiling, class is starting now,” Professor Shizuki said, looking right at Teri, who was dancing upside down on the ceiling with Generator's fairies.

“Sorry, sir!” she squeaked, flying back to her desk.

**

“Are you sure trying to get essence from Teri is safe?” Abra asked her friends at supper.

“Why wouldn't it be? She's dumber than Tansy,” Palantir said. “Do you know what happened today in Powers Lab?”

“No what?”

**

“Students, today we're doing a water walk for all the fliers,” Mrs. Bohn said, pointing at what looked like an escalator with water running down the steps. “You will walk up the escalator which is missing steps, and try to use your flight powers to make it look like you're walking instead of flying. While they're doing that the rest of you join your groups and begin discussing the theories you were suppose to have read over the weekend and find practical applications for them.”

Twelve students went to the front of the class. Tink flew over to her group that she'd been assigned to on Friday.

“Teri, come here. You have to do this to,” the teacher said.

She flew over to Mrs. Bohn. “But I can't do this, I have to flap my wings when I fly. So I can't look like I'm walking.”

“Your powers testing says you have a PK field around your wings which helps you fly. You shouldn't actually need to use your wings except to help with with your movement as you fly. This test is to get you practicing and that is exactly what you need.”

“WHAT! I always need to flap my wings. That test was wrong,” Teri said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mrs. Bohn gave a small smile. “Than why aren't you flapping your wings now?”

“WHAT!” Teri turned to see her wings were perfectly still and spread out behind her. “AAAHHHH!” she screamed falling to the ground.

“Ow.”

**

Teri took off her shoes and hiked up her skirt before stepping onto the water. The cold water reached her knees, and she had to brace herself to avoid being swept away. Walking as quickly as she could to the edge of the step, she hopped down to the next one, willing her PK field to hold her up, while keeping her wings perfectly still.

She hit the water and kept going.

As she struggled to swim in a skirt suit, a big hand reached in and pulled her out. Spitting water, and wiping her eyes, she looked up at the teacher. “Can I be excused from this experiment? It's hazardous to my health.”

**

“After five tries she still couldn't do it. Mrs. Bohn let her out twenty minutes early to change her clothes,” Palantir finished, trying not to laugh too hard.

Abra took a minute to get her giggling under control. “She's not very smart, but I saw her in Martial Arts right after, and she was scary there.”

“What did she do?” Clover asked.

“Well we were sparring with powers today...”

**

“Teri and Alexander come to the circle,” Ito Sensei said.

“Hurray! My turn!” Teri shouted, flying to the ring her wet hair sticking to the back of her gi. She had seen Alexander throwing balls of water around on the first day, but a little water didn't scare her.

“No powers, first person to go out of the circle, becomes pinned, or submits loses,” the sensei told them.

“Uh, Sensei, do my claws and strength count as powers? I can't turn them off,” Teri asked.

“Do not use your claws offensively, and try not to use your full strength,” he said.

“OK!”

“Sensei, what am I suppose to do to her? I could stomp her by accident and she'd break,” Alexander said.

“She's sturdier than she looks. Try not to step on her too hard,” Sensei told him.

Going to the circle, Teri got into position and bowed. There was a lot of laughter from the audience. Ito yelled “Hajime,” and she was running at the boy.

Alexander didn't seem to know what to do. He got into a defensive stance, but realized she wasn't going to be punching him, then he started swinging back his leg to kick her. Fortunately for Teri, he'd waited too long, with a huge leap she covered the remaining distance between them, landing on his foot and began climbing up his pant leg. The boy screamed, jumping up and down trying to get her out, she grabbed onto his leg hair and kept climbing.

A hand slapped her through the material, but her wings helped pad her so she was only knocked around, and not hurt. She reached the top of his leg and saw a protective cup close beside her.

“Do you surrender?” she shouted.

She was slapped a few more times for her offer of mercy.

Grabbing hold of his gi with her claws, facing his cup, she pushed back as hard as she could and slammed both feet into the hard plastic. When Alexander didn't fall over, she did it a few more times. After the fourth time, there was a little squeak and she felt the boy bend over and start to topple. Forcing her way out through the top of his pants, she jumped away before he fell face first onto the mat.

“I win!” she shouted, as Caroline ran onto the mat, not waiting for the Sensei to stop the match, and waved her hands over the groaning boy.

Slowly Alexander got to his feet, looking at his crotch in amazement.

“Back into position, powers are allowed,” Ito said, his voice sounding a little tight.

Instantly Alexander surrounded himself in water. Teri bowed to him and as soon as the fight started she took to the air.

Jets of water flew at her, forcing her to dodge and weave, as the students behind her screamed at getting soaked. Her opponent was just standing there, sending out ever more and larger balls of water, but she was just a bit too fast for him. Then a huge ball of water hit her from behind, enveloping her. As she struggled to get out, she noticed that all the water that had been hitting the other students had vanished, leaving them just a little damp.

When she tried to swim out, the water bulged in front of her, always keeping her in the center of the bubble, no matter how hard she struggled. Teri slapped the water with one hand like she was tapping out before she drowned.

The water dropped away from her, letting her gasp for breath.

Going back to her spot, Teri glared at the boy. The moment the final fight started she flew straight up, bouncing off the ceiling and hit Alexander's chest as hard as she could. The watery armour surrounded her, but she was going too fast and the PK field pushed it back just enough. Alexander went flying backwards out of the ring with Teri pushing him until they both hit the wall on the other side of the room.

The water oozed away to pool on the ground, as Alexander tried to stay on his feet.

Teri, soaking wet, again, grabbed his hand and shook it. “Good fight. Let's do it again sometime.” Bobbing in the air, she flew back to her seat beside Grace and Insight.

**

“That's not a problem,” Palantir said. “We're not going to fight her or anything.”

“But it looked really painful how Alexander turned white. He couldn't even scream,” Abra said.

“Pally's right, we have a good plan, all we have to do is put it into action,” Clover said, getting a woof of approval from Buttons. “We'll set it up during supper and she'll never know what hit her.”

Abra looked at her friends uncertainly, finally she slowly nodded. “Ok. But if she looks really angry, I'm running for it. And someone else has to do the spell, I'm all out of essence after yesterday.”

**

Teri flying to her detention at Hawthorne, enjoying the peace and quiet after all the excitement of the last few days. Despite the repeated dunkings, which had her hair all frizzy, it had been a pretty good day, and she was suppose to have an easy detention helping Em with her English again, and another kid with some algebra. If only more days could be like that, she liked showing everyone that her small brain was packed with knowledge. Especially after those so called scientists kept asking how she spoke, or thought, or did all kinds of stuff.

She stopped in a small clearing, there was an x on the ground and right beside it was a big shiny red button. Landing beside it, she looked around but couldn't see anything that looked out of the ordinary. The shiny button lit up, becoming all sparkly.

Glancing around, she reached out to touch the button, only to stop a fraction of an inch away. She chewed on her lips looking at the pretty button. She turned to go, but her neck twisted around to look at the button again.

Standing up straighter, crossing her arms across her chest, she walked away from the but-

Spinning around, Teri launched herself at the tantalizing button, jabbing it with one finger.

She looked around, grinning to see what was going to happen. There was some rattling, but not much else. “Is that it?” she moaned.

Suddenly a squirrel jumped out of a tree, bending the branch it was on. A bowling ball rolled down the branch, and fell off the tip, snapping a branch below it. The broken branch was tied to a rope, and it swung through the air, popping a balloon. The bag of sand hanging from the balloon fell behind some bushes, and there was a squeal of unoiled wheels rolling along. A little red wagon came out from the bushes, and fell into a covered hole. There was a loud thump, and what sounded like a spring, and a baseball flew high into the air, coming down on another tree. Something was hit and it sounded like a crank was being wound up, there was a chopping sound and a tree shook. Then the top of a tree fell down towards Teri, only to be stopped when it hit another tree. An iron cage came loose and fell through the leaves, right on top of Teri, who had been standing there watching everything with a look of wide eyed wonder.

“That was CCCOOOOLLLLL!” she said. “Oh have to get going, I can't be late again.” Teri grabbed one of the iron bars and without any real effort, lifted the iron cage off of herself and went flying onto Hawthorne.

**

“Clover,” Pally said, “didn't you say that all fairy creatures are allergic to iron?”

“That's what it says in the stories! And I know Fey can't touch iron,” Clover said.

“Then why did she just lift the heavy iron cage off like it was nothing?”

“I don't know!”

Abra got up from their hiding spot. “Come on, lets get our stuff and plan for tomorrow night.”

Tuesday

Tink carefully thought about what to tell Mrs. Ryan about doing the fashion show. When she'd gone to class on Monday the old woman had told her that they simply didn't have time anymore. But after being refused by Venus Inc., hah, more like Venus Envy, she thought, because she was too strange to work with, she had to really do something special to get people interested in her much better fashion club. She'd show them, she'd SHOW THEM ALL!!!!

She rolled up her poster design for her own fashion club which had come back from the designer, and it looked great. It showed pictures of her and Mouser posing in different costumes, with really cool backgrounds, and her carefully worded pitch done up in really fancy writing. She couldn't wait to post it everywhere, she was already working out the details of having Mouser act as an agent.

Heading downstairs she checked her mailbox and saw that the package she'd been waiting for from Glow Worm was there. Ripping it open, she squealed and hugged her brand new I-phone. Now she could take regular size notes in class with the note taking program.

Best day ever!

Bobbing up and down, she headed off to breakfast.

**

“Ok, iron doesn't work on her. Are we sure she's really a fairy?” Abra asked.

“I'm sure of it, maybe she has some kind of protection,” Clover said.

“Don't worry,” Palantir said, grinning and tapping her fingers together, “I have a cunning plan.”

“Is it a cunning and subtle plan?” Clover asked.

“Yes.”

“Is it as cunning as a cunning fox, who's been appointed by the government to work in the cunning plans department facing other cunning planners in a battle of cunning that will decide the fate of the world?” Abra asked.

The two witches looked worriedly at their friend.

“Well,” Abra said, blushing, “you know that would have to be really, well, um, cunning. Right?”

**

Serena sat down beside Teri in Crystal Hall at suppertime. Strangely rather than being the bubbly source of madness and chatter that she usually was, the fairy girl was hunched down, hidden by her fuzzy blue wings.

“What's wrong?” Serena asked, a little worried since her friend had been so upbeat and cheerful at breakfast.

“Mrs. Ryan didn't listen to me at all” Teri wailed.

“About what?”

“My fashion show for Costume Shop. I had everything planned out, I was well spoken, I showed her some of my pictures and the poster I'd done up and she said no,” she cried.

“It'll be ok. You don't need the class to spread the word about your club, just the posters and word of mouth will be good enough,” Serena said.

“I wanted to show off my clothes all Thursday night, and after it was canceled all weekend, and now I can't.” She covered herself with her wings again.

“Don't worry Teri. It's going to be all right. I'm sure everything will work out.”

The wings opened up a little bit. “You really think so?”

“Definitely.”

Teri jumped on Serena, nuzzling her neck. “Oh thank you for saying that! That makes me feel so much better!”

“Air!” Serena gasped, trying to pry Teri off of her neck. “I can breathe water, but I still need to breathe!”

“Teri, could we have a word with you?” two big GSD kids asked.

Teri jumped off of Serena who gasped for breath, “What's up?”

“Do you have some time, Thuban would like to talk to you?” a kid who looked like Chewbacca's uglier cousin asked.

Smiling the fairy girl asked the most important question of all. “Is he cute?”

“Uh...”

**

Teri looked around the big cave under Twain, at the center of it was a human looking dragon, or maybe a dragon looking human, sitting on a chair made out of coins. He was dressed in a very nice suit, that went well with his gold scales. Shroud stood beside him, she didn't know the girl very well, but she'd seen her and Generator together, apparently they were dead sisters. That sounded really cool to Teri, if Shroud was annoying like some siblings could be, Generator could just not do her thing and get some peace and quiet for a while.

“Hi,” she said.

“Teri, I've heard a lot about you from Generator,” he hissed. “It's too bad you haven't come to any Faction 3 parties, I think you'd fit in well there.”

“Faction 3? Who's Faction 1 and 2?”

“Everyone who doesn't suffer from GSD.”

“Wow, that must make Faction 3 like the smallest group around, since the Lincoln Freedom Squad said there are only a couple thousand mutants in the world, and only a couple of us have GSD.”

Thuban leapt at the opened, “Exactly that's why we have to stick together. And I believe you can be a valuable partner and role model to the students, especially the girls who believe they have to hide themselves and can't compete with the Pretties.”

“Really?” Teri asked, sitting cross legged in the air.

“I understand you want to start a fashion club for GSD students -”

“How did you know that?! I only wrote down a poster for that and kept it in my room! Do you have cameras in the rooms of all the cute girls?” She covered her chest and glared at the dragon. “If I find my image on the internet without my permission I know who to sue! I have lawyers! A lawyer! Ok, an agent, but I'll use her!”

Shroud floated over. “Teri, calm down. No one recorded you. You told Generator, half the freshmen at Whitman, and a couple of the sophomores, and your entire costume shop class today heard about it when you begged Mrs. Ryan to let you do a fashon show.”

“Oh right. Sorry, I forgot. Please continue,” she said, straightening her clothes and hair again.

“Well, where was I,” Thuban said to himself. “I like your idea of a fashion club for GSD students. I've looked some of your work, and I think it's a new market that will help raise the confidence of girls who can't fit into the pretty crowd. If you will work with me, I'll see about getting you access to camera's, editors, photographers, some volunteer models, and if things go well school support. Are you interested?”

“What do you get out of it?” Teri asked.

“I get to see my fellow students blossom, seeing themselves as worthwhile people. It let the baseline world see that we're not freaks and monsters, and opens up a new career path for mutants in entertainment that isn't the porn industry.”

“You won't want a cut of the profits, or want to take over, or anything like that?”

“I don't need the money, if I loan you money for printing, clothes or equipment, I expect to be paid back, but we'll sign a contract each time and it will only be for the exact amount loaned, not a penny more. And as long as you do as good a job for the girls and boys who will be joining as you've done for yourself I won't interfere or withdraw my support. If when you leave Whateley, you plan on making it into an actual modeling agency, I would like to be one of the first backers you consider, but it's not a requirement,” he said, casting a glance at Shroud.

“Let me think about it, and I'll let you know by the end of the week,” she said.

“Certainly. You can come to our Friday night bash, and see what Faction 3 is like, our doors are always open for people like you.”

“Ok, it's a date!” Teri said. “Gotta go, I need to get to detention. Bye bye Shroud, tell Generator I'll be talking to Mobius tomorrow about the pouches please.” And with that she was off.

**

“Is she always like that?” Thuban asked.

“Yes,” Shroud said. “She's smart, but crazy and she has the attention span of a stunned gerbil unless it really amuses her.”

He shook his head. “You really think she can handle a modeling club?”

“I have no idea. But we think she'll be able to get it started, and after that we can help keep her focused, or gently move her off to the side if necessary.”

Thuban pulled her onto his lap. “You really just want to be a model, that's why you're making me put up with the crazy girl, isn't it?”

“Maybe,” she said, scratching under his chin.

“Excuse me, Mr. Thuban,” Teri said from the back of the chair.

“Gah!” he cried, almost throwing Shroud to the ground.

“I got a little lost. How do I get out of here?” Teri asked.

**

“She's with Thuban,” Clover said. “Who's Thuban?”

Being in Whitman, Abra was able to fill in the details thanks to listening to her cottage mates. “He's some bigshot, like Ayla, who wants to get all the GSD kids together. Teri will probably go to Hawthorne through the tunnels, if we hurry we can get everything set up.”

“I don't like the tunnels, they're scary,” Clover said, hugging Buttons.

“They're not bad, and they're great in winter. It's the best part about being in Whitman.”

Palantir grabbed Clovers' hand. “If we want to get our plan ready tonight, we have to get going now. Abra, lead the way!”

**

Teri was almost at Hawthorne when a very strange sight stopped her. A large tar black doll stood in the tunnel. She stopped and flew down to get a closer look.

“Ok, I know this is the part where I'm suppose to say 'Hi, how are you doing?' Then you don't answer me, and I get upset and pick a fight with you, only to get all tangled up in tar so a fox and bear can come along and eat me. I saw the Disney cartoon,” she said, disgusted at such an easy trick. “It's not happening.”

As she flew up and over the tar baby, something that felt a lot like a dogs nose, hit her back and shoved her head first into the sticky mess.

Struggling to get her face clear of the tar, Teri heard chanting, and felt something that wasn't physical grabbing her. For a day that had started off so well, it had really gone downhill.

“YOU'LL NEVER GET MY LUCKY CHARMS!” she shouted, flying as fast and as hard as she could.

**

The three little witches watched the tar baby take to the air, their spell only half done. “Get her!” Palantir shouted.

The escaping, cursing, fairy powered tar baby, wasn't going as fast as usual, so they could at least keep up to her. Clover put Buttons down and waited a second for her familiar to become big enough to ride, while Palantir summoned one of her balls, and they quickly caught up to the Teri.

“HOLD STILL!” Clover shouted, jumping off of Buttons and tackling the sticky mass.

They went down in a heap, the tar covering Clover and effectively gluing them to the floor. Palantir came up and tried to help Clover out, only to be pulled into the mess. Abra who had been struggling to keep up, grabbed an ankle and tried to pull whoever it was out.

Reaching in for a better hold, Abra felt a tiny hand grab her shirt sleeve, and pull herself out.

“Hi,” Abra said nervously, remembering how strong and violent Teri could be from martial arts.

The dirty, sticky fairy smiled and kissed her cheek. “Hi, thanks for helping me. You'd better keep those two in there, they're crazy. Come on we can get to Hawthorne and call security.”

“Uh, you go on ahead, I'll make sure these two vicious students don't escape.”

“Oh you're so brave,” Teri said, giving her another kiss. “Never fear, I won't be long.”

“Please hurry!” Abra said, watching the prey fly away. “Hurry up guys! Security is coming!” she hissed at her friends as soon as Teri was out of sight.

**

“Mrs. Cantrell, I know I'm late, I know I'm filthy, but you would not believe the week I've been having,” Teri said. “And you really need to call security, because there are two vicious students covered in tar in the tunnels.”

**

“Come on, come on, come on!” Abra said, spraying a foam onto her friends and the floor that was guaranteed by the gadgeteer she'd borrowed it from, to clean up anything and be perfectly safe for people.

“You let her get away!” scolded Palantir getting to her feet.

“I didn't want to be hanging from a light by my underwear, thank you very much!” Abra said. “Now let's go, security will be here any second.”

“But we almost had her,” Clover whined.

“Security! Coming! Now! Run away! Run away!” Putting words into action, she hot footed it back to Whitman.

**

Officer Daniels and Green came to the spot where a student had supposedly left two attackers covered in tar watched over by a helpful bystander. But the only thing they found was a clean floor. Sighing at the waste of time, he got on the radio.

“Daniels here, tell Mrs. Cantrell, we didn't find anything. We'll go to Hawthorne to make sure, but I'd say the student had an accident and isn't willing to admit it.”

“Copy that. I'll pass on the word. And it looks like someone is going to be cleaning Fubar's tank tonight.”

**

In the safety of Clover's dorm, after spending an hour cleaning the tar off of themselves, the three little witches went over their battle plan. At least they tried to.

Abra had her arms crossed and had her chin thrust out to show she really meant what she was saying. “Uh uh, I'm not going to try anything against Tink anymore, she's too strong and too smart.”

“But that's exactly why we need to get her essence,” Palantir said. “She's so tough she has to be loaded with it.”

“And after all the work we've done we have to get something out of it.”Clover said.

“Fine, one last time, but this is the very, very, very last try. If it doesn't work we go onto someone else,” Abra stated.

“Deal,” the two girls said.

“Now let us plan for tomorrow night,” Clover said ominously.

**

Serena looked up from her homework when Teri got back. “What happened to you?” she asked the tar covered, soaking wet girl.

“I'm having the strangest week, and I got to clean Fubars tank again. I'm going to go wash myself in bleach,” Teri said numbly. “If you hear sobbing, don't worry it's just me.”

**

Wednesday
Sixth period, Flying Class

“Ok, Mitchell,” Teri said to the jet propelled member of her flying team, “here's the plan. I want you to do one second bursts of your powers every five seconds seconds. That should give you the lift and speed you need to stay in the air without breaking the sound barrier or going into orbit. Can you do that?”

“How will I know when to do a burst?” Mitchell asked nervously as the other students went through their exercises which for some was simply trying to get into the air. The instructor, Mrs. Cavallo was on the other side of the field teaching some of the winged students how to do barrel rolls, while Angel was teaching diving.

“I have that all figured out,” Teri assured him, pulling out something that looked like a metal watch. “I had my friend, Generator make this timer, it gives you a small shock when you have to do it. Just put this on and when you're read to go press the red button on the side.”

Very nervously, he put the watch on and assumed the position that made it look like he was going to the bathroom. She gave him an encouraging smile while standing well back, “You can do it. I believe in you!”

Mitchell activated the watch, and a gout of flame erupted from his pants. He soared into the air, not quite out of control, and not reaching super sonic speeds this time. At five seconds he was just starting to descend when his entire body spasmed. With a scream his rocket powers kicked in and he was heading towards Boston.

Teri watched the boy become a tiny speck and then vanish within seconds, while the teacher got on the phone calling for help. Her group landed beside her, Cleo breathed a big sigh of relief and kissed the ground when she landed, while Sue stayed five feet above the ground flapping her arms like they were wings. Mr. Awesome tried to do a somersault as he landed and ended up flat on his back for his trouble.

“Wow!” Sue said. “When do you think he'll come down?”

“I think he'll be in Boston in about 10 minutes. If they call ahead maybe they can get a really big net or something,” Tink said.

“If he dies, do we lose marks?” Mr. Awesome asked.

“That's not nice!” Cleo said, still hugging the ground.

“Well it's not our fault if he can't control his powers. We're going to fail if he's on our group.”

“He's a nice guy,” Cleo insisted. “He just needs to learn to control his powers better.”

Sue finally managed to get her flying working properly and was sitting cross legged in the air, “Well group leader, what are we going to do about Mitchell?”

Teri sat down on Sue's head to think, stroking her wings. “He needs... he needs... he needs wings!”

**

The tunnels near the workshop were bustling with gadgeteers, devisors, students who liked mechanics, and potential customers. Now that the freshmen had had a chance to get organized and learn the basics, they were arguing and bargaining with each other for what free space was available beyond their assigned work table, and trying to get a bit of extra equipment from the older students. Teri flew above it all, not really interested in it all since she'd been able to get her business done with Mobius fairly quickly.

She stopped in midair when she saw Ayla strolling along like she owned the place. Ayla was the TA of the business accounting class, and while not someone she was looking for, she decided to make the most of the opportunity. “Hi Ayla, can I talk with you for a moment?”

There was a slight pause as the girl looked up, “Yes Teri, how can I help you?”

“In the business accounting class yesterday, I'm having a bit of trouble with the math. Can I come in a bit early on Friday and go over it with you?” she asked.

“Certainly, come fifteen minutes early, if it's a minor problem that should be enough time,” Ayla said. “If that's everything, I need to speak to some people.”

“Yep, that's it. Thank you!”

Having a bit of free time before her detention, she flew around the tunnels, watching the hustle and bustle with interest. She saw a group of girls who looked just like drow, with elfen ears and ink black skin. The girl in the lead looked angry and was ranting about something that didn't make any sense to Teri, something about clones, spontaneous combustion and several things that sounded very unpleasant. She'd have to find them later when they weren't so busy or angry to see if they wanted to join her club, there were at least five websites that would like their pictures.

A pretty Native girl in a leather dress was looking over a car, discussing modifications with another very pretty girl, for some reason quite a few people around the shop were eyeing them, and there were a few quiet snickers. Teri considered going over and asking the girl where she got the dress, because it looked a lot nicer than her mouse skin dresses, but they looked pretty busy, so she kept going.

Still wandering, Teri quickly passed by a black kid with dreadlocks and the worst possible combination of clothes imaginable, that made her eyes water and her stomach churn just looking at the combination of fluorescent pink plaid, with psychedelic zebra stripes, and rainbow coloured glasses that twisted and turned as she looked at them.

And then she smelled something interesting. Alcohol.

She'd had a beer once at a friends party, and her parents drank sometimes, but this stuff smelled better. Following her nose, she saw a boy who was well tanned, an old buttoned up farm shirt, patched jeans, and battered shoes, chewing on a piece of grass, smelling like he'd fallen into a vat of booze, come out of a room with a door more like a bank vault.

Taking a quick look inside before the door closed, she saw a lot of metal tubes, vats, containers and what looked like glass bottles of water.

She'd watched enough tv to have a good idea what the boy was making in there. Still unnoticed she smiled, rubbing her hands together. This could be fun. Quietly she left to continue her exploration.

**

For a change nothing got in her way as she went to detention. It might have helped that she flew out of the tunnel at a random doorway and flew as high as she reasonably could so that nothing ground bound could stop her.

She helped Em with her English, the spider girl was distracted for some reason, but she was catching on. Teri had her do a short essay on 'High School Musical', and it was pretty good, she was at least getting the structure down.

“Hey Em, what's up?” Teri asked when her student looked at the door for the tenth time.

“A friend of mine is doing detention here, and I'm worried about her,” Emilia said, brushing the long bangs out of her eyes.

“Aw, don't worry, detention is easy. If I can do it, anyone can. Now pay attention,” she said, pointing at the paper, “you need to actually name the actors in the show, don't expect us to know who they are.

**

After dealing with some more chores, which wasn't nearly as much fun as getting to act all intelligent with essays and things, Teri got a bit of a break and flew to India's room. The big, seven year old sasquatch squealed with joy when Teri came in.

“Butterfly!” India shouted, reaching for her with a hand big enough to palm and crush a basketball.

“Whoa!” Teri shouted, flying up to the ceiling, which really didn't do that much since the girls head brushed the overhead light. “Where's your real butterfly?” Desperately hoping the extra strong plush butterfly would keep India happy.

The big little girl plopped down on her specially made bed, the very picture of misery. Tears as large as Teri's head appeared at the corner of her eyes. “I was outside with Slab and Mr. Fubar, and talked to a psy-chi-tris, Ms. Markham. Since I was being really good, they said I could have lunch in Crystal Hall and sit beside the fountain. Butterfly was right beside me, and I know I didn't move her, but when we were all done, But- But- Butterfly was gone.”

The tears started flowing, and India threw herself face down on the bed crying loud enough to shake the window. Teri flew down landing on her ear so she could stroke her hair. “Oh, that's terrible. I'll tell you what, I'll look for her, and if I can't find her, I'll ask Ms. Cantrell for permission to take you shopping, and we'll go get you a new one from the store. How does that sound?”

Sniff, “Really?”

“Yeah. And if anyone tries to steal it again, I'll go and beat them up for you. Now can you stop crying, so we can paint some pictures?”

India sat up so quickly, Teri had to grab onto her hair to keep from flying off. “Thank you, Butterfly!”

“Hey, remember I'm not a butterfly!” Teri said.

“Oh my sweet little butterfly is so nice to me! I just want to hug you!” India reached out for Teri, who began flitting around the room to avoid the enormous giant.

“India, no!” Teri shouted, lifting her legs just in time to avoid being grabbed. “We talked about this!”

“Pretty,” the seven year old said, completely focused on the nice fairy in front of her.

“Screw it! Run AWAY!” Teri shouted, circling around the big hairy head and fleeing for the open door. She took a few turns to gain some distance as India tried to follow her, both of them sent Hawthorne residents flying, and she just knew, she was going to get blamed for this. It was how her week had been going so far.

Looking behind her she saw much to her relief that India wasn't following her, although her footsteps could be heard close by. Turning again to look where she was going, all she saw was a girl bending backwards to avoid her.

“Sorry,” she said, stopping for a moment. Teri noticed the girl was bent at the knee's almost at 90 degrees, that and the short black hair. “Oh, bullet time! Nice!” Before she could anything else, the stomping feet of India came up behind her, followed by a squeak of joy. “I'd get out of the way, Trinity!” she shouted, hoping the girl wouldn't be crushed to death.

Flying for all she was worth, she went through an open window in the common room and headed for the roof of the cottage. With the way India could run and jump there was no way she wanted to try to outrun the girl. From the safety of the roof, she watched India run around in circles looking for her, Slab and a few other Hawthorne residents came out trying to herd the girl back into the cottage.

With sasquatch girl distracted, Teri flew down and went to the kitchen window which was out of sight of India. Ms. Cantrell was in there, preparing a meal. Knocking on the window, Teri tried to look innocent.

“What the blazes are you doing out there?” the housemother asked letting her in.

Just as Teri was about to explain, Em ran in. “Mrs. Cantrell, India was chasing Teri again and- oh. Good you got away.”

Mrs. Cantrell rubbed her temples. “Can you go one day without causing a ruckus child?”

“I don't try to cause trouble,” Teri said, sitting on the edge of the sink. “But things keep happening around me. I think I might be a reality warper permanently set on weird.”

Mrs. Cantrell looked at the clock. With some relief she said, “Looks like you're done for the day. Try to keep from blowing up the school or something like that.”

Waving goodbye to Em, Teri flew out the window and once more went as high as she could to avoid trouble.

**

“Her detention will be done in fifteen minutes,” Clover said. “Abra your on.”

Leaving her dorm room, Abra tried to look confident, it wasn't easy but if it worked it would all be worth it. Knocking on Teri and Serena's door, she held the note they'd forged tightly.

“Oh hi, Abracadabra,” Serena said. “What's up?”

She held out the note and fixed her glasses. “Mrs. Savage asked me to give this to you. She said it was important.”

“Thanks,” Serena said, taking the note. A frown appeared. “Why does Carson want to see me? And at this hour?”

“I don't know, I'm just the delivery girl. But you should get over there quick, they don't like waiting.”

With a roll of her eyes, Serena thanked her and headed out, conveniently forgetting to lock the door. As soon as Serena was gone and the coast was clear, Abra ran back to her room, and the three little witches each carrying a big bag ran into the empty room. They had a lot to do and not much time.

**

Reaching Whitman, Teri smiled, nothing weird had happened, and except for having to run away from India, the day had been sane. She was coming to appreciate the sane days more and more, since she'd had so few of them over the last few months.

Opening her little door, she expected to see Serena busy with homework, since this was her designated homework time, but instead of seeing her roommate diligently working, she saw what looked like a dismantled machine strewn around the room. There was a small sign face down in the very center of the mess. For a moment she was tempted to go call Mrs. Savage, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she flew down to the sign.

'This is a trap' it read, and beneath it was a blue print which apparently went with the machine.

Teri scratched her head and sat down trying to figure out what the hell was going on. She was wearing shorts, and as she sat, something stuck to her skin. Looking down, her teeth clenched with barely contained rage, she saw that she was sitting on flypaper. Trying to fly revealed that it was extra strong fly paper, and that her wings were stuck to it as well.

“Someone is going die,” she said.

There was a small 'eep!' from the closet, and three girls wearing masks stepped out, they seemed to be casting a spell. A little dog followed them, it was a wearing a mask as well.

Glaring at the three girls, she undid some buttons, saying, “Yep, slow painful death coming this way,” as she shimmied out of her shoes and shorts, painfully pulling her skin off the flypaper at the same time.

There was a loud tearing sound as she stood up and in only a t-shirt and panties walked across the fly paper. The three girls faltered with their spell and backed away from her. She picked up the small dresser in one hand, and put herself between the door and the girls. “Ok, I'm guessing you're the ones who have made me late for detention twice, cost me one set of clothes, drugged me, and have made my life very interesting. If you want to leave here with all your teeth intact, you will explain what the hell you want!”

“We're sorry! Please don't hit us!” one of the girls said.

“Hey! You're Abra, you live across the hall. And you helped me out yesterday.” Teri thought for a moment. “Oh! Now I get it, you weren't helping me you were trying to capture me, and you're the reason security thinks I'm crazy.” The dresser swung very close to Abra's nose.

“We only wanted to get a bit of essence, so we could spark our own essence and finally get to do some cool spells and stuff. We didn't mean for anything bad to happen. We're REALLY, REALLY sorry, but you must have so much essence, it's not fair. Everyone else can do really neat things, and we've been trying for over a year now and can't do nothing,” Abra gushed, barely pausing for air or punctuation.

“Huh?”

“We just want a bit of essence, not very much at all,” one of Abra's compatriots said.

“Ok, you can have some.”

The three girls looked like they couldn't believe their ears. “Really?”

“Yeah. For one hundred dollars. Each.”

“That's highway robbery!” they cried.

“You have to replace some of my clothes. Essence is apparently very valuable, and after all the crap you've put me through you're getting a bargain. You can give me the money and get the essence, or I'm going to security right now,” Teri threatened.

“That's blackmail!”

“I prefer to call it capitalism. So which is it?” Teri asked.

The three girls huddled together, Teri heard them whining about losing all their birthday and babysitting money, and other things, but they really didn't have much choice. After two minutes, they agreed to pay her.

“Be back here in thirty minutes with the cash, I'm keeping all this stuff in the room in case you try to back out,” Teri told them.

As the girls ran to get the money, Teri turned on her laptop and started doing some homework.

“What happened here?” Serena exclaimed when she came in five minutes later.

“Hi Serena, I figured out why I was having such a weird week,” Teri said. “Don't worry it'll be all picked up soon. Where were you?”

“I was told that I had to see Headmistress Carson, right away. But when I got there, everything was locked up. After wandering around a bit I came back. Figured it wasn't important and I could do it tomorrow.”

Teri got a BIG grin.

“Um Teri,” Serena said, “smiles shouldn't be that big, it's really creepy.”

She ignored her roommate. “Oh this is going to be good.”

**

When the three little witches finally came back, with the money, they found Teri and Serena waiting for them, both were smiling like Cheshire cats.

“We have the money,” Abra said.

“Good,” Teri dragged out the words as if she was savouring the flavour. “But we have a problem.”

“Problem?” Palantir asked, dry washing her hands.

“We now have a note from the headmistress, which wasn't written by her. That's forgery, and that's very bad. Isn't it Serena?”

Serena nodded. “Very bad indeed. Why it's only proper that we hand it over to security and explain who gave it to me.”

“We don't have anymore money. This is all our birthday and babysitting money from the summer,” Clover said.

“Well I guess we could forget about it if we got some services out of it, couldn't we Teri?”

“Oh yes,” the fairy agreed. “I'm thinking washing our clothes, making our beds, tidying this place up. Odd jobs for the rest of the month. That sounds fair, doesn't it?”

“Definitely fair. Much easier than whatever detention Headmistress Carson will give them. Didn't you have to clean Fubars pool twice, the second time because of them.”

“Yeah. Maybe we should tell Headmistress Carson in the morning. Everyone should have to clean Fubar's pool at least once in their life.”

Clover fell to her knees. “We'll clean your room for the rest of the month. Please don't tell Headmistress Carson.”

“Ok. Just remember we want it done well. And some of my clothes need to be hand washed,” Teri told them. “Now, hand over the money and we can do the essence exchange.”

The three little witches surrounded Teri and began chanting. They really concentrated, wanting to pull as much essence as safely possible to make up for all the stuff they had had to put up with. It was going to just be worth it to finally spark their essence.

They felt the essence slowly moving from the fairy into Palantir's ball, and then it shut off.

“What?!” Clover cried. “Where's all the essence?”

“I get this much essence in a day!” Abra cried.

“A hundred bucks for this!” Palantir cried.

Teri watched them argue over the tiny little marble. “Seems like a lot to me.”

“You stopped the spell somehow!” Palantir said. “You cheated us.”

“I did not. I don't even know what essence is.”

“Aren't you a magical fairy like the elves on campus?” Clover asked.

“Nope. Just a beautiful girl who looks like a fairy. Does that matter?” Teri asked.

“Abra, didn't you look at her essence before telling us about her?”

“Well, no,” Abra said, suddenly finding her shoes really interesting. “I just thought that she would have lots of it.”

Serena still smiling leaned back on her bed. “A deals, a deal, girls. Teri did her part, so if you can pick up all of your things, sweep the floor, and get the basket of clothes over there, you have a bit of work to do.”

Teri began counting her money as the three little witches got to work. They'd made the deal they'd stick to it.

As they trooped down to the laundry room, they passed by a girl with paper white skin and what looked like shifting inky black tattoos.

“She's a wizard,” Clover said. “She has to have some essence.”

As they sorted the clothes, they began talking about how they could get some essence from someone who wasn't quite so dangerous.