Flying Blind Ch. 05

"I see your . . . Mr. Hannity. He's not alone. Damn, she looks just like --"

Madison had switched on her echolocation just in time to be the recipient of a full-forced colliding hug.

"Ack!" she said, somewhat indignantly. A young woman had just hurled herself into Madison's personal space with the delicate sensibilities of a bull in a china shop.

"Morgan, I really don't think that's --"

"Screw you Dad," the young woman in question shot back, her voice cracking like thin ice under weight it was never meant to bear. "You do not get to tell me that I have a long lost sister and then tell me I can't do this."

"Ack!" Madison inserted again. It seemed to be becoming her favorite utterance. The girl had a friggin' grip! Then it hit her . . . she was being hugged by her sister. Her flesh-and-blood biological sister. She started to get a little bit teary, then Morgan started to get teary as well.

Heda stood next to Mr. Hannity. "She always like this?"

"Morgan? Well, she's a sweetheart, but this is a little bit unprecedented for her." To his (younger) daughter, "Morgan, please let Madison go. There will be plenty of time for that later."

"God, they look a lot alike," Heda whispered.

Mr. Hannity nodded. "I can't believe I didn't see it instantly. I guess that just the notion that she was real and alive was too much to process."

Heda glanced over at the teenage boy on the other side of Mr. Hannity. He looked somewhat suspicious and very confused, but not hostile.

"Madison, you've met my daughter Morgan," William said as the two girls finally achieved some separation. "This young man is Timothy."

Timothy was sizing the new arrival up, and Madison scanned around to get a feel for him as well.

"Hey," he said at last.

"Hey," Madison replied.

William whispered to Heda out of the corner of his mouth, "With Timothy, that constitutes a speech. He's a bit shy."

Morgan, on the other hand, had no problem with shy. She absolutely needed to know absolutely everything about Madison for as long as the older girl could remember. Timothy, while still obviously uncomfortable, offered to help with the luggage without being asked, though neither Heda nor Madison had really packed that much for just a weekend trip. Then it was off to the limo and the trip to Highland Park, an area of Dallas known to be a bit on the posh side.

"Good grief!" Heda muttered as she stared out the window.

"What?" Madison asked.

Heda rolled down the window so that her girlfriend could scan the outside. The bat-shifter wound up having to stick her head out the window. "These houses are huge! You could fit a small country into one of these!"

William Hannity snorted. "One of the neighbors tried to declare himself his own country."

"Mr. Smithson was kinda weird," Morgan replied with a nod.

Madison felt weird about the whole thing. This whole world was beyond her comprehension. Most of her life had taken place in small rooms that had seen better days.

"You are SO going to love our house," Morgan said with the exuberance of youth. She looked at her father. "So which room is hers?"

"I think that we need to let her make that decision," he replied.

"None of them are mine," Madison said. "I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone."

"You're not," Mr. Hannity said. "You can't take away what is already yours."

"Why is it hers?" Timothy blurted, his face forming a grimace. "She hasn't earned any of it. She hasn't lived here and she isn't part of --"


"Timothy, be quiet!" William shouted.

"You are such a tool!" Morgan added, glaring at her brother.

"Why?" Madison said, about as uncomfortable at that moment as she had ever been in his life. "He's right."

"No, he's not," Mr. Hannity said with a stern correction. "You did not abandon us in a time of need, and you did not choose to be absent." He looked at his son. "Your mother made a reprehensible choice a long time ago, and I will not let you blame Madison for the results of it. I thought we understood each other."

"But Dad --"

"This was a mistake," Madison said. "Maybe we should just go back to the airport --"

"Madison, you promised me at least the weekend," William Hannity said, his voice pained. "Please don't take that away from me."

Morgan kicked her brother in the shin. "Yeah. Don't listen to the pipsqueak."

Madison looked from brother to sister and back. "I'm not trying to take anything from you guys," she said. "I never wanted to cause problems with your mother or your brother."

"I can't even imagine Mom doing what she did," Morgan said honestly. "And Alvin's an ass."

"Morgan," her father said disapprovingly.

"He IS!" she replied angrily. "He was always a bully, but to pick on her and then beat her up and hate her for being blind? Is it because she's a girl or because she's our SISTER that pisses me off more about that? Hmm, let me think on that one. And for what? Because he wanted our trust fund split three ways instead of four? Poor baby!"

Heda decided she liked Morgan.

"Seriously Timmy, what if it was you, and Mom gave you away because you were born without a personality?"

"Don't answer that," her father said. "Though she has a point. About putting yourself in Madison's shoes I mean."

Timothy had no response, but he was given a reprieve.

"Here we are," Morgan said.

"Holy shit!" Heda said.

Madison looked out the window and scanned. The yard was so big that she actually could not detect the house at first. When the limo got closer, Madison's mouth gaped open. It was not a house, it was a palace. There was a fountain out front, huge doors, a garage off to one side that looked like it could hold a Nascar event, and then there was the house itself.

"It's really mostly for show," Mr. Hannity said, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"You have a live in maid, don't you?"

"Well . . . two actually. Benjamin lives there to," he said, looking towards the chauffeur's window. "He's also the butler. And we have a cook. Speaking of which, do you have any dietary restrictions?"

Madison was still just staring at the house, so Heda answered. "She's a vegetarian, for the most part. She does sometimes . . . eat bugs."

"In human form?" Morgan asked, her eyes wide. "Ewh!"

"Not often. And hey, they can be very tasty and nutritious," Madison replied defensively, though she could not take her mind off the house.

Mr. Hannity looked at his son. "So you're not the only insectivore anymore."

Tim looked slightly interested. "What kind of bat are you?" he asked.

"California Myotis," she replied. "You?"

"Western Pipistrelle. Dad, Mom, and Alvin are all vampire bats."


"I'm a flying fox!" Morgan said, her eyes wide. "Okay, I don't get the groovy radar --"

"Echolocation," the other bats muttered.

"-- but I can see really well in the dark. Good sense of smell too, which is why I have to avoid Tim's room when I go flying."

"Hey!" Tim said when he realized he had been dissed.

They got out of the limo and ushered into the house, with the promise that their luggage would be taken to their rooms. The tour began almost immediately. The house had ten bedrooms in the main house, while the "help" stayed in a smaller house nearby. Each bedroom had its own bathroom. There were two dining rooms, one for entertaining and one for more intimate dinners. They had a --

"Pool!" Heda said, looking out into the backyard. "It's got a waterslide! Not as big as Raging Rapids, but still pretty cool."

"Feel free to go for a swim," Mr. Hannity said.

"I didn't bring a suit," Madison said. "And I can't swim."

"We'll teach you," Heda said.

"Suits?" Morgan asked, looking confused. "Everyone here's a shifter. Well, not the help, but they know. Mrs. Sanchez is a voodoo priestess, by the way, so don't muck with her. She's the cook." Morgan gave a knowing look.

"Swim . . . naked?" Madison replied. She knew she was blushing.

"Madison isn't quite used to the whole 'communal nudity' thing," Heda explained.

"But why?"

Madison closed her eyes. "Not a lot of shifters ever wanted to hang out with me," she said softly. "Actually, none of them did. Well, not until I met Billy."

"Is Billy your boyfriend?" Timothy asked.

Madison looked shocked. "God no! He's a boy!"

Timothy and Morgan were both looking confused. Then they came to the same realization at the same time.

"Oh."

"That's not a problem is it?"

"That you're a lesbo?" Morgan asked, back to being nonplussed. "Nah. Just . . . wait," she paused, then looked at Heda. "So you're --"

"Her girlfriend?" Heda met the question with a grin. "Yep."

"Woah! Nice job sis!" she said.

Madison blushed again. "Thanks. I think."

"So you treating my sister right?"

"As rain."

Morgan looked confused. "What does that mean? 'Right as rain?' I never got that."

Madison was glad for the reprieve as Heda promptly explained the entire history of the phrase. But the reprieve was slight, and a swim was ordered. Morgan had suits for when there was human company, so they planned on a quick dip to fight off the Texas heat, but first they were shown their rooms. The rooms were, of course, ridiculously opulent. Heda, for the sake of propriety would not be sharing a bedroom, but was right next door.

"The bed is bigger than my old dorm room," Madison muttered.

"Oh God, you have to tell me everything about college!" Morgan said, tossing a suit onto the bed. "I'm working on graduating a semester early so I can go to FCU in a year and a half instead of two years."

"Honestly, you guys are kind of coming in on the most interesting semester I've ever had," Madison said. "And quite frankly, it's not exactly been a picnic."

"Oh yeah!" Morgan said, putting her hands over her mouth. "That freak-o kidnapper. What's going on with that?"

Morgan apparently was a conversational machine. If she wasn't telling a story, she was digging one out of whoever happened to be around. By the time they got to the pool, Morgan knew everything about the investigation that Madison had been able to recall as well as everything about Alvin's bizarre behavior leading up to the hearing.

"She doesn't stop!" Madison muttered to Heda when they were alone for a second.

"She's something all right," Heda responded, taking a moment to appreciate Morgan's taste in swimwear. The suit she had given Madison was smokin', taking full advantage of the girl's slim, runner's body.

"Stop staring at my ass," Madison whispered, blushing a bit.

"No. Now get in the water."

Teaching Madison to swim was oddly comical. The moment that the bat-shifter's toes couldn't the floor of the pool anymore, she started to panic, and it took a lot of coaxing from Heda to calm her down. Even Timothy got into the act. He was on his school's swim team, and watching Madison flounder seemed to strike a nerve with him. Mr. Hannity just sat in a pool chair and watched, his eyes twinkling with delight. Lemonade magically appeared several times at poolside to the joy of all, and then it was back to drowning . . . uhm, swimming lessons.

The only thing that kept Madison going was the knowledge that no one was going to allow her on the water-slide until she learned how to stay afloat. Once that had sunk in, she dedicated herself to the art of dog paddling. Finally, when the others were no longer afraid that she would sink like a rock, the water to the slide was turned on and away they went.

All in all, it was a joyful afternoon for them all. You would never have known that Morgan and Madison had not been "sisters" for their entire lives. Timothy, it turned out, was actually more fascinated by Heda when he found out who her mother was, leading to the repetition of "What's it like being Jessica Adler's daughter?" conversation. Tim had apparently done a paper on the insect-shifter uprising.

Swimming was great, dinner was excellent, and the tour of the house was impressive. But nothing compared to one simple question.

Mr. Hannity looked over at Heda. "I don't mean to exclude you, but I was wondering if we might spend some time alone with Madison. Maybe go for a nice night flight?"

Heda's heart swelled with an overload of joy at the look on Madison's face. Flying with other bats . . . flying with family. There was nothing that she had wanted more when she was growing up.

"Fly?" she whispered.

"Yes. There's some wonderful wooded areas to the East that are great for stretching your wings. Interested?"

Madison just nodded. "Can we go now?"

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Several hours later . . .

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Madison was positively giddy. She and the Hannity clan had raced through any number of parks before getting to a small patch of wilderness, then she and Timothy had hunted bugs, Morgan had hung around in a peach tree, and Mr. Hannity . . . well, he watched. He seemed to be pretty good at just watching. Madison had not wanted the night to end.

The window to her bedroom had been left open so that she could fly in and change. By the time she was done, there was already a knock on her door. She opened up to find Morgan in a robe on the other side.

"Hey!" Madison said, her heart still fluttering.

"Hey," Morgan said, giving the newcomer a big hug.

"What's that for?" Madison replied.

"For being here."

"I still can't believe how well you're taking this. I mean, your parents may be getting divorced, and your brother . . . He's an asshole, but he's still your family."

Morgan sighed. "Can I come in for a sec?" When Madison waved her in, she went and sat in the chair next to the bed. "I'm mad at Alvin and Mom. Alvin was a jerk, but I've never known him to attack a girl. I thought he had some standards. And I can't believe they'd do this to the rest of us, especially Dad. Maybe I just haven't processed it all, ya know? But --" Morgan paused, and it was the first time that Madison had ever seen the girl at a loss for words. Of course, their relationship only went back about twelve hours.

"What is it?"

"I'm glad you're here because now I can stop feeling so bad."

"About what? You didn't know what they --"

"No, not that. And not even how hard you must have had it . . . well, maybe a little. I felt bad because I hated you all those years and now I don't have to."

Madison was stunned. "Hated me? But I was dead, at least as far as you knew?"

"I know. Pathetic, huh?" Morgan knew that Madison wasn't looking right now because she was talking, so she reached out and gently took her sister's hand. "Every year, Dad kinda beat himself up over not being there when you were born. I know that once he found out you were alive . . . he's been kicking himself all week. Like if he'd been there, Mom never would've been able to do what she did. Before, he thought his being there might have 'saved your life' or somethin'."

"But why did you hate me?"


"Because I was selfish. Because I couldn't give my Dad that one day every year to mourn you. Because I wanted him to think as much about the kids he had as the one he'd lost."

Madison felt chilled. "I fucked up your family, and I wasn't even here."

"It's YOUR family too," Morgan said. "And I didn't mean it like that. I was just jealous, and it was petty. It wasn't like he really neglected us. He just got kinda spacey. I hated that. Dad is a good guy, Madison. He's always tried his best, even when Alvin was a complete prick and didn't deserve help. And yeah, I hope that Alvin comes around and I don't like that Mom and Dad are splitting, but I really wish Mom hadn't given away my sister. That's like . . . that's like adultery, but ten bazillion times worse. If she wants to make it right, she's got a long way to go."

"Considering she wanted to strangle me at the test results and then I punched her a couple of times, I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Yeah, but still," Morgan said, standing up and kissing Madison's forehead, "a kinda fucked-up family is still family, right?"

Once Morgan left, Madison just sat on the bed. Then she started to cry. After a minute, she heard the door open again, then felt strong arms around her. She did not even need to check who it was, because Heda's arms were familiar to her now. She did not even know why she was crying this time. She did not know if she was happy or sad, but she did know that she wanted to be held.

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Back in Crystal Pass . . .

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It was disappointed in this one. The Messenger had not had the stamina of the others, expiring after just a few days. It sat perched on top of the pyramid, weights pulling down from Its ankles and waist. Its wrists were still tied behind Its back, and its neck had a chained collar that was attached to the ceiling. It had screamed a great deal at first, then cried. It had tried to Change, but the Cold had prevented that. It had chilled the blood, making It keep Its human face.

When It had stopped crying and stopped begging, the Cold knew that It had passed on. This time, the Message would not be voiced. This time, the Message would be conveyed in a medium. Underneath Its skin, this thing was a reptile. This time, the Message would be written in the skin.

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Several days later . . .

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Madison was kicking back in the booth after putting on a long block. Her weekend had gone better than she had expected, and she was still trying to wrap her mind around it. Mr. Hannity had been ever so patient, Timothy had started to warm to her, and she to both of them. Morgan had, by her own decree, become Madison's little sister. There was simply no debating it. When Madison had landed back at the airport in Denver, the first thing that happened was Morgan calling to make sure that her sister had landed okay. And to talk about shoes. She had called the next day as well, and had called earlier that evening before Madison had gone on the air. She had requested a Britney Spears song. Madison had replied with, "I'll think about it."

The bat-shifter was lost in thought as the Eagles took it easy on the radio, and her heart was light. The second day she had spent with the Hannitys, William had dusted off his guitar and had played a few blues numbers before Heda had convinced Madison to sing along. Smores had been made, sodas had been drunk, and a situation that Madison had gone into with trepidation turned into one that she left with fondness and a little regret.

"You're daydreaming again," Billy said from the door.

Madison let her head roll back in an exaggerated movement, then jerked if forward. "Five more minutes, Mommy!" Then she stuck her tongue out at her best friend.

"You really had a good time, didn't you?"

She flashed a brilliant smile. "I flew with other bats!"

Billy grinned a bit himself. "So you said. I'm proud of you, you know that?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Because you're really trying. I know how hard it is for you to trust people, and the Hannity name doesn't exactly provide you with Hallmark moments."

"But they're trying so hard," she replied, spinning in her chair. "William is really everything that Alvin isn't. Timothy's a good kid, and Morgan --"

"Is a force of nature," Billy chuckled. "And if she can make you smile like you have been since you got back, then she's got my vote. Only other person who can make you smile like that is --"

"Hmm, Heda," Madison murmured happily. "She's the best girlfriend on the planet."

"Hey, I AM out here," Sasha bellowed.

"Besides her of course," Billy replied, trying not to roll his eyes.

"Ooh, now THAT was an enthusiastic defense."

"Perceptive as ever, my dear."

"Thanks. Hey, wait a minute --"

The phone rang, and all joviality left the room. This phone had been installed for one purpose, and that was to take calls from the shifter network. Sasha even got up and came to the door to find out what was happening.