Flying Blind Ch. 04

This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere.

The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author.

This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one depicted in my other stories. It also takes place at a fictional town in Colorado called Crystal Pass and a fictional school called Four Corners University.

The following story contains lesbian sexual activity.

Proofread by "hkf999"

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"Because you're not what I would have you be,

I blind myself to who, in truth, you are."

~ Madeleine L'Engle

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Madison Sloan had never wanted any of this. She had wanted to go to college, make a few friends, maybe (with a big emphasis on maybe) go on a few dates, and then be out with her Communications and Journalism degree in four years before taking off to the great wide world of grad school, complete with funding from the North American Shifter Council. Being persecuted for a year and a half by another changeling had not been part of her plan. Being supported by her hot girlfriend and her hot girlfriend's hot-and-famous mother had been unexpected. But getting caught in a complaint hearing between the Hatfields and the McCoys? That was way out of her things-to-do-this-year list.

Alvin Hannity had already refuted the charges, then Madison and Heda had pled Madison's case. A young man who had been working at the medical center the evening that Alvin had mugged her outside of her dorm room had been prepared to talk about the injuries that she had suffered when Alvin Hannity's parents had made their entrance.

William and Meghan Hannity were the very definition of "power couple" in the shifter community, and actually in the human community beyond. Mr. Hannity was the president of Global First Bank, an international financial institution and preferred bank of shifters, magic-users, and other magical beings worldwide. He also apparently had made a number of very wise investments over the years, and was rich to the point that he had Bill Gates on speed-dial. His wife Meghan was from old money. She had inherited her family's entire tobacco legacy, though had sold it off to purchase a pharmaceutical company. And looking at them now, they were not happy.

After bursting in, the Councilman overseeing the proceedings had done everything but offer both Hannitys oral sex and his first born to keep them calm. Mrs. Hannity demanded that the entire hearing be called off, while Mr. Hannity just kept asking what was going on.

Madison was confused. The worst that was going to happen to Alvin, assuming anyone believed the DM (short for "Darwin's Mistake," and a grave insult against shifters that had been cast at her many times) over the son of the university's biggest donors, was that Alvin would be slapped with a restraining order. In the shifter community, that kind of restraining order was taken seriously, to the point that Alvin could not take a class that Madison was in, or even enter the food court if she was already there. And shifter's punished violators severely. Changelings were not supposed to treat each other as prey, which is exactly what Alvin had been doing all this time.

Mrs. Hannity had started throwing disparaging remarks at the defendant and then, probably without realizing it, at Heda Adler. That was when Jessica Adler, war hero and eagle shifter, had taken offense. Then, the yelling had really started.

Strangely, Mr. Hannity was not doing much yelling and quite quickly moved to prevent his wife's head from exploding. Thomas Adler, Heda's father, knew better than to try to physically restrain his wife (who would kick his non-shifting ass all the way into next week), but did stand between her and the other woman, exuding a sense of calm that his wife did not possess.

"Everyone, QUIET!" shouted a voice from the corner. The Reptile King and tenured professor, Neil Reichert, had decided that enough was enough. He may not have been presiding over the dispute, but he was damn well not going to let it get derailed any further. And when someone who could turn into a fifty-foot now-extinct crocodile told you to shut up, you shut up.

Jessica Adler still had her chin up and looking somewhat defiant when she said, "I'm sorry, your Majesty."

Reichert looked noticeably more relaxed after that. He was a badass, but you did not mess with Jessica Adler unless you were planning on having one hell of a fight. She had a reputation for a reason.

William Hannity gave his own wife a stern stare. She gritted her teeth, then let out a low, "I apologize your Majesty."

Reichert nodded tot he Councilman. "Mr. Zine, I think we may need a few minutes before continuing. Let everyone settle down."

"Dad," Alvin said, moving toward his parents, "what are you doing here?"

"Did you really think that a son of mine would be caught up in such a proceeding at this institution and that I wouldn't hear about it? Why didn't you tell me you were in trouble?"

"I can handle this," he said. 


"William, maybe we should step outside," his wife said.

"My son is being accused of some fairly serious acts. I am here to lend my support."

"You are welcome --" the Councilman started to say before being interrupted by Alvin.

"Seriously Dad, it's no big deal."

Madison heard that and snapped. "No big deal?! You hound me for years, making my life miserable when it would be just as easy to ignore me, then you rake my wing in the woods and beat me up on campus, and you call it no big deal?"

"I never laid a hand on you, you defective --"

"Sit down!" Reichert bellowed, then turned to glare at Heda before she came over the rail to pummel Alvin into a paste. One day, those two would have a reckoning, but not on Reichert's watch.

Strangely, William Hannity seemed the most composed of anyone. He nodded towards an empty spot on the bench, indicating a desire for his wife to sit. She looked like she was going to protest, then obviously thought better of it.

"Young man," Councilman Zine said to Detrius, "you were going to provide testimony?"

Detrius rose and reported Madison's condition on the night she had been attacked. Her knee and ribs had been injured, and the doctor's notes indicated that he had felt that Madison had been in a fight of some kind.

"Who's to say that she didn't just get one of her friends to do it for her?" Alvin growled.

"Oh good God!" Heda shouted, standing up despite her father trying to get her to stay seated. "Even before I met her, everyone was telling me that you were harassing her and that she went out of her way to avoid you. Why would she drag herself through all this when NOT having anything to do with you has been her plan all along?"

"How do you know what her fucking plan is?" Alvin growled.

A new voice spoke up from the doors. "If anyone knew Madison's plan, it would be you," Edgar Adler said as he tiredly made his way to sit beside Madison.

"Sir, he's another on of them," Alvin sneered pointing at the Adler family.

"How many people are you going to allow to soil my son's good name?" Meghan Hannity said, rising to her feet as well.

"Your son had ample opportunity earlier to provide his own witnesses and make his own statements. It is simply Miss Sloan's --"

"I demand that this farce be ended at once and --"

"Alvin Hannity," Edgar interrupted, "would you please explain why you hired a private investigator to tail Miss Sloan from January to February of last year?"

That got everyone's attention.

Alvin had gone noticeably pale. "I didn't --"

"I just got done talking with a man who we had uncovered over the course of our investigation into the recent kidnappings. After a follow-up interview, he was very forthcoming. Amazing what the words 'serial kidnapper' and 'tortured teenagers' do to make a closed mouth open up." Ed looked at the Councilman. "It seems that a private investigator was hired by young Mister Hannity here to follow and report on the activities of Miss Sloan. The man said that it was the strangest job he had ever had, because all he had been told was to follow her and see 'what she was up to.' For a PI, that's pretty much free money. Who knows how long it would have gone on if the guy hadn't gotten sloppy and gotten picked up."

"Bullshit!" Alvin said, though his voice wavered.

"My son does not have access to that kind of money," Mr. Hannity said. "And to what end?"

"As I said, the PI didn't know. And the investigator provided printouts of the cashed checks. Amazing thing, on-line banking. All checks were from Alvin Hannity, signed by Alvin Hannity. I'm perfectly willing to get a hand-writing analysis done, but the PI also identified him from several options I showed him while scanning through different MySpace pages."

"Do you have the scans of the checks?" William Hannity asked.

"Of course."

"William! I cannot believe that you are willing to even entertain this lunacy!" his wife screamed.

"I am quite familiar with my sons bank numbers and signature. I can quickly disprove this evidence if warranted," Mr. Adler replied, taking the copies from Edgar. After a few moments, his face grew grim. "Son, would you care to explain this."

"Dad --"

"I said explain!"

"William --" Meghan Hannity started, then was cut off by a look from her husband.

"You . . . you gave him the money for this. I thought that you were just coddling him as usual, but this is what those 'gifts' were for, wasn't it? Oh yes, I know all about them. Why would you help our son participate in stalking?"

"After 22 years of marriage, I do not feel any need to respond to these --"

"Oh, you will respond. I have tolerated a great deal from Alvin, and perhaps I have always been lenient towards him because he's your favorite. But this is intolerable." He looked back to his son. "Alvin, are this young woman's accusations true?"

Heda knew that tone. Her mother had used a similar one on the few rare occasions where one of her children crossed a line, but this one was much more chilling.

Alvin looked like he wanted to deny everything, but he was also practically radiating fear. More than one shifter in the crowd was beginning to lick their lips, as his fear was bring out their predator natures. "Yeah," he whispered. "Yeah it's true." Something crossed over his face, flying past like a winged creature. He had an idea. "I'll accept the punishment. I won't come anywhere near her. Let's just get out of here --"

"No," his father said. William Hannity turned to look directly at Madison for the first time. "Young lady, I would like to apologize on behalf of my son and my family for whatever injustice has been done to you." He turned back to his son. "But before we go anywhere, YOU are going to explain to everyone exactly why you have seen fit to behave like such a savage."

"Savage? Dad, she's a DM! You're the one always going off about survival of the fittest and --"

"Do not hand me that excuse," his father growled. "I am always referring to the business world." He looked back to Madison. "Miss Sloan, when did this start?"

"I dunno. Our first semester, he was just kind of a dick but never really anything like recently. Then I was celebrating my birthday with Billy, but Alvin was at the restaurant. Billy had gotten up to go to the bathroom, so Alvin came over to make a few snide jokes before leaving. He looked at my cake and then --"

"How did you know what I was doing?" Alvin said. "She's blind. She's making this . . . up," his voice trailed off.

Madison had stood up, ripped off her sunglasses and exposed her glowing, Gifted eyes to the world. Then they stopped, but not until she looked Alvin dead in the face. "I 'see' a lot more than you think, you fucking worm." She looked at the silenced crowd. "I grew up in changeling foster care, and it wasn't pretty," she said, blurting it all out before she lost the nerve. "I learned quickly never to trust anyone with too much, so I kept my gift to myself. I can't detect shifters, but my echolocation works pretty damn well for everything else. So yeah Alvin, I saw exactly what you did. You looked at my damn cake, looked at me, then shoved my face into it."

Jessica had to restrain her daughter from charging over and punching Alvin Hannity straight in the face.

"No, it's not possible," Meghan Hannity was muttering. "I didn't know --" She stopped when she realized that she could be heard, then she turned white as a sheet.

"Why would you know?" William said, obviously confused. "You've never met her before."

Heda realized something was up. Something about Madison's birthday had set Alvin off. "Madison, when was your birthday?"

"What does --"

"Just please, answer the question?"

Madison looked really perplexed. "December 14th."

"William, I --" Meghan started again, but if her husband's earlier words had been cold, his gaze was now shooting hellfire.

"What . . . year?" he asked, his voice controlled and pressurized like a volcano.

"1987."

Without any warning, William Hannity whipped his head around and put his face just inches away from his wife. "Not this," he hissed. "Don't tell me you did this."

"There is no proof --"

"Where were you born?" William said, returning to his attention to Madison.

"I don't know the name of the hospital," she said, taking a step back. "Somewhere in Dallas I think. Then I guess they shipped me off to New Orleans."

"Why would they ship a newborn to another state for foster care?" Heda asked.

Edgar was cluing in. "They wouldn't. Not unless a lot of strings were pulled. And not unless they really didn't want that baby to be around."

"I should have known," Mr. Hannity muttered. "How could you . . . this is beyond anything else you could have ever done," he told his wife. He withdrew from her. The room had gone dead quiet as he turned to Madison, looking at her with sorrowful eyes. "I was out of the country that day," he whispered. "She went into labor but . . . but she called me after and told me the baby had died."

Everyone's eyes were opening wide, and Heda looked over at Madison, whose brain was not quite processing this. "I wanted to see the body . . . just so I could say goodbye to her, but Meghan said it would be too hard. She said that the child had come out deformed and --" His eyes opened wider. "You even look like her," he whispered to Madison. "I should have seen, but how could I have known?"

Madison's brain clicked, but all she could do was shake her head.

"You knew, didn't you?" he continued, looking back to his wife. "You knew where she was all this time? And you let me think she was dead?! My child?! My daughter?!"

"Holy fuck!" Billy said.

"No," Madison whimpered. "No."

"You gave away our first born and lied to me? Part of me died that day!" he shouted, then looked back at Madison. Mr. Hannity was torn like no one Heda or most of them had ever seen.

"I . . . am not . . . your child," Madison whispered.

"How could I let a Mistake ruin our line?!" Meghan pleaded with her husband. "Generations of shifters of the most perfect bloodlines --"

This time, Heda had to restrain her mother from starting a fight.

"Madison?!" Billy shouted as his friend passed out on the floor in the middle of pure chaos.

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Some time later . . .

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"Hey? You okay? I think she's waking up," came a warm, familiar voice. Madison had thought waking up after her last trip on experimental marijuana had been bad, but this . . . this was MUCH worse.

"What . . . I smoked again didn't I? Hangover?" But even as the jest came out, she knew it was not true.

"No babe,"Heda said, helping the girl into a sitting position. "No, this is no hangover. How are you feeling?"

"Ever feel like your insides have been ripped out and used as a noose to strangle you with? Kinda like that. And my head hurts."

"We'll give you something for the headache," an unfamiliar voice said. "I'm Doctor Callous, and feel free to make fun of my name. I just want to make sure you don't have a concussion. Are you dizzy? Nauseous?" He continued to question her while her mind started replaying the events of that afternoon over and over."

"Heda, where's Billy? I . . . I should probably get to the station. I'm probably late!" she said, trying to stand up.

"Billy is at the station. It's six in the evening, and your shift --"

"I'm late! I've got to --"

"Billy is covering for you. Madison, you SO need to take a break and --"

Madison's mind was like a broken engine trying to turn over, with lots of "whirring" and "clanking" but no real output. "I've got to go. Billy has appalling taste in music," she muttered, again trying to push past Heda and the doctor to stand up. "Seriously, he has Barry Manilow on tape. Barry . . . Manilow!"

"Madison --"

"I've got to --"

"Madison!" Heda shouted, kicking in her Gift and putting her hands on Madison's shoulders. The bat shifter was now officially grounded. "You NEED to process this. William Hannity --"

"Don't say it!" Madison shouted, her eyes tearing up. "Don't say his name, don't talk about what he said --"

"Madison, he's waiting in the lobby. He really wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to him!" she screamed. "Tell him to take his damn son and his damn wife and his damn money and get out of my damn life!"

"Don't you at least want to find out --"

"NO!"

"Miss Adler," the doctor said, "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you continue to --"


"No, don't make her go," Madison whimpered, burying her head against the girl's chest. "I just . . . I just don't know what to do."

"Madison, what happened at the hearing . . . shifters all over campus have heard about it by now, and so have their friends and parents and just about anyone they could get a hold of. You aren't going to be able to hide from this."

"Do you --" Madison started, then sniffed and blew her nose into Heda's shirt. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Heda said, taking some of the tissue offered by the doctor and handing it to her girlfriend.

"Do you have any idea what it was like?" Madison began again. "Of course you don't. You have the perfect parents and the perfect family and the perfect life. I don't blame you, but that's not what my life was. Every orphan I knew dreamed that a family like yours would come along and take them home. Some nice rich family where everyone is smart and pretty and everything. Then a few years goes by, and you're willing to do without the rich or the pretty or the smart. Then you just want someone who will give you a room and a birthday present. Know the only present I ever got in foster care? A beat-up suitcase to put my stuff in so that I could, and this is a quote, 'Get the hell out' the day I turned 18. Any dreams I ever had of having a family died a long time ago, and I'm not going to let the damn Hannitys rip my heart out again."

Heda held Madison's head and comforted her as best she could. "You know I'm behind you no matter what you decide," she said, "but Mr. Hannity doesn't seem like Alvin at all. He was so mad at them and . . . he's been pacing a trench in the floor out there. He wants to know for sure, like as in a paternity test, but he's willing --"

"You know this is bullshit," Madison interrupted. "This is just the biggest Trojan Horse of them all, and they're waiting to laugh. It's just coincidence."

Heda steeled herself for another potential fit. "It would be one hell of a coincidence then. Two blind shifters, a one in ten-thousand condition for us, being born in the same city on the same day, with one of them mysteriously dying while the other shipped to another state against all reason to be put up for adoption? Madison, his wife is a complete sociopath. I've barely met her, but I can tell this is the kind of thing that she would do."