Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. Sky High and all its students and related characters belong to Disney. Any other super heroes you recognize belong either to a) themselves, or b) to their respective companies. I don't own anything related to the X-Men, Superman, Spiderman, or Batman. The name Shadowcat technically belongs to Kitty Pryde, but for my purposes it belongs to my own Kat Brodie, who is a completely different character. Angela Brodie is based loosely on the character Angela Henson of Angela's Eyes, so I'm not sure if I technically own her or not. Oh, well. If you recognize it, it's not mine.

Summary: When Kat Brodie's grandmother dies, her mother drags her away from the only home she's ever really known to the suburban Maxville, and enrolls her in Sky High for her junior year, she's understandably a little nervous. But by knowing the people she meets there, she finds herself, and learns that not everything has to be done alone.

Between the Shadows

by nightshade468

Chapter I

I, Kathryn Janet Brodie, hate funerals. No, scratch that, I despise them. I've got nothing against the color black, but that, combined with the priest's sad attempt at an uplifting sermon, and the sense of death I always get when I go anywhere near a cemetery gives me the creeps. And for the love of God (no pun intended), at that moment I was praying that someone would go up and shake Father Macklepenny. His feigned cheerfulness was seriously only making the whole affair more depressing.

Now, I love my grandmother. I'd been really close to her pretty much all my life, probably due in large part to the fact that I'd never met my father, much less his parents, and my mom, Angela Brodie, always relied on her own widowed madre to help her deal with her recalcitrant daughter. I actually heard her call me that once. I like the word; it sounds lofty, with just the right amount of stubbornness thrown in.

Ahem... I should probably mention that I have a tendency to ramble on about things that really aren't relevant to what I'm talking about. You have been forewarned. Now, back to the story.

Yes, I had loved Janet Brodie, who I was actually named after. If you hadn't noticed. Anyway, she was an awesome lady. To be honest, I have never known of anyone else's grandmother who would drop her washing in order to catch a football. With mom being so busy working, I actually spent more time with my grandma than out playing with my friends, up until the time I left for the prep school I attended in New York. Or had attended, I suppose, until about a week before the funeral.

Now I was living in Maxville, CT, just south of Gotham City, and I was all set to start my junior year at Sky High, my mother and grandparents' alma mater. Woot. It was a school for super heroes, and was very similar to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, which was where I'd gone up until now.

My mother, Angela Brodie, known to most people (including me, on occasion, if I really want to annoy her) as Angie, is a seer. Her powers enable her to detect if anyone's lying; she sees beneath even the tiniest white lie. She also gets visions of possible future events, as well as things that are happening in the present or have occurred in the past. When my grandma suddenly passed away of unexplainable causes (or at least causes that could not be discovered as of yet) Mom requested a transfer to the Maxville branch of the FBI. She then packed up her seventeen-year-old daughter and moved out of Boston back to her hometown.

As Father Macklepenny wound down his diatribe, I shifted my weight from foot to foot. At this point I was getting really uncomfortable. Although I didn't have her mother's sight or built-in lie detector, I get... senses of things at times, and currently back of my neck was prickling.

I was supremely relieved when we finally trooped back out to the parking lot. The crowd had been decent-sized; my grandmother had been well-respected as both a seer and as a neighbor. I had been shocked to see such illustrious figures as Peter Parker and Clark Kent attending her funeral, but I'd been even more surprised when they'd referred to Janet Brodie as Foresight, the legendary super hero, who'd seemingly dropped off the map several decades before.

Apparently she'd gotten married, had kids, and enjoyed life as a civilian. Huh, I thought to myself. Grandma never said a word. World-famous superhero? Who knew?

Mom was understandably morose as she drove us home. The sun was just beginning to set, and my stomach rumbled, drawing a sad smile from her. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kat, I didn't even think… do you want to stop somewhere?"

"No, Mom," I replied quickly, shaking my head. "I'm ok. I know you want to get home."

But the darn woman put her foot down. Couldn't she see that I would be fine eating leftovers for one more night if it made her feel better? Who wanted to go out and eat in public after attending their grandmother's funeral? No sane person, anyway. But still, she pushed. "No, we're stopping, kiddo. I know you haven't eaten much the past few days, and I understand that, believe me, but I'm sure Grandma wouldn't want you to starve yourself, hmm?" She raised an eyebrow at me.

With a sigh, I nodded, and then agreed to her suggestion of Chinese food. We pulled into the parking lot of the Paper Lantern, and she sighed, reminiscing. "I used to eat here in high school, you know. All of us, we'd come in a big group. Looks like they've redecorated, though," she added as we went in

The place wasn't incredibly big, but it was cozy, and if the full tables were any indication, the food was good. Once we were seated, I browsed through the menu, although I was pretty sure I knew what I wanted.

After we'd ordered their drinks and food, the table sank into silence. Or we did, sitting at the table. 'Cause tables are always silent, aren't they? Never mind.

By then, I was thinking, what is there to say? We've just buried our last remaining family member.

I didn't count my father. I never counted him.

I was dragged from my thoughts as the busboy arrived with the drinks. He was cute, I noticed. About my age, too, unlike the older waitress who'd seated us. He was tall, with black hair pulled back into a short ponytail, and he was wearing a black muscle tee.

I was actually surprised at my own reaction. I hadn't really liked a guy for a while, or even noticed one, really. But this one had gotten my attention right away, which struck me as weird, since I'd been pretty much avoiding the opposite sex. For just a second, I fantasized about breaking my self-imposed rule of 'no guys right now'. He was really cute.

He didn't say anything except to ask whose drink was whose, but as he turned away, he met my eyes and gave me a half-smile.

And so, I was left watching after him with my mouth hanging slightly open. Then I caught myself. My grandmother just died and here I was ogling a boy? What was my problem?

Mom chuckled, and I looked across the table at her, a slightly disbelieving look still on my face. "Do you know him?" I asked her.

"No," she replied, sobering and shaking her head. "But he was cute, huh?"

With an exasperated sigh, I nodded, although I didn't offer any other response. Ok, yeah, he had been cute, but I really didn't want anything in the romance department right now. Nor did I want to be crushing on some random guy whose name I didn't even know.

But he had been really hot.

xxxxxxx

The drive home was silent once again.

Mom broke the quiet. "So, are you excited for tomorrow? Your first day of school and all?"

I shrugged. "I guess so."

She sighed. "Honey, I know this is going to take some getting used to. And I'm sorry you had to leave your friends behind. But you guys can certainly keep in touch, what with all that instant messaging stuff you do. And I really do think you'll like Sky High. I loved it while I was there."

I forced a smile for her sake, but didn't bother lying. There was no point. "You're right, Mom, I do miss my friends. But since coming back here is so important to you, I promise to give this place my best shot. 'Kay?"

She nodded. That was probably more of a concession than she'd expected to get, actually. "Good. And thank you, kiddo."

"Anytime, Mom."

xxxxxxx

a/n: So? So? So? Review, please! Cookies to anyone who knows where Father Macklepenny came from!