Chapter 9
Laurie Shear

A girl with blond hair answered the door. Beside her stood Banshee. All the
X-Men sighed, glad to finally be here, and glad to be able to finally get some
sleep. I stepped forward, and my face brightened.

"Oh my gosh Sean! It's been so long!" I jumped up and hugged him
tight.

Sean gave a laugh and hugged me back. "Indeed it has, Lass! How have ye
been?"

"Oh, just fine an' dandy." I stepped back and grabbed Wolverine's arm.

Logan stepped forward and half cleared his throat, and half growled. "Well,
Irish, aren't ya gonna invite us in? Or are ya just gonna let us stand out here
and sleep on the porch?"

Sean gave a half smile, obviously happy to see us again, and stepped aside so we
could get through. I dropped my bag on the floor and looked around. "Wow.
This place is smaller than the mansion in New York. Now where's the
Jubester?"

"ACK! Laurie!" Jubilee rushed towards me and hugged me tightly. I
hugged her back and yanked on her hair.

"Nice t'see ya again, Jubes. Your hair's gotten longer." I pointed
out.

Jubilee gave a short laugh. "Yeah, so has yours. Wow! I like your
necklace."

Logan approaced us and studied Jubilee's hair. "Hey kid, what have you done
with your glasses?"

"Well, I got rid of 'em cuz I don't like 'em much anymore." She
replied.

Logan shrugged. "Oh well--" He paused and yanked me and Jubilee apart.
"Ya don't need to hug each other and talk to me at the same time,
kids."

I smiled at that and Jubilee whispered to me: "He hasn't changed one
bit." We both giggled. I stopped and noticed a bunch of other mutant
crowded around me and the other X-Men.

Sean cleared his throat. "Excuse me please! I know ye're all tired, an'
probably wanna get t'bed, so first we must introduce ourselves. Professor, I
think ye should do the honours."

Prof. X cleared his throat. "Thank you, Sean. Hello students, I, of course,
am Professor Charles Xavier, and these are my eldest students, the X-Men."
He motioned to us.

A girl with blond hair moved towards the front of the other students, and held
onto one guy's arm. The young guy had something that looked like tape wrapped
around his chest and up to his nose.

"Gen. X, I would like to introduce:" Professor pointed to each of us.
"Scott Summers, Cyclops; Ororo Munroe, Storm; Jean Grey, Phoenix; Peter
Rasputin, Colossus; Kitty Pryde, Shadowcat; Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler; Logan,
Wolverine; Marie, Rogue; and our newest member; Laurie Shear, Illusion.

Everyone said hi. Sean smiled. "And Emma, I think YE can do the honours
too."

A lady with light blonde hair smiled and pointed to her students. "Hello
again X-Men. Laurie, I am Miss Emma Frost, headmistress of the school. You all
know Jubilation, of course. And here is: Angelo Espenosa, Skin; Paige Gunthrie,
Husk; Jonothon Starsmore, Chamber; Monet St. Croix, M; Everett Thomas, Synch;
Kelsey Luck, White Dove; and finally, M's two sisters, Nicole and Claudette,
Penance.

Everyone said hello to one another and shook hands. I walked up to Kelsey,
Everett, Jonothon and Monet. "Hiya. Nice to meet you guys."

They said hello to me, and I immediately directed my attention to Jonothon.
"Hiya Jonothon. So, what's your mutant power?" He looked like an
interesting boy to me. Of course, not as interesting as Logan, but interesting
nonetheless.

"Well, I use telekinetic energy, like this." He switched off the light
and pulled down the tape around his mouth. My eyes went wide when I saw he
didn't have a mouth, not even half of his face. It was fascinating. Blue sparks
flew from his face area and then he quickly covered it up.

"Woah! That's amazing!" I shrieked as he turned the light back on.
"But, how do you talk. It doesn't sound like you're talking, and yet it
does."

"I use my mind. My telekinetic powers."

Logan came over to me and stood behind me, glancing at the group standing around
me. "Hello kids."

Everyone stared at him. Monet raised an eyebrow. "Uh... hello."

I continued. "What's your mutant power Everett?"

"Well, I'm able to synch with any mutant in close proxomity to me. For
example, I could synch with 'ol Monet here." A colorful aura of rainbow
colors was shown around him, and he lifted himself off the ground. He flew in a
circle, and landed back down as the aura disappeared.

"And you, Monet?"

"Well, I can fly, plus I can do some psychic things. Probably too advanced
for someone who doesn't know me."

Wolverine grunted from behind me. I tried to ignore Monet's snide remark, and
directed my attention to Kelsey as she spoke. "My mutant power is magic.
And, my hair glows in the dark."

I nodded. Everyone asked. "What's yours?"

I smiled. "I can shoot lightning bolts from my fingers, and can turn things
into glass." I pulled a rubber ball from my jacket pocket. I concentrated
hard, my eyes tiny slits, and slowly glass crept up the ball. It was completely
glass and I held it up for everyone to see. They looked impressed. Logan sighed,
obviously feeling bored. I glanced back at him and smiled when suddenly he
jabbed his fingers lightly into my side, making me jump. "ACK!!"

"Excuse me everyone!" Prof. X's voice boomed over the noisy chatter.
Everyone looked at him. "I'm sorry to say this, but it is quite late, and I
think we are all very tired. We must be getting to bed, and tomorrow I will
explain everything."

"I agree, Professor," Sean replied. "Gen X, ye can go t'yer own
rooms, and we have worked out a sleepin arangement. Scott, Kurt and Jean can
sleep in one of the spare rooms, Peter, Kitty, Rogue and Ororo in the other. And
Laurie and Logan, if ye don't mind, ye get the basement all to y'selves, but
have no fear, it is developed and has a heater an' two beds. So, the students
will show you where t'go, see ye in the mornin." Everyone headed to their
rooms, I picked up my bag and followed Logan down the stairs to the basement.

The room was quite plain. It had white walls, white carpet, and two beds beside
each other. It was also very cold.

"Geez, so much for a heater down here." I mumbled, flipping a red
switch on the wall. Logan tossed his bag onto his bed, and sat down. I put mine
on the bed, and started rumaging through it in search of my pajamas. I looked
over at Logan, who was pulling off his shirt, I blushed and quickly looked back
at my bag.

Atlast I found my pajamas, and I raced up the stairs to the bathroom. I quickly
changed, brushed my teeth, and washed my face, and headed back to the basement.
When I got down there, it was still cold, and it didn't sound or feel like the
heater was working. Logan was already in bed.

I put my clothes in my bag on the floor, and went over and sat on the edge of
Logan's bed.

"You didn't brush your teeth." I said slyly.

"Neither did you, babe." He mumbled.

"Did too!"

"Prove it."

I smiled. "Ok..." I bent down and kissed him on the lips. He kissed
back, and smiled a bit.

"Ok. I believe you, now go to bed."

I sat on my bed and smiled at him as he turned off the light. Then I buried
myself under the covers, and quickly dropped off to sleep.

**********

I woke up the next morning, and found there was something in my bed with me. I
opened my eyes, and shrieked when I saw Logan sleeping beside me.

"ACK! LOGAN!"

He shot up and looked around, and put out his claws. "WHAT?!"

I panted. "Why are you sleeping in my bed?!"

"Well, darlin," He said, sheathing his claws. "You were tossin
around all night, and you looked pretty cold, so I came over here to keep ya
under control."

"Y-Y-Ya didn't do anything to me, right? No... you know...?" I
stuttered.

He shook his head. "Darlin, I may act like an animal, but rape is not my
thing."

I gave a sigh of relief and climbed out of bed, heading for the bathroom with my
clothes.

**********

It was about 11:00 in the morning now, and everyone was finally up, dressed and
ready for the day. I sat on Logan's lap on the couch, as Prof. X prepared to
give everyone all the details on our little "mission".

After everyone was in the room, Professor told them everything he told us. Not
everyone was pleased, but still willing to help out. Me, Logan, Kelsey, Rogue
and Kitty all went to get breakfast. I sat at the table, and began munching on
my cereal. Everyone else had cereal, except Logan, who had toast. Kitty began
talking right away.

"Hey guys, you up to this? I mean, it IS our duty to save people, but don't
you think this is a little much?"

Logan grunted. "Look kid, I know you're young and all, but this is exactly
like war. I've been in one, and let me tell you, it's not pretty. But, you made
a commitment to the team, so you gotta do it."

Kitty nodded. "I know, I'm prepared to do that, it's just a little
overwhelming, that's all."

"Ya got that right, sugah," Rogue agreed, "It is overwhelmin, but
ah think we should do fine, as long as we got the right people t'help us
out."

Kelsey looked up at Rogue. "You know Rogue, I like your hair, how do you
get it white like that?"

"Sugah," Rogue smiled, "It's a long story, too long t'tell right
now. Ah'll tell ya someday, when we got the time."