A/N: the first two chapters will take the form of a prologue, introducing the four main characters. The main storyline will begin in chapter three.

THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES

Prologue:

JUNE 1993

Jacqueline Cartier, 7 years old, didn't yet know that she was a mutant. Born in Marseilles, her family had moved to Edinburgh when she was six, and so far she had enjoyed an ordinary childhood, the only daughter of parents who had no idea of the special powers their offspring possessed. It was on this day, while on her way to school, when Jacqueline would first make use of her latent ability.

"Jackie!" came a voice from behind her.

The little girl looked round and saw two of her school friends hurrying to catch up with her. She smiled and greeted them, speaking with a strong French lilt; her English was still not fluent. The other two girls fell into step beside her and they began walking together in the direction of their school. Jacqueline and her friends stopped to pet a small kitten that was playing on the pavement.

"I love kittens," one of the other girls said. "My auntie got one for her birthday."

Jacqueline frowned, trying to understand the words that lay underneath her friend's strong Edinburgh accent.

"Come on, we'll be late for school," her other friend said, pointing at her watch.

"Oui, d'accord. Je viens."

The other girls looked at each other. They were trying to learn some French words to make it easier to communicate with Jacqueline, but still couldn't understand most of what she said.

The little girls left the kitten to its play, and continued on their way to school. They had walked a few yards, when some impulse made Jacqueline glance behind her. Her eyes widened in horror at what she saw. The kitten, chasing after a butterfly, had run into the middle of the road, and was now directly in the path of an oncoming bus. The driver hadn't seen the tiny cat, and the bus was not going to stop in time.

"Non! Arrêtez!" she screamed, holding out her hand as if she could hold back the speeding vehicle.

In her mind she saw the bus stopping. Without knowing what she was doing, Jacqueline telepathically enforced her will on the vehicle, stopping it dead a metre or so in front of the kitten. The cat fled back on to the pavement and disappeared over a wall. Jacqueline relaxed her mind. The bus continued moving as if nothing had happened, then braked to a halt. The driver threw open the door and jumped out on the ground, looking bewildered, trying to see what had temporarily stopped his vehicle from moving.

"Jackie! What did you do?"

Jacqueline turned to see her friends staring at her with open mouths.

"Quoi?" she asked.

"The bus – you stopped the bus – how did you do that?"

The little French girl shook her head helplessly, "Je ne comprends pas."

"You must be telepathic – you must be a mutant!"

"Pardon?"

The other girls tried to think of the few French words they knew. One of them said uncertainly, "Tu es un – um – mutant?"

"Une mutante?"

"Uh – oui."

"Non. Ce n'est pas possible! Je suis normale!"

She broke down into tears as she realised what had just happened. By using telepathy to momentarily stop the bus, she had to be a mutant. She looked up to see her friends backing away from her, looking terrified.

"Non! N'allez pas! Vous êtes mes amies!" she cried.

"You're a mutant. My daddy said that mutants were bad. He said they kill people!"

Jacqueline didn't understand, but she could see the fear in her friends' eyes. Without another word the two Scottish girls turned and ran as fast as they could away from her. At that moment, Jacqueline Cartier knew without doubt that she was a mutant and an outcast from society.

FEBRUARY 1999

Two teenagers lay beside one another at the summit of the hill, overlooking the city of Edinburgh. Neil Rosiçky was 12 years old and had lived in Edinburgh all his life. Claire Stewart was the same age and they had been going out for almost three months.

"Neil, you can take your sun-glasses off, by the way. The sun isn't even out," said Claire.

"I know. I still have to wear them."

"Why? I've never seen you take them off!"

"I know. Light…hurts my eyes. I can only take them off at night."

She frowned, "It's so weird…I don't even know what colour eyes you have! I've never seen them."

"They're blue."

"Can I see them?"

"Why?"

"I dunno…I read somewhere that you can't trust a person if you can't see their eyes."

"So you don't trust me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" she said quickly. "It's just weird. Why do your eyes get hurt so badly by light?"

"I dunno. They're just sensitive."

"Have you seen the doctor about it?"

"Nah. There's nothing wrong with me; I just have sensitive eyes."

She sighed and rolled over on to her front, "It's too weird. How long have you had this problem?"

"A few years. Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure. Sorry."

He lay back, resting his head on his hands, and looked up at the sky through his sun-glasses.

"Hey," she said.

"What?"

"There's a big merchant ship coming into the docks. I wonder if it's the Oculus. That's the one my brother's on."

"Oculus?" he repeated. "What's that mean?"

"Dunno. It's the name of the ship. I don't think it means anything."

"It's a cool name. I like it."

"My brother said he was coming home for the summer. I hope that's his ship."

Neil sat up and looked where she was pointing. Straining his eyes, he focused on the name that was borne on the side of the vessel.

"It's the Oculus," he said.

"What? How do you know?"

"It says so on the side."

"Don't be stupid; you can't possibly read it from up here! It must be at least five miles away!"

"I'm not making it up! That's what it says on the side of the ship."

"Oh, don't be silly. I can only just make out the ship from up here."

"Fine then, if you don't believe me. Hey, there's an observation platform up there with a telescope. Take a look for yourself."

They got up, and he followed Claire to the small telescope at the top of the hill that gave an all-encompassing view of the city.

"All right, here we go," she said. "You are just being silly, you know that?"

He didn't say anything, and she pointed the telescope at the ship, then adjusted the zoom.

"Hey, it is the Oculus," she said in a surprised tone.

"I told you I could see the name."

"No way. That was a lucky guess. You can't possibly make out its name from five miles away!"

"I can and I did."

"No you didn't. I'll prove it," she said, putting her eye back to the eyepiece of the telescope. "How many people are standing on deck?"

He squinted over the distance and replied. "Two – no, three. A guy in a red shirt, a guy wearing overalls, and a woman in a suit."

"Hey, you're right," she gasped. "You really can see it from here."

"I wasn't lying, Claire."

"But how – how can you – ?"

"I dunno. I've always had good eyes."

"I still want you to take your sun-glasses off so I can see your eyes."

He shook his head, "I can't. The sun hurts my eyes too much."

"Neil, do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Then do it."

He sighed, "All right. But not for long. If I can't stand the pain, I'm putting them back on."

She reached up and removed the sun-glasses from his eyes. Immediately he was pummelled by an agonising burst of pain. The sunlight mercilessly burned into his eyes, and he cried, "It's too much! I need them back!"

Grabbing his sun-glasses from her hands, he put them back on and breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, that's better."

Then he noticed Claire. She was staring at him with a horrified expression.

"What?" he said. "I told you it hurts. Maybe you think I'm weak or something, but – "

"You're a mutant," she said.

"Huh?"

"You're a mutant!" she screamed. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been going out with you for months, thinking you were normal!"

"I am normal! I'm not a mutant! What are you talking about?"

"Your eyes – don't you ever look at yourself in the mirror?"

"Yeah, of course."

"With your sun-glasses off?"

"No. It's too painful."

She reached into her shoulder bag and handed him her little makeup mirror, "Take a look at yourself. Right now."

He took off his sun-glasses, screwing up his eyes against the glare of the sun, ignoring the pain, and looked into the mirror. Instantly he saw what she meant. He hadn't seen his own eyes for years, and at some point they must have changed. His irises were the same light blue colour they'd always been, but the pupils…instead of being black, as they should have been, they were bright gold.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

She snatched the mirror back and snapped, "You're a mutant! I hate you!"

"What? Why?"

"Don't talk to me, freak! Leave me alone!"

She turned and ran away from him, down the path that led towards the bottom of the hill. He wanted to run after her, but was still stunned by what she had said. Slipping his sun-glasses back on, he sat down numbly on the grass and stared at the city below. With a sickening feeling he realised now the reason for his exceptional long-range eyesight: his eyes were a mutant's eyes. He lay on his back as the full implications of this revelation set in. He was a mutant. Mutants were hated and reviled by the general public. Neil Rosiçky shut his eyes against the world as if he could block it all out, and contemplated life as a mutant.