Julius stood on the steps of the school. He lifted his fist to knock, but hesitated and waited. He wondered if his parents bothered worrying about him…whether he should go back and explain he's a freak. Julius shook his head. They'll never believe me. Oh, yeah, mom, dad, Sam, I can freeze and travel through time by the way. Yeah, right.

He knocked. The door opened immediately, revealing a man with sunglasses. "Julius Copewood, right?"

Julius nodded, feeling uneasy already. "I'm Julius."

"Good." He motioned him to come in. Julius sighed, and walked through the door, and started looking around.

"I'm Scott Summers by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Julius shuffled his feet, and watched a few kids run upstairs. "So, I guess you knew I was coming."

"Eerie to you isn't it?"

Julius shrugged. "I'm guessing you have some uh, psychic friends here.

"Looks like you already know about us."

Julius shook his head. "I don't know anything. To tell you the truth…this all feels like…" He scratched his head. "…my science fiction stories," he mumbled.

"Oh, so you're the sci-fi writer."

"Yeah…"

"How does it feel to be part of your own stories?"

Julius blinked, and didn't reply. Scott grinned.

They walked until they came to a recreational room, just on the first floor. There were mutants doing about everything…playing games, hanging out and talking with friends, and showing off their mutant ablilites.

"Bobby," Scott called. A boy with brown hair and blue eyes came up to them.

Well, he looks normal, Julius thought.

"Bobby, Julius. Julius, Bobby." They shook hands.

"Nice to meet you," Bobby said.

"Same here. It looks like you've been here a while."

Bobby shrugged. "Never counted."

Julius turned around, and noticed Scott was gone. "Hey, wha-?"

Bobby smirked and patted his shoulder. "From now on, I'm your guide."

"So, what can you do?"

Bobby switched his gaze to a kid they called Pyro, a light headed kid who kept flicking a lighter. Julius followed Bobby's gaze. Pyro was sitting alone, staring at the rest of the commotion, flicking his lighter. Once in a while a flame would flicker out. He would catch it, close his hand, and it would disappear. Bobby pointed his finger, and in an instant blue ice came from his finger. The flame froze, becoming a solid icicle. It dropped, and broke onto the floor, shattering into gossamer pieces. Pyro looked up, and spotted Bobby.

"Bobby!" There were a few stares, but mostly everyone acted as though it happened all the time.

"Let's go," Bobby said quickly.

"Bobby, I swear I'll kill you!"

Julius followed him out the room and up a set of stairs. Bobby was grinning. "He's definitely going to kill me after that. So, what can you do?"

"Oh…I can um…travel and uh, freeze space and time." Bobby nodded.

"Good to know."

"So, who was the flamethrower?"

"You'll know him soon enough. Just don't make him mad."