Sorry I've taken so long to update, I'm so busy at the moment! As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter (:


Zoe sat outside Professor Xavier's office, patiently waiting for him to call her in. Whilst she waited it gave her the chance to look around. She hadn't realised just how big this school was going to be. It was magnificent.

The interior was decorated with an ebony wood that lined the walls and equally elegant wooden panel flooring, which occasionally changed to a deep burgundy carpet in some rooms. Just as the flooring changed in different rooms, the walls often would too; going from the wood lining to a fresh cream paint. Zoe could easily understand why none of the students appeared to want to leave this place, she felt safe already and she'd only just arrived.

"It's cool, right?" Zoe's head snapped up to where the voice had come from. The boy with piercing blue eyes from the museum cafeteria stood awkwardly against the wall with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, it's beautiful" she smiled warmly at him. He was the first student to talk to her since the incident at the museum that same day, so she thought she should at least try to sound friendly.

"The name's Bobby" He smiled back and strode over to her, holding out a hand towards her.

"Zoe." She shook his hand lightly and began to play with the silver chain around her neck. "Although you probably already knew that."

Bobby gave a slight chuckle and sat down on the chair beside her.

"So, I guess you must be waiting to see Professor Xavier. You know he's talking to John in there, right? It may take a while after that stunt he pulled today" Bobby sighed at the thought of his friend being in more trouble. He really needed to learn how to control his anger.

"John? That's the uh... flame-boy right?" Zoe asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, that's the one" Bobby said, laughing at her description of him.

Just as Bobby replied, John stormed out of the office and stopped in his tracks as Professor Xavier called after him.

"John, could you tell Zoe to come in now, please." He heard the professor call from the office. He looked down at the girl sitting before him and backed up towards the office door, holding it open for her.

"Well, you heard him" John huffed impatiently as Zoe grabbed her things and scrambled to her feet. She gave Bobby a small smile and moved past John quickly as to not irritate him any more.

"Thanks" Zoe mumbled and sat down in one of the chairs placed directly in front of the professors' desk.

"It was my pleasure, really" John rolled his eyes and walked off down the corridor, leaving the door to slam shut behind him.

"I can promise you that not all of the students here behave quite like Mr. Allerdyce." The professor sighed, smiling at the dark-haired girl now sitting before him. She smiled back politely and gave a light chuckle.

"Just remind me not to get on his bad side" Zoe replied jokingly, earning a small laugh from the professor.

"Now, Zoe. I'm sure you understand why I wanted to have this meeting with you" Professor Xavier started and Zoe nodded for him to go on. "Since you are enrolling as a new student here it is vital that I know more about you. About your past and what led you here. Your abilities and just how powerful you are. Of course, if you don't feel comfortable talking about this... I can always read your thoughts; if you'd allow me."

Zoe pulled the sleeves of her leather jacket over her hands and bit at the inside of her cheek. Being safe had to come at some cost, and that was letting this man in on her darkest secret. Something she'd only carried with her for the past 24 hours, but also a gruesome nightmare that she knew would burden her for the rest of her miserable life. Although she'd rather not have told him about what happened that night, she guessed he'd already have some sort of idea due to what he'd said at the science museum earlier that day.

"I know. I also know why you're here and I want you to understand that I can help. We can help."

"M-My brother... I, uh..." Zoe huffed and bit her lip, trying to hold back the tears now forming in her deep brown eyes. She quickly wiped her eyes and took in a deep breath. "I killed my brother. It was an accident though, I swear! Not that it makes any difference, I still did it. I didn't even stay with him or accept any punishment, I just ran. I only thought about myself." She trailed off and furrowed her brow, staring at the desk intently.

"It's okay. You're not the first I have heard something like this from. Other students are in similar situations; they have similar pasts to you, Zoe." The professor spoke softly causing her to look up at him. "Did your family know about your abilities?"

"Yeah, my uh- my mom, the day she found out about me she started to act differently, like she was scared of me. My dad though, he uh, he was more... angry. He hated me, and I could tell. I was 14 when I found out I was telekinetic. It was summer and I was playing in the yard with Ethan, my brother, and I... I'd just rather not talk about it actually right now, or... think about it" She ran a hand through her brunette hair, her hand lingering at the newly bleached streak.

"I understand. Well, from the information you have given me I am able to assess you as a student, although at some point we will require you to undergo a test of sorts on your abilities. It'll allow us to determine just how much power you hold." The professor spoke sternly, but with a certain kindness to his voice. She knew that she was making this more difficult than necessary and that eventually she would have to tell him more. For now she was just happy to be accepted into the school.

"Thank you, professor. For everything; I promise you won't regret this" Zoe said quietly. She was incredibly grateful that he'd taken her in and she was still able to live a reasonably normal life. Or at least try to.

The professor smiled back at her and pulled out a folder. He opened it carefully and removed a key as well as some paper work that he handed to Zoe.

"Now, usually I'd leave it to your personal tutor to give you your dorm key, class schedule, maps and so on, but in this case I felt happy to do it. I know you're going to be a good student here, Zoe. I also know you'll need to be supported during your time here, and I am willing to offer that support as well as Storm, who will be your personal tutor this year. Speaking of which" Just as Professor Xavier finished his sentence the office door opened and a beautiful dark skinned woman with dazzling white hair walked in, a warm smile on her face.

"Professor" the woman greeted, standing by the open door.

"Storm, here is our newest student" Professor Xavier formally introduced them. "Zoe, Storm will be your tutor this year, and I believe she is here to take you on a tour of the mansion."

"Hey, nice to meet you" Storm smiled and shook Zoe's pale hand.

"Hey, you too" Zoe replied, smiling back.

"Well, we're going to get going, see you later professor." Storm waited for Zoe to leave the room and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Later, Storm. For now just get her settled in.

Professor X's voice echoed in Storm's mind as she nodded and followed Zoe out of the office.


"...and this is your room" Storm gestured to the door they had just stopped in front of.

After the tour of the whole mansion Zoe was keen to get dressed into her pyjamas and sleep through the night, hopefully undisturbed by any nightmares that should plague her thoughts. It was a huge school and she had been through a lot.

"Thanks for the tour and I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow" Zoe said, checking her class schedule which she held out in front of her.

"No problem at all. And the professor has decided that it's probably best for you take the day off tomorrow; get some rest so you can jump straight into classes." Storm tilted her head to the side slightly, showing concern for the quiet girl before her.

Zoe nodded and pulled out the key professor Xavier had given to her. She unlocked the door and pushed it open, revealing an average sized room containing a single bed, wardrobe, full-length mirror, bedside table and a chest of drawers.

"You're going to fit in here just fine, Zoe. You'll get used to everything, I promise." Storm reassured her as she walked back down the corridor.

Zoe smiled and entered her room, shutting the door behind her. She slung her duffle bag on the floor, happy to be rid of it after carrying it on her shoulder for so long. Her leather jacket dropped next to it and she clambered onto the bed, moving under the clean white sheets after kicking her shoes off.

Her original plan had been to shower and get something to eat before settling down in her pyjamas and going to sleep, but upon reaching the bed any remaining energy left inside of her seemed to dissipate into nothing and she immediately fell into a deep sleep.


She was running; running as fast as she could to get away from the terrifying scene behind her.

She looked back to determine just how far she'd come and tripped on what must have been an overgrown tree trunk, slamming into the hard earth. She picked herself up quickly and in her haste grazed the bare skin on her knees.

"Hurry! C'mon they're closing in on us!" A familiar male voice yelled from just ahead of her.

She looked up to see a startling white light that caused her to squint and shield her eyes as she continued to run in the direction of the voice.

Almost at once she stopped running as a heavy mist surrounded her and she called out for the male she'd heard earlier.

"Hello? Anyone? Where am I?! Help!"

A large hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her to the ground so they were level with the tall grass of the field she had found herself in.

"Found you" A deep chilling voice muttered in her ear, its breath tickling her neck.

She drew a breath in and slowly turned to face the voice only to find the mangled body of her brother lying on the floor, one hand grasping her wrist still.

Zoe sat bolt upright and screamed, thudding onto the floor and pushing herself away from the bed until she was crammed into a corner.

Her breathing was deep and shaky as she lifted one trembling hand to wipe the sweat that soaked her pale face.

"It was just a dream... just another nightmare. It wasn't real. Get up. Get up." Zoe whispered, trying to convince herself to stand.

She extended her legs slowly and moved to a standing position, finding that her legs had become too weak to carry her and abruptly falling back to the floor.

Zoe hissed in pain as her knees scraped lightly against the carpet and she looked down to find them both scratched up and covered in... Dirt?

She stood quickly, ignoring the pain from her knees and grabbing for the handle of the door that was opposite the foot of the bed. She hadn't noticed it when she walked in that night and just blamed it on exhaustion.

She opened the door to find a small bathroom complete with a shower, sink and a toilet. Zoe moved toward the shower and stripped out of her dress and underwear.

She blasted the water on full heat and stepped underneath the boiling spray, scrubbing at her knees and silently crying as the memories of the nightmare flooded her mind.

After what seemed like hours of huddling in one of the corners of the shower and letting the hot spray hit her shaking body, Zoe pulled herself out of her trance-like state and reached for the towel hanging on the wall. She wrapped it around her body and walked slowly back into her room, sitting down on her once sweat soaked bed.

She brought her knees up to her chest to check them over in the moon light and saw clean unbroken skin that was bright pink from where she'd scrubbed so hard in the boiling hot water.

What? No. They were right here, I swear! There was blood... dirt, everywhere! She thought, hurriedly standing up and walking over to the mirror. There in the reflection stood a dripping wet, but thoroughly clean Zoe. No blood, no dirt.

"I-I... I don't understand!" Zoe cupped a hand over her trembling mouth as salty tears slid down her cheeks. She wasn't okay, not even a little bit.

The professor said he and Storm would both be available to talk to whenever she felt she needed support so she put it at the top of her to do list that she'd speak to either one of the two in the morning.

Zoe glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table, illuminating the dark room. The numbers 3:13 shone brightly and she ran a hand through her tangled mess of hair.

"Guess I could at least get dressed since I've got nothing better to do for the next, oh, 5 hours" Zoe grumbled as she pulled on her underwear, bra, a black pair of tights and a short burgundy, long sleeved dress.

She stumbled sleepily over to her wardrobe and put away the remaining clothes from her duffle bag. She may have been tired, but nothing was going to persuade her to fall back into the dark nightmare she had previously awoken from. Had it been possible, Zoe would've gladly stayed awake for the rest of her life if it meant not having anymore nightmares.

She paced over to the windowsill, the curtains still drawn back. A full moon shone in the dark night sky and reflected off her light porcelain skin. Zoe sat on the large windowsill and stared out into the moonlit courtyard in front of the school.

Better get comfortable, I'm here 'till sunrise. She thought quietly as she rested her head against the pane behind her and breathed a sigh of relief; happy at the thought of escaping anymore sleep tonight.


Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed and added this story to their favourites, it keeps me writing! :D I know there isn't much action at the moment, especially involving John & Zoe, but I'm just getting started, it'll get more interesting I promise! Also, I have an announcement to make! Since I am moving in 2 weeks and have done absolutely no packing whatsoever, chances are I'm not going to be updating until after I have moved ): Also it's both mine & my sister's birthdays this week and I need to go and say goodbye to all of my friends and family (I'm moving really far away). So I'm not going to have any time to write, I'm sorry! I will update as soon as possible and I'll try not to keep you waiting too long! Thanks guys (: