Chapter 3

"I suppose I should start with when my Mum died. Both she and my Dad were born in Canada, and when they found out she had Cancer, they decided that we'd move back to be closer to her family, and where she was born. So we all moved to Canada. Dad bought a big house near the bottom of the Rockies, and Mum lasted another three months after the move. It devastated my Dad. I think he thought she'd pull a miraculous recovery, or something. Anyway, she didn't. About six weeks later, I transformed for the first time. I'd never been so scared in my life. I didn't know what to do, so I went straight to him, to my dad. As scared as I was, I'd never seen him as mad as he was that day. I showed him what I did, and, when I returned to my own form, he hit me; he hit me so hard, so many times. The only reason he stopped was because my brother came home, and pulled him away from me. He told me that if I ever transformed again, he'd make me wish I'd never been born. I was so scared that I did nothing for about a month, although I wanted to. It had felt so right. One day, I lost control, and transformed. It was terrible. I was in his office, and he saw it. I thought he beat me hard the first time. I was wrong. I woke up almost 36 hours later, drenched in blood, and covered in bruises from where he had hit me." Matilda heard, rather than felt her voice crack, but ignored it, and the tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.

"The next day, Dad called up all his friends, asking for their help constructing a biosphere in our backyard, and most of them agreed. He only told his closest friends what it was for. Everyone else assumed that it was in my Mum's memory, a greenhouse, designed to keep the cold out, so plants from a tropical climate would survive the cold winters. Instead, it was built to keep me in. They dug a two meter deep hole in the ground, roughly about the same size as two or three basketball courts, and lined it with concrete, to stop me digging out. They backfilled the hole with dirt, and planted the area up with trees while they built the actual dome. I don't know what that was made of, but no matter what I did, I could never break it. It was frosted over, so I could still, sort of, see out, but no one could really see in. Anyway, they built a little, one room, log cabin in the middle for me to live in, and put a heating system on that kept it a constant 25 degrees Celsius. Then, I was put in, and the doors were locked. At first I liked it, but after the first week of solitude, I began to hate it. Once every day, early in the morning, someone would bring out some food for me to eat. I'm pretty sure it was my brother, because whenever he went away, I got given less, or I was neglected altogether. I passed the time practicing with my mutation, and I figured out a few things, like flying when I was a bird. Anyway, time passed. About one year ago, my brother came home from college, and had a big fight with our Dad. It was about me. As strong as the dome was, it was not soundproof." Matilda blinked, and the tears started running down her face, "My Dad hit my brother, knocking him to the ground, and pulled out a gun" Matilda paused, sobbing, before taking a shaking breath, "And shot him. I watched the whole thing. It was the worst moment of my life, worse than when my Mum died, and when I transformed for the first time. It was then I decided that I had to leave. I waited until all the snow was gone; it was late in February when I escaped. I used the form of a spider, and bit one of the guards when he snuck into the biosphere to get warm. I stole his keys, and ran for it. I've been running ever since."

"Did your father ever find you?" the Professor asked. Everyone else remained silent

"He and his friends chased after me when I first ran for it, and he shot me. It only just nicked my shoulder though. It took a while to heal. Ever since then, I haven't seen or heard a trace of him."

"What have you been doing for the past eight months?" Matilda knew what the Professor was pushing for her to say, so she took another deep breath.

"After a couple of months, I was still limping when I was walking on four paws. I was crossing a road, up in Canada still, when I didn't quite get out of the road of a speeding car quick enough. All I remember was the sound of a engine, then my entire body screaming in pain. I was hurled to the side of the road, and lay in the ditch, my blood draining away. I lay like that for days, waiting for death to take me. Eventually, I was rescued, by someone who is in this room." Matilda paused, glancing over at Wolverine, who looked thoughtful.

"Did you know I wasn't a real wolf?" she asked. He met her eyes.

"I had my suspicions. I'm guessing that's where you picked up the idea to come here, because I talked about it in front of you." He said easily

"Yeah, that's where I got the original idea from."

"Why did you leave then, once you knew I was a mutant, and that I knew somewhere safe?" Wolverine, or rather, Logan, asked. Matilda shrugged.

"I wanted to pick up some things I'd left behind, and I wanted to sight see a bit, since I'd recovered pretty much. Once I had seen all I wanted to, a came here. I figured that winter was on its way, so it would be best to head for shelter. That's my story, so far."

"The question is what to do now about this." Xavier said.

"When was the last time you were at school?" Storm asked.

"Just after my first transformation. My Dad faked my death."

"How old are you?" Jean queried.

"I'm 18 in January"

"Storm, can you, Scott, and Jean, start giving her one-on-one lessons, try to get her up to date. I think she can join Bobby, John, and Rogue, in X-men training as well, assuming that's all right with you, Matilda."

"Um, what's 'X-men training'?" Matilda replied, confused.

"It's a secret society of mutants that fight to preserve harmony between humans and mutants."

"Ah, Rogue sort of mentioned that, but she didn't mention names. It sounds fine. I'd like to help, if I can."

"That's good. Jean, after lunch, do you want to check Matilda, and then, on Monday, we'll start those classes"

Their was universal consent, and everyone got up and moved towards the door. Jean walked over to Matilda, smiling in a friendly way.

"You'll be fine, Matilda. You don't have to run anymore."

"Thanks" Matilda replied, smiling at the others.