I like the sad eyes, bad guys,
mouth full of white lies.
Kiss me in the corridor,
but quick to tell me goodbye.
-Ghost, Halsey
I didn't remember falling asleep but when I opened my eyes, I knew I was dreaming. I was back at home – not the Institute, but my actual home in Canada. I could smell the bacon sizzling on the stove, the bitter scent of coffee barely noticeable over the grease smell, and joyous laughter coming from the kitchen. Rubbing my eyes, I slipped out of bed, shuffling to the door.
I trudged down the hall, still trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes. When I came to the end of the hall which lead to the kitchen, I froze, seeing three boys, sitting at the table, laughing over some comics.
It was Gunner, Clyde, and Hugh. Except they weren't the handsome young men I'd last seen them as.
They no longer had the same chiselled jaws, toned bodies, and purposely rugged hair. Now, they were twelve year old boys with round, red cheeks, bright eyes, and too long hair.
"What's going on?" I breathed, looking at the three boys. They turned to me, their smiles falling off their faces.
"Oh," Hugh hummed, turning back to his breakfast and biting into a piece of bacon. I frowned at that, my fists clenching.
I was in a dream, I knew that, so maybe that was what gave me the courage to finally call Hugh out. "God, why have you always been so cruel to me? I'm your sister and you treat me like shit!"
"Because why not?" Clyde answered and Gunner snickered, stifling his laugh by biting into a piece of toast.
"Hugh, answer the damn question," I snarled.
Hugh swivelled around in his chair, his gaze dark – too dark to be that of a twelve year old. "This is when I started hating you, you know?"
"Why?" I repeated. I didn't notice as Clyde and Gunner stood to go put their plates in the sink.
"If you paid more attention, you would know," Hugh answered easily. "You're not the only one."
"The only what? Person you hate?" I guessed, making a face. If there was a point to this dream, I wasn't reaching it anytime soon. "You haven't answered my question yet."
"Why do I hate you now? Why now?" Was he just repeating my question or was he asking me? I didn't know.
"I don't know, you tell me! You're not making any sense!" I stressed, my frustration rising more at the little boy. "Just tell me why!"
"Why now, Violet? Why now?" Hugh's voice was steadily becoming angrier and louder. "Why, why, why, WHY?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I screamed. I barely finished before I felt someone slam into me from behind, knocking me to the floor. I twisted around, just in time to see Hugh – the sixteen year old Hugh – towering over me.
"WHY NOW, VIOLET? WHY DO I HATE YOU NOW!"
I covered my eyes with my hands, digging my hairs into my head to form deep crescent shapes in the flesh. "Stop!" I yelled, curling into fetal position.
I stayed like that for at least a minute, my hands covering my face, and my breathing heavy. I slowly peeled my hands away from my face, cautious enough that I could cover them again if Hugh was still there.
But he wasn't. The kitchen was empty, save for the dirty dishes and thick smell of breakfast in the air. Hugh, Clyde, and Gunner were gone.
For the rest of the night, I dreamt of soaring through the sky.
[X]
I woke up the next morning to someone poking me rapidly on the shoulder. I let out a low growl but they didn't stop. I tried kicking them but I must have missed completely because the poking only escalated to the person shaking me.
"What?" I snarled, sitting up and flashing golden irises at my 'attacker.' Bobby stumbled back a bit but he didn't look scared. He had a confused smile on his face as he held up his hands in defense.
"Where have you been?" It came out as a yell. I shrugged, letting out a yawn as I slipped out of the bed. My feet landed on a dirty white shirt and my face crumpled in disgust when I finally realized that I had fallen asleep in a boy's room.
And not just any boys – John and Bobby's room.
"How'd I get in here?" I muttered, kicking the shirt away. I discreetly tried to bury my nose in my shirt to block out the smell without Bobby seeing. "Last I remember, I was in the entrance."
"That's what I want to know," Bobby hummed. "All I know is that when I fell asleep, John was downstairs watching TV and that bed was empty. You really have a thing for entrances, you know?"
"Uh, I wouldn't really call waking up in a random bed an entrance," I replied with a shrug. "But if that's the most interesting thing that's happened since I got here…"
Bobby rolled his eyes playfully as he pulled a gray shirt on. To be honest, it hadn't even registered that he was shirtless to begin with. I must be either extremely tired or gay because Bobby has the kind of body that girls have wet dreams over.
"C'mon, I'm sure the girls would be excited to see you. Rogue, Jube, and Kitty were all worried when you disappeared like that," he explained as we made our way to the bedroom door. "And you were gone so long too! The Professor was about to send out a search party but he said something about it not being safe and scaring you off, or something like that."
'I wasn't gone that long,' I thought as Bobby led me into the hall. The first person we saw was Jay (of course) who was chatting with some kid I never met before. Jay glanced carelessly over at us, looked back at the other boy, before his head whipped back as he gaped.
"I, uh, I have to go," Jay muttered quietly to the boy before sprinting off in the other direction. I couldn't help but smile to myself. Yes, I had probably scarred him, mentally and physically, but he was such a prick that I barely felt sorry.
Besides, it was nice to have respect for once… even if it was just out of fear.
As we passed more people in the hall, I could feel myself steadily grow more self-conscious with each whisper and intense stare. I was only gone a few days, maybe five at the most, and people were staring at me like I had died and come back to life.
"Why's everyone staring at me?" I asked Bobby awkwardly, shooting him a pleading look. He snorted.
"What do you expect? You just vanished and all the sudden you're back. Even you have to admit it's kind of suspicious," he pointed out. My eyes narrowed slightly.
"It's not that weird. We live in a school full of people with super powers. I'm sure my 'disappearance' isn't the strangest thing that's happened so far." Bobby shrugged with a nod, muttering something under his breath that sounded like, "Fair enough."
"Where are we going, by the way?" I asked, realizing that I had absolutely no idea where Bobby was leading me. I'd been at the Institute for about a month now and I understood the basics of the mansion, like how to get around the girl's wing, how to get to the dining hall, kitchen, rec room, Danger Room, my classes etc.
And with all that, I still didn't even know half of the rooms in the mansion. It baffled me how Bobby could move so easily around the halls.
"To see the Professor?" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Or at least Storm or Dr. Grey. We just need to tell somebody that you're alive." It was starting to sink in that my mini vacation was actually a big deal.
But if it was such a big deal, why didn't they send someone out to look for me?
"Hey Luke, where's the Professor?" Bobby stopped some kid in the hall to ask. I vaguely recognized him as a troublemaker in Danger Room Sessions but he seemed to only know me by my reputation.
"I think he's in Cerebro with Dr. Grey," Luke answered, eyeing me up and down. I felt my cheeks redden and I shifted on the balls of my feet. This was honestly so awkward and I could just feel everyone's judgemental stares.
The only thing I wanted back in Canada was to just be unnoticed. Even if I didn't have a single friend, I just wanted to be left alone. When I came to Xavier's I thought it would be a second chance to maybe slink through life unnoticed… that hasn't been working out so well either.
Luke walked off and Bobby turned to me. "Class hasn't started yet so we should be able to catch Storm before the bell rings."
I followed Bobby silently through the halls, keeping my head down as we walked. I wrapped my flannel shirt closer to my body to hide the torn shirt underneath.
We came to an empty classroom where Storm was organizing papers behind her desk. When Bobby knocked on the door, her eyes immediately fell on me. "Violet?" she gasped, rushing towards me. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"
"Uh, I fell out of a tree if that's what you mean," I answered, showing off my ripped clothes. "A trucker gave me his shirt."
"Trucker?" Bobby repeated quietly behind me as Storm led me towards some desks. She gave Bobby a look that basically told him to leave, which he complied to.
"Tell me what happened," she urged. Then she seemed to take in my full appearance and backtracked. "You must be starving, and you need a shower… You can tell me about this later, but for now, go get yourself cleaned up."
"Uh, okay…" I stood awkwardly. I had just come down here only to be sent back to my room so I was more presentable. To be honest, I just hated walking down the halls knowing that everyone was talking about me.
When I made it to my room, the first thing I did was collapse on my bed, taking in the comfort of the mattress. After at least fifteen minutes of just lying there, I finally peeled myself off the bed and dragged myself to the bathroom.
When I saw my reflection for the first time, I couldn't help but gasp. No wonder people had been staring.
My hair looked like it was in dreadlocks from how greasy it was, my skin was splattered with mud and dirt stains and there were random cuts and bruises covering my body. To add to it, I looked skinnier, paler, and overall, shittier.
I couldn't keep looking in the mirror at the tragedy of a reflection. All I could do was tear off my clothes and step into the shower. The warm water that flooded over me was indescribable to say the least – it felt like years since I had my last shower, even if it was only a couple of days.
After a twenty minute shower and changing into fresh clothes, I went downstairs to the rec room. Sure, maybe going to Storm first would have been smarter but I wanted to see my friends again and explain to them what happened – or at least the basics.
When I stepped into the rec room, there were only a few people in it because it was a school day and everyone was probably getting ready for class. The only people in it was John, Amara, and Cal. I didn't know Amara or Cal very well but John lit up in a mischievous glow when he saw me.
"And Sleeping Ugly awakens!" he announced and the other two glanced over at me, looking mildly surprised.
"Ha ha," I laughed sarcastically. "You're as pleasant as ever."
"Well what do you want me to say then?" John retorted as I collapsed on the couch next to him. I thought for a moment.
"Good morning Violet, I hope you slept well. By the way, I'm glad you're not dead or anything since you've been missing for a few days now," I said, trying to mimic his voice. Cal chuckled a little but didn't say anything. Amara started to giggle but once my words registered in her head, she stopped, looking slightly confused.
"Days?" Amara repeated, a small frown on her face. "Violet, you've been gone for nearly three weeks."
I gaped at the girl, my eyes wide and face pale. I opened and closed my mouth, trying to form words. When I changed back from the eagle, I had thought I had only been like that for a week at the most… not three.
"Wait, so you don't even remember half of it?" Cal clarified and I nodded. "Whoa, what happened to you?"
"That's what I'd like to know." The four of us turned to see the Professor wheeling into the room, Storm walking beside him. "Violet, would you mind meeting me in my office? We have a lot to talk about."
I shared a look with Amara before standing and following the Professor out the door. I thought he would have a class to teach but he must have gotten a substitute so he could talk with me. It made me feel kind of special actually. 'Don't get ahead of yourself,' I reminded myself. 'He would do this with anyone.'
We reached his office in only a few minutes and Storm left to go to class. I sat in the comfy chairs that I seemed to spend every day in and looked in the Professor's eyes. "So Violet, why don't you start from the beginning. Tell me what scared you off."
"Uh, I saw my dad." I waited a second for the news to sink in for both of us. The whole thing was still so unreal that I had a hard time wrapping my head around it. "I kind of freaked out and changed into an eagle and flew off."
"I see," the Professor hummed, rubbing his chin. "Can you tell me anything after that?"
I shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I thought I remembered everything that I did while Apex was in control but I guess not. I thought I was only gone for a few days but I just found out I was gone for three weeks instead."
"Apex is becoming more powerful," the Professor said aloud. We were both thinking it, he was just the one to say it. "Violet, you must understand that the more you push Apex away, the stronger he becomes. You have to learn to accept him if you ever truly want control of your abilities."
I snorted, rubbing my forehead in irritation. I'm pretty sure we already had a conversation like this before. I mean, yes, I understood what he was saying but it's a lot easier said than done. I couldn't exactly just accept the monster who killed my mother as part of me.
I changed the subject, not wanting to go over the whole 'control' thing again. "After I remembered who I was, I hitched a ride with a trucker and he brought me part of the way and I walked the rest. I vaguely remember being carried upstairs too."
"That would be John," the Professor added and I made a face. 'John was capable of being a decent human?' "I also think this would be a good time to tell you that we keep a spare key under a rock near the door. Next time, please try not breaking down the door."
I blushed a deep shade of red. "Sorry, I have a problem with locked doors."
The Professor winked, nodding his head to the office door which I had broken down about a month ago. "I've noticed."
There was a pause and I could feel the Professor searching my mind. I instantly started thinking of random thing – flowers, kittens, trees, rocks – to try and keep my mind off the incident with my father, or the whole 'Why now?' dream I had last night. It probably wouldn't stop the Professor in the slightest but at least he'd know that I didn't appreciate the mind reading. Almost instantly, I could feel him back off.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me, Violet?" the Professor asked and immediately shook my head.
'Well obviously not if I tried shutting you out,' I thought to myself. It was unnerving to not be sure if he heard it or not. "Nothing I want to go into."
"Alright," the Professor hummed patiently. "But I do have some more information about your mutation that I would like to go over with you."
'Fantastic.'
The Professor pulled out a simple piece of paper with an image on it. He laid it down on the desk and I leaned over to get a better look. It was a picture of a wolf with black fur, golden eyes, and the tiniest sliver of green in them.
The Professor then lay a similar picture next to it. This time it was still a black wolf with golden eyes, but anyone could tell they were two separate wolves. The second one was taller, thinner legs, with a fluffier chest and tail, and was a darker black than the first one, which had more gray in it.
I pointed to the second one, letting my eyes meet the Professor's. "Is that Apex?" He nodded.
"I took this during one of our training sessions and compared it to the real Apex to see if you also possessed the ability to shape shift into other humans," he explained. My lips tugged down in a frown as I took a closer look at the first image.
"Wait… so this is the wolf I saw in the zoo all those years ago? How did you even get that picture?" I asked.
"The Internet is an interesting place, Violet," he answered with a chuckle. I laughter along for a moment before picking up the second picture – the one of me.
It was a simple image, taken in the Danger Room, but just looking at it told me so much. I was standing tall, proud, and calm; it was clearly one of the times when I had managed to keep Apex at bay. Ever since I first discovered that I was a mutant, I viewed Apex as this bloodthirsty monster and my wolf form as his weapon but looking at that single image made me second guess that.
I could transform into a creature that mesmerizing and I was smothering it, pretending like it didn't live inside of me. No wonder Apex was always so angry whenever he made an appearance.
I set the images down, meeting his kind blue eyes again. "So what were you saying about me being able to change into different people?"
"Unfortunately, I don't think you're able to. You see, even though you look similar to the wolf you saw in the zoo, you only share a few trivial qualities, like fur and eye color. I think you are able to manipulate a few qualities, such as hair color, eye color, or even a slight difference in height, but you'll never be able to truly look like a different person," the Professor explained.
I frowned slightly at that because being able to alter my looks would have been pretty cool. I mean, I wouldn't have just one day made myself look like a model, but I would gradually give myself bigger boobs, a better nose, and healthier hair.
But it turns out that all I could do was change my hair color. And everyone can do that! It's called hair dye and it's not exactly expensive.
"Is that it then?" I asked as the Professor slipped the two images back into his desk. "Or is there anything else?"
"Don't forget that since it's Wednesday, that means you also have a Danger Room Session in about an hour and a half. But other than that, you're free to go," the Professor responded, smiling kindly. I stood, opening my mouth to say something but closing it again. Without another word, I turned and left the Professor's office. I was tempted to ask him why he never sent anyone out to look for me but I decided against it.
The Professor probably had his reasons and there was no point in arguing over it.
I was walking down the hallway when I heard something that could have been mistaken for nails on a chalkboard – teenage girl screams. I only managed to turn around to see Jubilee's excited brown eyes before I was enveloped in a bone crushing hug. Rogue and Kitty were hanging back, trying to act nonchalant about my return, but I could see the excitement sparkling in their eyes.
"Violet!" Jubilee cheered. "Where have you been? What happened to you! Oh God, we thought you were dead. We were considering going out by ourselves to look for you!"
I laughed awkwardly, giving Kitty and Rogue hugs as well. "I was… around. I had some business to take care of."
Jubilee's face paled considerably. "You didn't kill anyone did you?"
I shared a look with Rogue. "No."
Jubilee let out a relieved breath. She fanned her face dramatically. "Phew! I thought you might have curb stomped someone."
"She can turn into a wolf, Jube," Kitty joked. "I'm sure that's a little more convenient than curb stomping."
Jubilee shrugged, shooting us all a sly smile. "You never know, maybe Violet prefers more… old fashioned tactics."
Rogue wrinkled her nose. "Something is wrong with you, Jube."
Jubilee merely brushed her hair over her shoulder and grinned widely. "Yeah, it's called being freaking awesome." I laughed along with the girls as they continued their banter.
The four of us walked casually down the hall as they filled me in on everything that happened since I was gone. They told me about how Bobby, John, and Cal scared the living daylights out of them when they were watching some Stephen King movie. How Rogue walked in on Bobby when he was getting changed. How Kitty and Colossus, though they were calling him Piotr, kissed. Though Kitty assured us that she felt nothing and that she was interested in someone else (to which Rogue responded with narrowed eyes and a slight scowl). How Nori blew up yet another TV. How someone stole Scott's glasses but gave them back when he blew a hole through a wall.
How literally anything that could possibly be considered interesting happened in the three weeks that I wasn't there. I swear to God, the President could fly in on a jetpack and I would have been sick that day.
"Anyway," Kitty started after laughing over yet another incident that I missed. "I don't know if anyone's told you this yet but we're taking a school-wide field trip tomorrow to the museum."
I wrinkled my nose. "The museum?" I groaned.
For one, I hate field trips. I haven't gone on one since seventh grade because I pretended to be sick every time a field trip would roll around. And two, it was at a museum.
"Don't worry, it'll be fun!" Jubilee replied with a grin. "The school goes once a year and the Professor usually buys us all ice cream on the way back."
Kitty's gaze darkened. "Unless John ruins it somehow," she snarled. Rogue and I glanced between the two girls who were both scowling.
"Explain?" I asked weakly.
"John has been here since he was like, thirteen and every single year, he manages to cause a scene in one way or another. Last year he set the mutant protestors on fire, the year before that he started a fire in the Caveman exhibit. Honestly, he always does something. I think he thinks its tradition now," Jubilee explained.
"Maybe this year will be different?" Rogue offers. The two girls exploded in laughter. The brunette shrunk away, her pale cheeks tinted with pink.
Kitty started after the laughter died down, "Rogue, you have been here long but long enough that you should know that St. John Allerdyce does not miss the chance to set something on fire. He will cause a scene and ruin ice cream for us, just you wait. And if he doesn't, I'm damn sure he'll melt it before we can eat it."
After that entire rant, the only thing I actually took from that was John's name – he was a saint?
"Who the blue fuck made John a saint?" I blurted. There was a moment before everyone started laughing while I just stood confused.
Kitty wiped the tears from her eyes. "Oh my God Violet, you kill me."
…That didn't answer my question at all.
"We asked him the exact same thing and he got all pissy and tried setting us on fire," Jubilee explained. "We had to Google it but apparently, according to that amazing thing called the Internet, St. John is pronounced like Sinjin or something like that in some countries."
"When we called John that, he exploded. I swear to God, if I couldn't phase through walls, I'd be a burnt mark on the floor right now," Kitty added and I snorted. I could totally imagine John doing something like that.
Realization sparked in Rogue's eyes. "Wait, is that why there were scorch marks all over the Rec. room when I first got here?" The girls nodded. Rogue looked like she was lost in a memory, her mouth slightly parted and her eyes wide in awe. Finally, she said, "Well damn."
Jubilee and Kitty giggled helplessly as John passed, us all looking at him with amusement in our eyes. His gray eyes narrowed as he scanned each of our faces before he kept on walking. After he was gone, the two girls burst into even more extreme laughter.
When the laughter died down, I remembered what the Professor had said. "Right, it is Danger Room day!"
The other girl's all looked a little shocked, clearly having lost track of time. "Crap!" Jubilee exclaimed. "We need to get going!"
Jubilee grabbed Kitty's wrist, dragging her down the hall. I expected them to turn at the corner but they just phased through the wall. I don't know why it even still even surprised that they did that.
Rogue tugged at my shoulder. "C'mon, we're going to be late!"
I ran after Rogue into the girls' wing before going into my own bedroom. I quickly redid my hair, pulling it into a tight ponytail, and changing into some leggings and a loose t-shirt from the clothes the Professor had made for me.
Only a few minutes later, I was downstairs, pulling my sneakers on as I hopped towards the Danger Room doors. The doors slid open to reveal a line of students, some looking shocked to see me, and others looking a little annoyed that I was so late.
"Uh, hi," I said awkwardly, jogging up to stand in line next to Bobby.
"Glad you could join us, Violet," Scott greeted. He smiled at me but didn't say anything about my absence for the past few weeks. "As I was saying, today's Danger Room Session will be an obstacle course. You will run through the course as teams and whoever gets the best time wins."
"What are we playing for?" Luke asked and a few people sniggered.
"Luke," Scott started with a sigh. "When have we ever played for anything?"
Luke shrugged. "I don't know, I just thought you might want to jazz things up a bit." More sniggers.
Scott simply sighed but didn't say anything else to the younger boy. He just divided us into teams. I was on a team with Luke, Amara, Nori, Bobby, and Jubilee, with Colossus, Kitty, Jay, John, Jaimie, and Rogue on the other team. We were given three minutes to strategize.
The obstacle course looked kind of like a super intense military course. The first obstacle was a giant steel wall that was about ten feet high with a muddy pool on the other side for us to jump into. Next was just empty space with paintball gins aimed at it, leading into a tower that we had to climb up a net to get to. There wasn't any way to get off the tower though. At the bottom of the tower, there was another empty space, this time filled with red lasers. If you touched a laser, you had to start over from the beginning of the course.
At the very end of the course, there were six pathways, each with their own obstacles. At the end of each path was a red button that we would all have to push at the same time.
Our team huddled up, Nori going out of her way to stay on the opposite side of the group from me. I almost rolled my eyes because I figured we could have moved past this when I got back.
Bobby and Luke were strategizing so fast I could barely hear a thing they said, something about ice and walls and buttons. It was honestly a blur to me and judging from the look Amara shot me, she felt the same.
"So are we ready?" Luke asked. Without even waiting for anyone to reply, he broke away from the group with a cheer. I could only blink my eyes and follow him to the course.
Scott didn't blow his whistle right away, but he walked over to me, something in his hand. When he got closer, I could see it was a black leather bracelet with three white dots on it. "The Professor had these made for everyone when you were gone to help make Danger Room Sessions safer."
I slipped the bracelet on my wrist as he explained. "The bracelet tracks your breathing patterns, heartbeat, and adrenaline level. If anything were to happen to you, the Danger Room would freeze and someone would come help you. It also has a GPS in it so if something were to happen outside of the Danger Room, help would be on its way. You don't have to wear it outside the DR, but we'd recommend it."
I looked down at the bracelet again. One of the white dots had turned a pale shade of green when I slipped it on. "Basically green means everything is fine, yellow means you're hurt but it's no reason for concern, orange is a little more serious but it depends how much danger you're actually in before we'll intervene, and red is serious and means immediate intervention," he explained.
"Fancy," I muttered, examining my bracelet. Glancing around the room, I saw a faint green light on everybody's wrist. I opened my mouth to saw something else but Scott was already walking away.
'Okay then, I guess it's time to see if this thing really works.'
I took my spot at the beginning of the course, leaning down slightly so I could take off easier. I waited… 3…2…1… GO!
The six of us took off, sprinting towards the steel wall without pause. Ice shot from Bobby's hands, forming a staircase in front of us and over the wall. I nearly slipped running up it but made it to the top, dropping into the mud without hesitation.
I didn't even take a moment to catch my breath before launching myself towards the empty space. Jubilee, Nori, and Amara set on trying to blow up the guns with their powers while I sprinted forward, directly towards a gun.
I could see the shocked faces as I morphed into a wolf, closing my jaws around the barrel of the gun, crushing the plastic. I transformed back into a human in time to see Nori backing away with a terrified expression on her face. I flinched back like I had been hit. Did she honestly think I had intentions to hurt her?
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I turned back to the course, seeing that most of the guns were destroyed. As a group, we sprinted forward, moving on to the next obstacle. I leapt onto the net, scrambling to get up while Luke sprang past me, to the top of the tower. Bobby used his ice to carry himself to the top while the rest of us girls were left to scramble.
'If you let me help, you would get to the top faster,' Apex's voice whispered in the back of my mind. Usually I was good at ignoring him but this time, two words came to mind:
Fuck it.
Focusing on the same feeling of freedom I got when first changing into the eagle, I let my arms morph into two huge, black wings, as I flew to the top. I could see the stares coming at me in every direction and I even heard Jaimie mumble, "I thought she could only change into a wolf."
"I guess not," Jay replied. He didn't sound too enthusiastic.
'Sorry Honey, you're not the only one with wings.'
I landed at the top of the tower, taking a few seconds to force Apex back down again. He wasn't happy about it though and almost immediately after changing into a human again, I was hit with a throbbing headache, my vision filling with spots for a few heartbeats.
I rubbed my temples to ease the pain and stumbled towards the other side of the tower. It was a clear drop to the bottom, much like the first obstacle, but this one didn't have a mud pit to catch my fall at the bottom.
Bobby appeared in front of me, standing on a platform of ice. "Need a lift?"
"I'd rather not jump," I joked, taking his hand and stepping onto the ice platform. I had only been surfing once when my family went to California for Christmas, but those five seconds of being carried by ice felt exactly like it – the only difference being that the water I was surfing on was frozen.
Bobby's powers got us to the other side of the red lasers without incident, and he dropped me off, going back to help the others. I had to wait for everyone else to catch up with me because we had to push the buttons at the same time, but when they did, we all chose a different pathway.
My path had flying paintball guns – I know, the shit you can afford when you're as rich as the Professor – and a giant hole in the floor, just too big to jump over.
I ran at the guns full speed, morphing into a wolf as I leapt, crushing it between by jaws. I jumped again, swinging the gun in my mouth and slamming it into another one of the guns. With only one gun left, I morphed into an eagle again, digging my talons into it and flying up.
When I was high enough, I plummeted, sending the drone crashing into the ground in an explosion that burned my feather. I quickly flew to the other side of the hole and morphed back into a human, trying to ignore the painful headache that blinded my vision.
"Is everyone ready?" Amara yelled.
"One sec," Nori answered. A heartbeat later, the Danger Room lit up with blue electricity and some drones dropped to the ground. "Yeah!"
"On the count of three," Luke yelled, holding his hand over a red button. I did the same. "One… Two… Three!"
I slammed my hand into the red button and a second later, an automatic voice sounded. "Danger Room Session complete. Time: seven minutes and forty-six seconds."
We all cheered, running together for a group hug. Before I can hug anyone though, Luke jumped away from me. "Ew, you're bleeding!"
For a horrifying second I thought I got my period, but then I noticed everyone staring at my face, not my pants. I touched my nose, pulling back to see crimson. I hadn't even noticed the blood.
"You hit your face?" Scott asked, jogging up to us. He tossed me a towel which I pressed to my nose.
"No, it's fine," I lied. I had a pounding headache from morphing into an eagle, and it escalated when I changed straight from a wolf to an eagle. I guess when I overwork my abilities, the consequences are a migraine and a nosebleed.
But even if the pain and blood was horrible, it still couldn't take me off my good mood. Because I had just unleashed Apex without anything too bad happening. I had used Apex for a good cause, and that made me feel better than I could have imagined.
I was actually in such a good mood that I hadn't even noticed the green light on my bracelet fade to orange.
