Thank you so much to the readers who have stayed with me throughout this story!
Chapter 25: Talking Bird
"The Professor should pay you for guard duty."
Hank jumped and shook his head, disappointed that he didn't hear her footsteps. But with one deep breath, he knew exactly who it was. She smelled like pine and the fresh fall of snow.
He turned and looked up at Claire, standing there in grey sweats and a black shirt with a pattern of constellations connected with white lines. She gave him a small smile, and he closed his book on thermonuclear physics and smiled back.
"Sean and Alex, even Joey, are all quite determined to get into the liquor, though I have no clue why."
Claire shrugged, tossed a notebook and textbook to the floor with a thump as she sat down next to him, leaning her back against the door to Charles' office where the said liquor was held. Even though the house had a wine cellar next to the kitchen, where aging bottles of red and white were stored as well as multiple bottles of champagne, Sean and Alex were determined to get to the heavier stuff.
She looked over at Hank. Her heart still raced a little bit each time she saw at him. It wasn't so much fear anymore as it was amazement. His blue fur, bright yellow eyes, and sharpened claws; all ingredients for a lean, mean, killing machine. And yet when he first looked at her he fell out of his chair, broke it, and then stumbled away, stuttering as though he was a lost puppy.
Alex had slipped once and said that Hank used to look human. She was curious to know what had changed that. And a part of her wanted to know what he looked like before.
"I kind of understand, my brother was the same whenever my parents went out of town. My mom made homemade candles and lotion, using natural ingredients from around our cabin. They'd go on expos and swap meets and such, leaving the two of us alone. They locked up everything in a cabinet, Jonathan always tried to persuade me to break the lock."
Hank tilted his head.
"Did you?"
She nodded.
"Once. The first and last time. He drank too much. Watched a marathon of the Jetsons and started crying at something that weird robot maid said. Then he passed out in our bathroom, hanging over the toilet."
Hank laughed.
She smiled, and shrugged as she continued.
"I've tried it myself. It's worse than beer, even if it's mixed. Dunno how people even drink it straight! Even 'on the rocks'. If it were me, I'd wait for the ice to melt to dull it down, and then I'd drink it."
Hank grinned and nodded.
There was a moment of silence as the conversation lapsed.
"What did you-"
"Can you show me-" They both started at the same time.
They stopped and grinned, but Claire shook her head, raising an eyebrow.
"Show you what?" she asked.
Hank looked away, his eyes drawn to the notebook and textbook.
"Oh, this. It's uhm… so I might've had an underlying reason for this visit. I'm having trouble with some of the questions," she said quickly, picking them up and showing him an her textbook. "I'm telling you, Algebra was created by Satan! Just to spite everybody..."
"Actually, I was… uh…" he faded off when she stopped and pushed her textbook and notebook off her lap. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he still avoided her gaze.
"What?" she said softly.
He let out a deep breath and gathered courage to meet her gaze. Her eyes widened a millimeter, as she always did when their eyes met.
"Can you… I've never really… seen your ability, up close," he finally got out, taking a deep breath and looking away.
She inhaled a gasp, but then he felt her knee knock against his, which had him looking back at her, now smiling.
"I thought you saw the first time I came…"
He shook his head, glad his fur hid his blush.
"I might've… I left after you… after-" he couldn't finish, but she turned her body to face him, their knees still touching, her hands moving to grasp one of his. He felt the ends of his claws digging into her skin, but she acted as though it was nothing.
"Oh god, you must've thought I was such a bitch! I was-"
"Hey, hey, you explained the morning after and even if you hadn't… I understand," he said slowly.
That's the thing though… that look from Joey. From Claire, from the Mutant Acceptance League. The initial look of fear, followed by confusion, more fear…
Claire shook her head, and looked around but then sighed.
"Of course I'll show you! You got something here you don't care about? And no, my crappy notes are not up for discussion… oh! Here!" she said, reaching for her feet and slipping off her black socks.
She put them together on the floor in front of them, and he watched her, anxious, anticipating.
"I wish I had something more dignified…" she muttered, but he shook his head.
"C'mon, you're talking to someone with blue fur. Socks are a-okay."
He felt rather than saw her hesitation, but soon enough she reached forward, her hand hovering over the pair of socks.
She faltered and looked at him.
He raised an eyebrow, and nodded his head.
She sighed, smiling softly before she turned to look down at her hand, her eyebrows furrowing.
There wasn't a sound, not a shift in the air; nothing happened other than the fact that the two black cotton socks were socks one moment and then a melted puddle in the next. She let out a breath, and then closed her hand into a fist. The puddle let out a small hiss and hardened.
"Holy shit," Hank let out a breath.
Claire froze for beat but then pulled back.
"I kinda liked those socks-" but she stopped when Hank grabbed her hands and pulled, bringing them up to his face, inspecting her palms. He muttered under his breath, turning her wrists to look at the back of her hands.
"Uhm, Hank?" she asked softly.
He stopped muttering and let go of her hands, shaking his head as he turned and reached forward to gently touch the puddle, feeling the now hardened material. He picked it up off the ground, turning it in his hands, and then smiled up at her.
"Molecular deterioration," he muttered in a daze. "So you always melt the substance? And that thing when you clench your hand, do you feel something when it hardens? Does it always hiss? Are there other ways you can destroy things? Is it with touch, or only while putting your hand above it? Is it both? Does it always become solid or can you keep it at a liquid state?"
She blinked up at him, and then a smile took over her face. Hank stopped, and raised an eyebrow.
"What?" he asked. Did he ask too many questions?
"It's just… I can't believe I'm here, where I can talk about my ability without worrying about scaring my parents. They accepted me, they were amazing... but I could feel the fear. And the way they talked about it too… it's different here. An awesome kind of different."
Hank nodded.
"Yeah, I know."
"Claire," someone was lightly shaking her arm.
"Five more minutes, mom."
"Nope, I'm definitely sure I'm not your mom," a gravelly voice replied.
She blinked her eyes open, pulling away slightly.
They had fallen asleep in the hall guarding Professor X's office she guessed as she looked around and sat up, her arm hands almost half asleep from being a pillow.
"Claire, we gotta wake up, Charles and Zoey are back. And they've got a new visitor."
"Oh," she said slowly, still groggy. When had they fallen asleep? She just remembered talking, and talking, and then talking some more about everything.
She sat up, rubbing at her eyes, but then stopping.
"Wait, they brought another student?"
Hank shrugged.
"Probably, I just notice a new scent. C'mon," he said, holding out his hand to help her up. She reached up and he grabbed onto her wrist, hoisting her up. However he pulled a little too hard so she flew up, stumbling.
"Shit, sorry," he said, letting go of her as she found her feet.
She laughed.
"Phew, that was actually kind of fun!" she said, and he raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, I'm not the new girl anymore!" she said, starting down the hall.
"Everyone, this is Dylan. Dylan, this is…" Zoey frowned, no sure what to call them…
"Classmates. And family. I'm Janie," she said, giving a soft smile as she approached slowly.
Zoey felt Dylan squeeze her hand tighter, but she only squeezed it back.
"Hi," he said softly.
They were in the main living room. Hank was absent, Zoey wanted a specific introduction for them later in the day, giving Dylan a more comforting environment.
She made the right call, as Dylan was hiding behind her and squeezing her hand so tight she felt as though he might break her fingers.
Ori finally stepped forward, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"It'll be fun to have another kid like me around here. I'm Ori. I make tornadoes and rain!"
Dylan stepped partially out from behind her.
"Really?" he asked, his voice quiet.
Ori nodded and then turned to the window, the sun shining through suddenly disappearing, a large rumble of thunder introducing a quick downpour of rain.
It lasted only a second before the sunny day returned.
Zoey blinked, wide eyed. Ori had really come onto herself. Control like that…
"Okay, let's speed things along, I wanna see what you can do. I'm Sean, that's Alex, Claire, Joey, and…" Sean faded off, quickly realizing Hank wasn't there. "And… yeah."
Zoey raised an eyebrow at him, but he only shrugged.
"What can you do?" Ori asked.
Dylan squeezed Zoey's hand again, looking up at her worried.
She smiled and shook her head.
"I'll show you," she said, turning to the group.
She channeled Hank, one of her fingernails morphing into a sharp claw. She reached up with her free hand and scratched at her arm, wincing as she pressed in deep, a drop of blood slowly trickling out.
Dylan squeezed her hand tight, and she used that to channel his powers, the pain soon disappearing. She reached up, her nails back to normal, and wiped away at the blood, showing clear skin; as though the scratch had never happened; the cut was just finished healing itself.
"Holy shit," Joey said slowly.
"Seriously?!" Zoey cried out. They were usually good with their language around Ori. And now there was Dyaln to think about…
But Dylan just laughed, and Zoey blinked, her anger gone as the young boy fully stepped out.
"What? That is awesome!" Joey replied, throwing his hands in the air.
"What can you guys do?" Dylan asked, looking at the rest of them with wide eyes, but he didn't look scared anymore, and his tight grasp on Zoey's hand loosened.
Janie smiled, bringing a fist forward before turning and opening her hand, a daisy in her hand. She held it towards Dylan and he slowly reached out to take it.
He looked up at her and blinked.
"Cool, huh? Wait till you see what the blonde one can do," she said, turning to Alex and grinning.
Alex held his hands together, stretching his arms and flexing his hands, a large grin on his face.
"We might need to step outside for that one."
Again, thank you for sticking with me!