Disclaimer: I do not own X-men. I only own my OCs, which include Tamora Griffin, Kestrel Woodbriar, Adea Wheeler, Rose Moss, and a few other characters. Many other characters who were never in X-men Evolution are from the comics, tailored to fit into this story.

Chapter 29, Cheers and Sorrows

When Adea and Kess had gotten home from school, they discovered Tam and Cessily had become friends. Of course, they were delighted to find that their two friends had gotten along. However, as delighted as they were, it hadn't eased the tempers as the alarm clocks started ringing that Wednesday morning.

That morning, Tam managed to sleep through all the alarms, even Jubilee's. She managed it by sticking her head under the pillow.

She woke at 10:00, which was very late by her standards, but she had been exhausted the night before. She took some of her friends' clothes to wear, and got dressed.

On her way down to find some breakfast, she noticed that three people had arrived. Instead of going down to greet them, Tam hung back, and watched.

"Mrs. Guthrie, welcome," the Professor greeted. "How was your trip?"

"Fine." There was a small hint of a sob in the way the woman said the word, as well as a bit of anger.

Tam knew she couldn't go down. She was already in the wrong place at the wrong time, judging by Mrs. Guthrie's tone.

The woman was accompanied by two children. One was a girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was looking around in awe of the place she was in. The other was a boy with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes. He was hanging back, obviously not really wanting to be here.

The girl began to wander in the direction of the staircase when her mother called, "Paige, get back here!"

As the girl headed back, the Professor cleared his throat. "Um, would you like to go down to the Infirmary?" he asked rather awkwardly.

Tam gulped, and ran off, away from the main entrance and the Guthries. This is not something I want to be at. I'll visit Cessily later, she decided.

She found her way to the kitchen through a different route. She spotted Josh as she entered.

"Hey. Have you met the Guthries yet?" she asked curiously.

Josh frowned. "Yes," he answered.

Tam nodded, and went to find breakfast. She grabbed an apple and a bowl Frosted Flakes. She turned and saw Josh staring at her. "What?"

"Just got up?" he asked. There was a slight snicker to his voice.

"No," she retorted. "I just barely came down for breakfast. There is a difference, you know."

She sat down, her mood soured thanks to the rude tone of voice. Things like that always irritated her, and Josh was definitely being rude.

Tamora ate in silence, and any thought of conversation between her and Josh was lost. Josh left after a few minutes.

Ten minutes later, two young teenagers, Sam Guthrie's siblings, wandered in. Tam focused on eating her food. She knew she would have little to say to the two teens who had just lost their brother. But you never know, she reminded herself as she munched on her Frosted Flakes.

"Wow, check out this kitchen!" the girl gasped softly, trying to make sure just her brother could hear her. However, since the three of them were the only ones in the room, she could've saved herself the effort.

Tam smiled. The kitchen was a nice one, but it wasn't as extraordinary as the girl made it sound.

The boy mumbled something indistinguishable, but his sister ignored him.

"Uh, do you think you could give us a tour?" she asked tentatively.

Tam looked up and saw the girl watching her very carefully. "No, not really. I just arrived two days ago, and the only places I know how to get to are the Infirmary, here, and the library," she answered honestly.

"Then show us the library," the girl prompted.

"Uh, sure," Tam answered, thinking, Why not? She got up, and finished the last bit of her cereal. After setting the bowl in the dishwasher, she set off to show the Guthries the library.

--

Jay managed to lose himself on the way to the library. It was just too awful to listen to Paige yammering on about the wonders of this death trap. The middle Guthire, he had two younger twin siblings at home, wandered, feeling cast adrift. They would be eating baked beans and eggs for the next seven weeks to pay for the plane tickets up and back.— and Jay knew that his after school music lessons, although free, would have to stop since gas prices made it impossible for Mother to drive him the 30 miles in the truck.

Of course, Momma would never want to make him give up his music. However, Jay had lied before to make ends meet. He would tell her that the teacher had gone on vacation, and tell Alison, the other girl who took lessons with him, that one of the twins was sick, and Paige couldn't watch them all the time, what with her job and all. Alison would then tell the teacher why he wasn't there, and she'd give him any music to be worked on. Whether Alison suspected the real reason for Jay's not infrequent absences didn't matter, she didn't say anything, and his pride was intact.

Now, though, he had to either find his way back to the main entrance or to the library. Neither choice was appealing. The main entrance was open, welcoming, and cheerful, which was not how you were suppose to act when you are mourning the death of your oldest brother. And if he somehow managed to find the library, his sister's happy yammering would drive him insane.

But at least he wouldn't be alone. And he could always block his sister out with books. And there could be music books there. Jay smiled at that thought. When he came to a set of doors, he paused, wondering if they were the entrance to the library. He carefully opened one of the doors and looked inside.

His first impression of the room was that it wasn't the library. His second impression was that there was a piano in the room. Jay walked in as if mesmerized.

He was sitting down at the bench and leafing through the sheets of music before he knew what he was doing. The metronome was moving with a tap from his finger. "Moonlight Sonata" was on the stand, and then his fingers where dancing over the keys.

Music, more than anything else, let him feel free. It was an uplifting feeling. His heart rejoiced as music filled the otherwise silent room. Pain fled, for an instant pride was gone, and he was soaring.

--

Ororo walked to her music classroom, ready to prepare things for an after school activity, and to decide which music to play at the funeral. Thinking on these cheery lines she opened the door, feeling that the mournful strains from the piano were merely her imagination reflecting on sad events.

To her surprise, a young boy sat at the piano. His hands were flying over the keys as the metronome clicked away. Ororo stood as if hypnotized.

When the door behind her slammed shut, the boy started. He gave Ororo one terrified look before dashing to the ajar door on the other side of the room. As his footsteps faded, Ororo moved to stop the steadily clicking metronome.

Ororo guessed that the strange boy was Sam's little brother. Ororo glanced at the door, slowly coming to stand ajar once more. He obviously loved playing the piano, and he was good at it.

He's had lot's of lessons, Ororo mused. It takes a lot to have lessons. And for all three Guthries to take a trip from Kentucky to here.

Ororo knew that, if she was in his shoes, she would be worrying about the strain of this trip would have on the family. Flying on an airplane wasn't the cheapest way to travel, but it was the quickest. Ororo guessed that the young Guthrie would not want to put any more strain on his mother, and he would likely stop those lessons.

--

Tam watched as Paige walked around the huge library in awe. When Tam had noticed that Paige's younger brother had disappeared, she had mentioned it. Paige had been nonplussed, and explained that Jay could take care of himself, and continued the trip to the library.

Now that they were there, Tam considered losing Paige in the books, letting familiar stories block out the overenthusiastic girl. But that could be considered rude.

Curse my polite genes, Tam mentally complained. But it wouldn't be impolite if Paige began to read first. Or maybe she could shape-shift and sneak off that way.

But she couldn't do that, either. She wasn't sure Paige knew her way around. Heck, she didn't know her way around too well. So that left her to watch Paige until she wanted to go somewhere else.

--

In the depths of Magneto's newest lair, he sat in the front of a computer. The files he had called up were the ones he had Pietro copy during the attack. His attack had worked almost exactly as he had planned. The only missing acolyte was Piotr, but Piotr wouldn't do anything stupid. He'd recover, and return to Magneto. It was nice to have such loyal acolytes… Well, maybe not 'loyal.' But Piotr had his reasons for obeying Magneto's demands.

Charles has been busy collecting new students, Magneto noted. He had eight new students, one he had marked as a possible new student, and another one was marked as an out-of-control mutant who was a possibility. Magneto also noted that Charles Xavier had gained a ninth student, but she had run away.

"Talyda Ceret" the file name read. Magneto quickly read the girl's information. Aside from her apparent dislike of Pyro, there was a likely possibility he could convince her to join his side.

He'd set her up with the Brotherhood, as any contact with Pyro could cost Magneto the pyromaniac in a few different ways. Pyro had yet to gain enough courage to leave Magneto's lair without the protection of any of the other acolytes or Magneto himself.

Aside from the prospect of gaining this strange girl's support, Magneto now knew how to train his acolytes, and the Brotherhood. Magneto smiled as he remembered his other additions to his team that Xavier knew little or nothing about. It was nice to have a few new surprises for Charles.

--

To Tamora's great relief, her friends came back to the Institute, and she could ditch Paige and Jay (who had shown up within the last hour). It wasn't that she disliked Paige, but the girl was way too cheerful after her brother's death. She had noticed that Jay also seemed to think this as well: she had seen him shaking his head at his sister's back.

Now she, Kess, and Adea were hanging out with Cessily. Mrs. Guthrie must be with the Professor in his office, Tam had thought when she had seen they weren't here.

"I can't believe I'm going home tomorrow," Tam sighed as their previous topic was pushed aside.

"Well, you'll come back, right?" Kess asked brightly.

Tam looked at her friend. When she spoke, her words were serious and laden with the gravity of the situation, as well as a miniscule hint of sadness. "If my parents agree to it."

"Come back anyway. Parents, pish," Adea said jokingly.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Tam laughed. On a more serious note, she added, "But I don't want to scare my parents again, not after what they just went through."

"They were really scared," Kess agreed.

"If I can't come back, all of you have to e-mail me often," Tam informed her friends seriously.

"Okay, but remember I'm a bad correspondent," Adea reminded her friend.

"I don't care," Tam said plaintively. She sighed. "I am not looking forward to tomorrow afternoon. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but I don't know how they'll react to this new turn in my life."

"So long as it doesn't lead to a spike-ridden pit trap," Kess said, face completely serious before cracking up. The other three joined in, laughing as all friends do.

--

One last note. I decided to update early, though I may not be able to update again until August at the earliest. The reasons are I have to type up the next chapters and continue working on my story. I hope you all enjoyed!