Chapter 7
Again, sorry it's so short. Hopefully, I can write a lot of chapters to make up for it.
-Rina
"Are you alright, Kurt?" Ororo asked the next morning as she tied her white hair back into a long ponytail. Everyone stopped eating breakfast and gazed over at Nightcrawler. No one could deny that he didn't look healthy; there were dark rings under his red-tinged eyes, and his entire face seemed ashen.
"I'm-I'm okay," he muttered, hunched over his own breakfast.
"Did mah story keep you up all night?" Marie teased, grinning.
"No, of-of course not."
"Tha's good to know," Rogue replied, digging into her cereal.
Kurt didn't say anything; instead, he blinked wearily, holding his face in one hand.
"Why don't we go down to the lake later?" Evan piped up, drinking the last of his juice.
"Ah think we should go on a hike," Marie disagreed.
Scott sensed another fight brewing, so he held up both hands, trying to quiet them.
"How about who ever wants to go swimming can go with Evan, and whoever wants to go on a hike goes with Marie."
Everyone agreed with him, and once they were finished eating spilt up. With swimming equipment in hand, Evan and Scott hurried down to the lake. The others prepared to go hiking. Ororo noticed Kurt, still slumped over on the rock, and went over to him, putting a soothing hand on his shoulder.
"Did you sleep well last night?" She inquired gently, and Kurt slowly shook his head. Ororo kept her hand on his shoulder, and whispered, "Was it because of Marie's story?"
Kurt hung his head shamefully and sheepishly muttered, "Ja."
"Don't let it bother you. It's just a story," she told him, noticing the embarrassed look on his face, "and don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
He smiled at her gratefully.
"Now, would you like to stay here or go for a walk with us?"
"I vill come. It zounds like fun." Truthfully, Kurt wanted desperately to sleep, but the thought of being alone at the site sent chills up his spine. He followed Marie and Ororo as they began to hike up the nearest trail, nervously glancing behind him the whole way.
* *
Scott carefully spread out a worn beach towel across the soft grass and laid down on it, enjoying the sun's warm rays. Evan watched him, shivering. The water was too cold to swim in, and now he didn't know what to do. Bored, he called out to Cyclops.
"You wanna play volleyball or something?"
Scott looked over at him and shook his head, claiming there wasn't enough people. Evan sighed unhappily and carefully stuck his big toe in the frigid water, taking it back out an instant later. He was seriously considering splashing Scott, to see how high he would jump, when he saw the swimmer out of the corner of his eye. Someone was actually gliding through the icy, brown water, and just the thought of it sent goosebumps prickling down his flesh. How anyone could stand water that cold was beyond him.
Then he saw the person's head, with its matted dusky hair and scaly skin. Evan shielded his eyes from the glaring sun, taking a double take.
Toad.
The other mutant also took notice of him and swam up to shore, his nasty yellow teeth showing as he smirked.
"What are you doing here?" Evan demanded, as Todd shook himself like a wet dog, his bright red swim shorts hanging loosely on his bony frame.
"That's none of your business," he responded, slicking back his damp hair and padding away, toward a girl on the other side of the lake. Evan narrowed his eyes; he didn't trust that little squirt, not in the least. He watched him meet up with the black-haired girl, knowing that he had seen her grotesque features somewhere before. When they disappeared from view, Evan turned to Scott.
"Toad's here, man," he said, and Scott abruptly sat up.
"What?"
"I just saw him. He's with some girl."
This was bad news. If Tolensky was here, then the Brotherhood probably was too. He quickly scooped up his towel and the two ran off to find Ororo and the others.
**
Kurt tagged along close behind Marie and Storm as they made their way through the forest. Occasionally, Ororo would pick up a flower or a leaf and give a science lecture on it. Nightcrawler didn't listen; he was exhausted, and it was difficult to keep his heavy eyelids open.
As they reached a fork in the path, Marie saw someone leaning against a nearby tree, a cigarette dangling from his lips. It was no other than Lance, and he sneered as they stopped, surprised.
"Well, well. If it isn't the X-freaks," he said, exhaling a cloud of thick gray smoke. Ororo didn't say a word, but as they tried to pass Lance still lashed out at them.
"What did yah do tha' for?" Rogue asked.
"Cause I felt like it," he replied coolly, snickering and flipping the cigarette butt into the woods.
"Ignore him," Ororo said, continuing briskly down the trail as though nothing had happened. Lance frowned and took a step forward, concentrating on the earth beneath their feet. Just as he was about to create a small earthquake, he caught sight of Scott and Evan. There was no way he was going to take them all on by himself, so he pulled out another cigarette and resumed to lean against the gnarled tree.
* *
Scott was trying to recount what they had saw at the beach when he finally noticed Lance behind him, watching them with the cold malice of a coiled cobra.
"Why are they here?" Evan asked, his yellowish-white spikes involuntarily poking through his skin.
"I don't know," she said uneasily.
"Should we go home?" Scott thought aloud.
"Not right now, though I think that it would be wise to cut our vacation short."
As they began to walk back toward their site, Scott looked over at Evan.
"They've been following us. I know it."
"Yeah. It creeps me out just to think about it."
Scott's expression was somber.
"It probably means Mystique is here too."
**
"Have they spotted any of you yet?" Mystique asked, looking up from her paper back book and lowering her dark sunglasses. The fact that she looked their age was unnerving to say the least, and Aileen felt uncomfortable about this.
"Well, I-I, well-," Todd sputtered. Ms. Darkholme's face turned beet red, and it was obvious that she longed to strangle him. She kept her composure, though, and stood up from her lawn chair, thinking.
"I guess it doesn't really matter, anyway. We can still get what we want," she said, and her face was normal but her eyes were a hellish yellow.