Chapter 8
Okay, another short chapter. Sorry, y'allJ
**
They packed up without saying a word, Storm hurrying them along the whole time. Evan soon grew restless and looked for something to do while the others heaved the equipment back into the small car. A tiny scrap of pink paper attached to a tree caught his attention; he ripped it off and read eagerly. It was about some sort of big barbecue tonight, by lake.
"Hey," he called out, waving the slip of paper, "look at this."
"Wha' is tha'?" Rogue inquired.
"It's some sort of party tonight. Can we go?"
"I don't think so. Not with the Brotherhood following us," Ororo replied, hoisting a bag of food into the back seat.
"Awww, come on. It'll be fun. And we can take care of ourselves. Please?" Evan begged, giving her his best puppy eyes. Everyone else agreed, except for Kurt, who sat upon a cooler, resting his face in his hands.
"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt, though we must leave early."
"Yes!" Evan cried out ecstatically, then turned to Kurt to give him a high-five. But the other boy looked sick, his bluish fur disheveled and his eyes swollen.
"Man, are you okay?"
"I do not feel vell," was the answer.
"Are you still coming to the barbecue tonight?"
"Ja, I guess so."
**
"Move, frog-face! I can't see!" Lance hissed, shoving Toad roughly aside. He fell into a thick cluster of ferns and glared at Avalanche belligerently.
"Why did you do tha-,"
"Shut up," Lance snapped, pushing aside some of the undergrowth and watching Xavier's kids avidly. He could just barely see them, and from the fragments of their conversation that he heard, he could deduce that they were going to that barbecue tonight.
"What are they saying?" Todd asked, moving beside Lance and studying a round beetle that was slowly making its way along a strand of grass. They stopped moving when Scott Summers glanced in their general direction, his expression unreadable. When he looked away, Lance breathed a sigh of relief and glanced back down at Tolensky, who had eaten the insect.
"They're going to that party tonight. We got to tell Darkholme."
**
The sun had begun to dip below the mountains when they set off for the barbecue, leaving Ororo at the campsite. The white-haired woman could tell, without a doubt, that poor Kurt didn't want to go, trudging behind the others.
Ororo unpacked a lawn chair from the car and a worn cross word puzzle book, then settled down beside the flickering fire. For awhile, she entertained herself, until she heard someone coming toward her. Looking up, she expected to find one of the children, but instead found a thin boy with tattered clothes, and a raven haired girl whose strange gaze unnerved her. Although she did not recognize the pale, haggard female, she immediately knew the boy who sneered at her, eyes merciless.
"Lance Alvers ," Ororo said, throwing down her book and staring at Mystique's lackey.
Avalanche didn't reply, though his smile was deathly cold.
"What do you want?" Storm demanded.
"Us?" Lance laughed, "We want you out of the way."
Ororo took a step back, her eyes flashing white.
"I think not,"she declared, even as the wind began to pick up and the clouds turned an ominous gray. Like some wingless angel, she floated up into the air and thereby escaped everything that Lance could throw at her.
The girl moved forward, her black eyes the complete opposite of Storm's. She had a fierce look on her corpse like face.
"What are you afraid of?" The ebony haired teen asked softly then grinned. "Ah, yes. Such a deep fear, too."
Before Ororo could react, she had suddenly fallen to the ground, the grass giving way to a solid floor. Wildly she glanced up, only to see the dark ceiling and walls a few feet away. Trapped! She was trapped.
"No," she whispered, her heart thumping. Desperately she banged on the walls, trying in vain to free herself. Her attempts did not pay off, especially when she saw the walls begin to move inward, folding in on themselves.
"Help! Oh, God, help!" Ororo shrieked, pounding with all of her strength. Frenzy overtook her and she scratched at the inclosing walls, wailing. So deep was she entangled in her own nightmare that she could not see Lance come up behind her, his fist clenched. One blow sent her to the ground, unconscious.