A/N: Wow, reviews. I woke up this morning and decided I was gonna take this story down, but after reading the reviews I decided not 2. Oh, & Becs, my email's currently on the fritz thanx 2 my computer (loooooong story), so I'll have 2 tell u here. I use a online Gaelic dictionary, cuz there aint no way I know Gaelic myself. (I dont even know how 2 pronounce the words I use!)


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Kitty, later on that night, came to my room and apologized. She said that I was right not to judge them. That they were like us and the others, just not as well off. She also said that she felt so betrayed by Lance. And that wasn't all. When he had brought down the school, he had injured some kids, and acted like he felt no remorse for it. That made her even madder.


I told her that, it appeared to me, Lance had trouble showing his feelings. Perhaps he did feel remorse, but if so, what would the others think? Would they think he was weak? Not deserving to be their "leader"? She had asked me how I knew this so well, like I was actually him. I told her about my senses, and how I casted them out and picked on feelings, emotions, and magick. I made sure to keep her in the dark about the magick I had been sensing lately.


After a little chit-chat about it, she left, and not a moment too soon. For no sooner had she phased through the door then I picked up on the same magick presence I had been feeling. I cast out my sense immediately, but unlike before, I was careful. Wiccas can sense each other's senses when they are cast out, unless one is very careful and used stealth.


The presence stayed, and did not vanish as it had before. It was to the north of the mansion, away from Bayville. It was strong, but not close as I had thought earlier. But for something to be strong, one must have much power. Power like that could be helpful or very, very deadly. I prayed to the God and Goddess that it was not the latter. Suddenly the presence slipped away. But before it did so, I got a strange feeling. A feeling..... of familiarity.


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I decided then that it was time to scry. I was never a master of scrying, but I was rather good for my age. I almost always used water, although sometimes reliable, it worked best for me. My mother had used fire, which was rare in any coven, Irish or not. I had never tried fire, for it wasn't like me. I was the moon, the darkness, the night, the water. That is why my coven name was Gealach. ("moon")


I didn't have time to do it then, regretfully, for there was school tomorrow and it was getting late. While I had cast out my senses and was trying to get all I could from the presence, time had passed. It was now almost midnight. When Kitty had left it was only nine-thirty. Time, in the Wiccan world, was very irregular. A minute could be a day and a day could be a minute, as my father used to say. How true, indeed.


I went to bed, got up on time, went to school, ate lunch once again with Brotherhood, was ignored by Scott, and I shimmered home as fast as I could. When I had gotten up I had debated whether or not I should fake sickness, but I knew there was no way I could fool the Professor. He would ask questions, questions that needed not be answered just yet.


I locked myself in my room with a bowl of water. I silently wished for my small cauldron, but I had to leave that at home for my suitcases were already over-flowing and I couldn't fit it in. I had been meaning to search for a Wiccan store and buy one, but somehow had never gotten around to it. I lit some incense, not usually done in my coven but effective for me, set the bowl of water on the floor, and sat down beside it. I cleared my head, with help from the incense, and began to concentrate.


Slowly, the world seemed to fade. Worries and troubles vanished from my mind. Everything was calm and clear. I let the images come. They were blurry, shadowed, and worst of all, irrelevant. I tried to concentrate on the presence, its feeling, its magick, but still nothing. I tried again, for three was powerful number, but alas, still nothing. I let myself come back to the world and cleaned up. Two hours had passed, and dinner would be ready in a half-hour. The presence must be protecting itself from being seen, but not being felt. Why? Why one and not the other? And what was it doing here? But most of all, who or what was it?


These questions plagued me all through dinner. I was beginning to think that it was time to tell the Professor, when he called us all to his office. He said he had some bad news. I felt trouble brewing, and I did not need my senses for that.


"I have just gotten a mutant signature about a hundred miles from here. When I scanned it into the database, it found a match. It appears that Mystique is back, for reasons not yet made known." He said.


"Baoghal?" I asked. ("danger")


"Perhaps. So far I have not detected Magneto, or anything connected with him, other than Mystique herself. She is currently staying in area near the town of Willington, and has made no move in this direction. But I want all of you alert. Best that you get to bed now. You are going to need all the rest you can get." He dismissed all of the others, but held me back.


"It be about Brotherhood, right?" I guessed. He nodded.


"Yes. I wish for you to refrain from telling them, at least for now. They may already know, and if so it would be for the better if we don't let on that we know." He said.


"True. May I.... test them?" I asked slowly, not for effect, but for the fact I didn't know if I was using the right word or not.


"Test. Perhaps. Yes, if you be careful. And use your senses to see if you can pick any emotion whatsoever that could determine their standing either way." Right word obviously. I needed a plan to trick them into it. "A word of warning Jeriko, before you go: don't be too curious. Unspoken questions can be the key between information and revealment."


"Accepted." I said. I left and went upstairs. My mind was now plagued with more worries and yes, more questions. Neither of which I spoke aloud to anyone, although I'm sure the Professor was aware of them. Most of all, I wondered if this news was in any way connected to the presence I had felt. If so, the power combined between it, Mystique, and Magneto if he showed, would be a force never known before.