Chapter Four: Out of the Frying Pan and Into The Slightly Hotter Oven
I finished my homework that night an hour before dinner. I realized then I had nothing to do. I was due in the danger room after dinner. Scott was out in the garage. Lara was with Kitty, and Remy was with Logan. I stared at the ceiling thinking for about fifteen minutes before I realized that, yes there was something I could be doing. Something that I'd put since arriving at the institute, and for good reason. I turned around in my chair and picked up the phone on my desk. I dialed slowly, but quickly enough so that I wouldn't loose my nerve, and hoped that the right person would pick up.
"Hello?" It was the voice I wanted to hear. That of my mothers.
"Mom!" I almost yelled, but kept my voice steady. "Mom, it's me Amorise."
"Amori," she said softly. Her voice sounded almost ragged with relief. "Oh god. I didn't know where you were until today. I heard
Hannah tell Daniel you were staying at Xavier's and I…"
"Why're you still there?" I asked quietly. "You should come here."
"No." she said plainly. "Tell me, are you- are you ok? I'll just assume you know everything."
I nodded. "Yeah. Mom you should've told us. Scott and me I mean. He deserved to know. We both did really. It would've explained a lot."
She paused. On the other line I could hear footsteps and voices. "I'm glad you're at Xavier's. I-I'm leaving Daniel's, but I'm not coming there."
"Where're you going?" I asked urgently
"Your grandparents. In St. Louis." She sighed. "Amorise you have to understand, I just feel I have to get out of this town. But before I go I need to know that you, Lara, and Scott are ok."
"W-We are." I stammered. "Are you coming back?"
"Of course." She said in a would-be reassuring voice. "I wouldn't leave the three of you forever."
"Right." I said dully.
She went on, her voice hurried. "I'll bring your things over to the mansion before I leave. Tomorrow okay? We can see each other before I leave. Tell Lara for me."
"We'll be here." My voice had almost no emotion. She was leaving. Part of me seriously wanted to hit her, but the other part understood. She was trying to get away from a guy worse than my natural father. She had to leave.
"Amori I have to do this. And besides my usefulness in Bayville is over. My purpose was to have you and Scott meet and be friends. Stick close to him, Lara and Alex Amori; rough times for mutants are coming. Remember, I love you." She said, and as the voices in the background got louder I received a click then a dial tone.
I bit my bottom lip as I started to cry. 'Damn phone' I thought throwing it against the wall and blinking back tears. Why wouldn't she come here? I understood the whole 'I have to get of Daniel's house' thing, but why did she have to skip town? I was safe at the mansion so far. I hadn't even seen Daniel. Why wouldn't it be the same for her? There was probably some other reason, I decided. Not that I could think of one good enough. I looked around for something else to throw. There wasn't much so I grabbed my pillow and started beating it as tears streamed down my cheeks.
"Amori?" I heard Scott's voice at my door. Of course here he was to play my knight in shining armor. Was I in the mood for this? Yes, I decided I was. I wanted some sympathy, and ear to talk to, and maybe some cuddling, and he'd give all of that.
"She's skipping town." I choked out as he came to sit next to me.
"Who?"
"My mom; your aunt. She's going to my dad's parents in St. Louis. She says she has to get out of Bayville." I looked up, wiping tears away from my eyes.
"S'okay" He sighed, hugging me. "Amori you know she loves you and Lara. Leaving might be all for the best."
"But why won't she come here? That's what I wanna know." I rested my head on his shoulder, a position used by the both of us when we're upset.
"I don't know." Scott said. "Maybe she feels safer farther away."
"Maybe." I said, sniffling. A sudden though sprang to mind. "Mom said stick close to you and Alex. Scott, who's Alex?"
"My little brother." It was Scott's turn to look wistful. "He lives in Hawaii."
"Another cousin." I blinked back more tears thinking about how my family was spread out halfway across the country. A mom going to St. Louis, a father in Chicago, and a cousin Hawaii. Wonderful. Just great. "Am I ever gonna meet him?"
"Yeah you will." He assured me, and then looked at his watch. "Y'know I came up here to tell you that dinner's ready."
"Oh wonderful." I looked at myself in the mirror across the room. My eyes were red and puffy from crying, and I had black streaks of mascara running down my cheeks. "I'll be down in a few minutes. I need to clean up."
"I'll see you down there then." He headed for the door, but then as he was about to walk to the hallway he stopped. "Amori, why'd your mom tell you to stick close to us?"
"Sh-she said bad times are coming for mutants." I repeated the ominous words. "I think she's a telepath or a physic. I never could get a lie past her."
Scott the just nodded in silence and walked out of the room. I watched him go before moving towards my bathroom, thinking maybe I shouldn't have told him.
*~*~*
My powers, as I found out in the Danger Room later, weren't as simple to use as I thought. Professor Xavier had a simple experiment planned out. There was a line of weapons in the control room and if I was going to survive I had to use my powers to get these weapons. Turns out my powers only respond to very specific thoughts. I knew there was a staff in the control room I could use to block Evan's spikes, so I thought wooden staff and opened my hand for it. Instead of the staff a gnarled old stick from outside appeared in a wisp of smoke. It was quite a few tries before I actually got the staff I wanted. The professor decided the first thing we'd work on was my focus. Scott went into uncontrollable laughter when Xavier said this. Okay, so Scott's studied with me one too many times.
They put Logan in next telling him to be gentle. I decided I'd try something smaller this time, like the knife. I didn't try getting it at first. I waited till I was behind him and in a good spot to get the knife to his throat. It took awhile but I finally was able to pin him down. I focused on the knife remembering its shape, color and blade. I felt something in my hand and I grinned triumphantly. Until I saw what it was. A white plastic knife, probably from the kitchen. Logan saw this and took the opportunity to roll over, in turn pinning me to the floor. I groaned.
This wasn't going to be easy.
*~*~*
"He's just so like…" Kitty paused mid-sentence. "Oh, I d'know, relaxed with you. Like yesterday in the Danger Room. He laughed. Scott does not laugh in the Danger Room. I mean, what is it with you two?"
I smiled a bit at the younger girl. Scott, Lara, and I had chosen not yet to inform the rest of the people in the mansion of our relation. All they knew is that we'd been friends since he got here. "We're just really close. That's all." It wasn't a lie.
Kitty nodded. "I'm like not complaining. Trust me on that one. He's been totally tuning down the strictness with the rest of us too. Do you two, like date?"
"Defiantly not." I said firmly. Then adding quietly. "Unless you like incest."
"Incest…" She started, making a face. But our conversation was interrupted by a yell coming from the main foyer.
"Mom!" Lara's yell was full of excitement
I said a rushed goodbye to Kitty and hurried out to the front hall. The Professor, Scott, Mom and Lara were there along with three suitcases. Lara was clinging tightly to mom asking over and over why she was leaving. I walked in quietly, almost shyly. I was afraid of breaking down again once she left. No one noticed me before I spoke up. Mom, then, swooped me into a hug and held me for quite awhile before letting go. When I was released she just looked at us kids for a second before speaking.
"We have to talk. All of us."
"Yes," said Xavier seriously, his hands clasped in his lap. "Yes, we'll use my study."
And the professor wheeled around down the hall with mom at his side. Scott, Lara and I stared at each other, all wondering what we had to talk about. Though I thought maybe it had to do with her message the other night. Rough times are coming for mutants. Scott caught my eye, and I could tell he had deducted the same thing.
"Well this should be interesting." I said.
The door to Xavier's study was slightly ajar, and it creaked as the three of us entered. Mom and Xavier were not alone. Logan and Ororo had joined them and were all sitting, discussing things in a most staid tone. We entered taking seats on a plush chair near the professors desk (well actually Scott and I sort of leaned on the arms. Lara sat.) It was minutes before anyone addressed us.
"Amori." Xavier said at last. "It might interest you to know that your mother is a telepath like myself. But in addition to that she can also see things that are going to happen in the future. Not very far, but far enough to tell us…Naomi, would you?"
Mom sighed. "I've been having some disturbing visions for awhile. I ignore most of what I see but these were too intense. The first one involved the government voting on something called the Mutant Registration Act. It had the senate in a stale mate, because they couldn't decide. The next one was much worse. I saw large, I think rust colored robots hunting mutants down and that campaign was being supported in large by a man named Edward Kelly."
Scott and I dropped our jaws. "Excuse me?' we both uttered, almost speechless.
"Yes I know." Mom glanced towards us. "The principal of your school. Correct?"
"How d' you know this is all real? Maybe its just dreams." Logan paced back and forth in front of the desk.
"I've never predicted anything wrong before." She wasn't boasting. It was just a statement. "It was my powers that brought us here in the first place. I knew my nephew would be in Bayville, so that's where I took my girls."
"I knew she knew." I muttered to Lara and Scott.
Lara nodded. "But not many people know about mutants. Maybe a few Joes in the senate but they'd have a hard time getting the others to believe them. This whole thing only exists to them on TV, and the only other people I know who know are Daniel and Hannah…" she trailed off, her eyes widening.
"You always have been a smart one." Mom touched Lara's cheek. "Daniel and Hannah were in my visions too. But I couldn't discern the role they were playing."
"Can't you just mind wipe them?" Scott suggested cautiously, as though he didn't want to get his hopes up.
"Yes we could. The show on TV is of no concern. I put it there on purpose, so that mutants would be considered a myth in reality, at least until--" Said Xavier, he was about to say more but a voice spoke out.
"But," Ororo said her first words. Her delicate fingers played in her white hair. "What if it is to late?" There was complete silence in the room as, slowly, every head turned to look at Ororo. She continued; "I do not mean to be overly pessimistic, but Amorise and Lara have been here for over a week now. Daniel and Hannah have had plenty of time to make a move against them."
"I don't think Hannah knows that we're mutants." I said. "She's been spreading rumors that I got arrested for drugs. And she her friends are still all over Scott. She doesn't know. But Daniel… Mom why didn't your little Jedi tricks him right after he threw us out?"
"I tried, but he's strong and I'm not strong enough. He doesn't have mental blocks, but there was something." She said shaking her head.
"You didn't bring all of Lara and Amori's things did you?" Scott asked mom. When she said no he went on. "Daniel can't keep their stuff. He could get arrested. We can over there under the pretense of getting the rest of their things, while Professor Xavier can try erasing Daniel's knowledge of mutants from the car."