Mystique was fuming as she stood in the doorway and waited for Toad to come home. She was really ticked off at him for going out again at night. Did he think she had nothing better to do than chase around after him?
She sneezed. Oh, great; she was getting his cold, too. That was all she needed right now. I'm going to kill him, she thought.
She heard the sound of Lance's little junk heap coming up the street. BOOM! BANG! CRUNCH! It was clearly on the verge of falling apart, but it was the best she could get for him for the pittance she got from Bayville High. It would be nice if Magneto gave her some cash now and then. The food bills alone were in triple digits, and not low numbers, either.
The car pulled noisily into the driveway just in time for Mystique to see one of its doors fall off.
"Oops," Toad said. "Sorry about that, Lance."
"Don't worry," the older boy said bitterly. "I'll just tape it back on like I
did the last four times."
"GET. IN. THE. HOUSE!" Mystique screamed at them both. What little self-control she had had vanished. And darn it, she sneezed again. "AAAAGH!"
"You okay, Mystie?" Toad asked.
"Don't call me Mystie, you little slime-beast! Get in the house before I destroy you!"
Toad meekly slithered past her into the house.
"You too, Alvers! NOW!" Her voice broke on the last word. Now she couldn't even yell at them any more! She hated being sick worse than anything in the world. Who'd watch the boys while she was laid up? Who'd keep Lance and Pietro from getting into their stupid fights? Not to mention keep Toad from sneaking out again to see that little blond—
"I'm sorry, I'll never sneak out again, please don't kill me," Toad whimpered, cringing before her like a dog that's been kicked.
"Shut up," she whispered. Her mood, which had started out bad, had gotten worse and worse. "You are grounded until further notice."
"What? But I said—"
"And I said shut up!"
"What's wrong with your voice?" Lance asked.
"Nothing!" Mystique croaked. No, no, NO! I will NOT be sick, I WILL NOT be sick! "Go get ready for school." She went into her room and slammed the door. Then she opened it, and slammed it again.
Blob had come out of his room to see what all the shouting was about. "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know. She's in one of her moods," Lance sighed.
"She only has two," said Toad. "Bad and worse."
Mystique opened the door again. She tried to yell at them, but could barely manage a squeak. The door slammed shut again, and a moment later, a piece of paper slid through the crack.
On it was written: If I hear one more word out of you idiots, you are all dead!
The boys looked at each other nervously. Even without a voice, Mystique could still scare the you-know-what out of them. They went to their respective rooms to get ready for school.
Todd was still thinking about his night with Brenda. He'd never been so close to a girl before, and he kinda liked it. She wasn't just pretty; she was pretty, and nice, and smart, and . . .
He went to sit down and felt something poking him in the back.
It was, of course, the book Brenda had lent him. He looked at the cover, with its myriad fantastic creatures milling about, and opened it up.
The next thing he knew, someone was shaking him.
"What? What?! Cut it out!" He looked up. Lance was standing over him with a worried look on his face.
"Come on, Todd, it's 7:30 already!"
"What?" He jumped up and almost hit the ceiling.
"What the heck are you doing?"
"Reading." Todd folded down the corner of the page he was on. He noticed that he had gotten through about a third of the book already. It was so good, he just couldn't put it down.
"Go get your stuff," Lance ordered him. "We have to leave now."
"Okay." Todd put the book down on the coffee table and went to his room to grab his school bag.
When he came back, Pietro was flipping through the book. "Whatisthis? Isthisyours?"
"Hey, be careful with that!" Todd shouted. "Somebody lent it to me."
"Don'tworryI'malmostdone."
"Will you talk like a normal human?" Lance grumbled. "I can't understand a word you're saying!"
"Ahgomovesomerocks."
Todd watched the two of them with amusement. Both of them had learned how to push each other's buttons, and watching them go at it was almost better than Jerry Springer . . .
Mystique picked that moment to intervene. "You're going to be late for school!" she snapped at them. Her voice almost sounded back to normal now. She must have taken something. "Stop this nonsense and get in the car!"
Lance and Pietro sighed and broke off the ongoing battle—for now. "I'll get you for this later, Pietro," Lance muttered under his breath.
"Not if I get you first," Pietro shot back.
Mystique glared at both of them. "We're leaving now, with or without you!"
They got in the car. Todd tucked The Colour of Magic into his school bag while Mystique wasn't looking. Maybe he'd finish it at lunchtime. Then he could give it back to Brenda . . .
Oh, crud! He couldn't. He was supposed to be grounded. How could he see her again if he was grounded?
He thought about it all the way to school. Never once did it enter his mind not to see her again. That wasn't an option any more.
He sang along with the car radio, something he never did. Everyone looked at him funny, but they didn't say anything. They weren't sure whether or not this was a good thing.
"I want to talk to you."
Brenda flinched at the angry tone in Logan's voice. She couldn't think of what she'd done to make him so mad . . .
Yes, she could.
But what was she supposed to do, leave the poor boy out in the rain?
"Now," Logan growled, startling the girls, who were coming out of the locker room right behind Brenda. At least he'd had the decency to wait until she changed.
Rogue and Kitty gave her a worried glance—they knew what this was all about—but Jean looked puzzled.
I'll explain later, Brenda sent. Go on to breakfast. I'll catch up with you.
That seemed to satisfy the older girl, who ran ahead down the hall the way Kitty and Rogue had gone.
Brenda followed Logan into a little alcove near the elevator.
"You were warned," Logan began, "to stay away from certain people."
Brenda just nodded. Best to save the arguments for later.
"But one of them was in your room this morning."
Another nod.
"Care to explain why?"
Brenda took a deep breath and placed all her thoughts in a row, as Sister Maria was fond of saying. "He showed up after midnight. I didn't invite him. But it was pouring rain, and he was soaked, and I couldn't leave him out there. He slept on the floor, and he was gone first thing in the morning."
Logan sighed. "You do know that boys aren't allowed in girls' bedrooms after 10 PM?
"This was an emergency!"
"A what?"
"If I'd left him outside in the rain, he might have gotten really sick. He could have died of pneumonia . . ."
"Still, we have rules for a reason. If I make an exception for you, I have to do one for everyone, and then we have no more rules. You understand?"
Brenda nodded. "OK. I just don't understand why we have to choose sides. Why there have to be sides."
"Cause that's the way Magneto wants it."
"What's a Magneto?" Brenda asked.
"Nobody told you about Magneto?"
"I don't think so."
Logan sighed. "He believes that mutants should rule the Earth. That 'our kind' shouldn't have to bow down to the 'less fortunate' humans."
"Bit of a snob, is he?" Brenda was trying to lighten the mood, but Logan was deadly serious.
"Bit of a psycho's more like it. There are rumors that he has some kind of ultimate weapon that can level an entire city. I don't know if that's true, but I don't want to find out the hard way, if you know what I mean."
Brenda's eyes went wide at the thought of a weapon that could completely wipe out a whole city.
"And this is the man who controls the Brotherhood. The one who tells your little friend what to do."
"That doesn't sound like the Todd I know," she pointed out. " He's so sweet and shy."
"It's just an act to get close to you so he can take us by surprise . . . trust me, he's not a nice guy in the least."
Brenda's heart sank. How could it be? The Todd she'd met seemed like such a nice boy. Had it really all been an act?
Who could she trust? Other than Professor Xavier, she didn't know who was telling the truth and who was deceiving her. Or was it all lies?
Before Logan could say any more, Brenda turned away and headed to breakfast.