The Professor looked at the young blonde girl, almost afraid of her. He moved his wheelchair to face her in her seat.
"I know what you're trying to do," Zoey said.
"What am I trying to do?" he asked.
"Get inside my head," she said matter-of-factly. "I know you were looking for me before. I could feel you searching, but all these memories I got inside my head, it messed you up."
The Professor was once again amazed with the girl. "Well, Zoey…"
"Can you help me find my brother?" she said, her tone changing to a desperate plea.
"That depends," he said.
"I already said I was going to help Rogue, now can you help me?" she said.
"We can try." The Professor was still unsure about her. He had a troubling feeling inside that seemed to be warning him. "What can you tell me about your brother?"
"I was kinda wondering if you could tell me that," she said. "I mean, Alex left when I was still young. He should be about twenty years old now."
"And he's a mutant?"
She nodded. "I don't remember much about him or his powers, but maybe you can find him, or someone here can help me find him. I've been on my own for awhile, don't know that many other people like me."
"Well, you've come to the right place then," the Professor said. "You can stay here as long as you like, Zoey."
"Thank you," she said with a small smile.
The Professor headed to the door and Zoey followed. "I can have someone show you to a guest room and then--" He stopped as he opened the door to see John standing before him. "John, what are you still doing here?"
"Do you need someone to show her around?" John asked.
John and Zoey shared a smile.
"If you would like, you can show her where the guest rooms are," the Professor said.
"Sure," John said, and then he and Zoey walked down the hallway side by side.
The Professor watched them, still troubled with the ominous feeling he had.
**"Thanks." Zoey entered the room and sat down on the bed. She looked around the place and then back at the dark-haired boy. Definitely cute, and definitely checking her out. "So, John, what can you do?"
"What do you mean?" he said.
"Powers," she said, "What's your gift?"
He took out a lighter. "I play with fire." The red flame bounced to his hand and he turned it into a small ball.
"That's so cool," Zoey said.
John saw the flames reflected in her blue eyes and how they became almost as dark as his own eyes. He smiled at the sight. He closed his hands and the ball of fire vanished. "Well, you know what they say, if you play with fire, you can get burned."
Zoey leaned back on the bed with a smile. "I don't mind."
**She knocked on her door before coming in. Her blonde head turned to her.
"Hi, Rogue."
"Are you Zoey?"
"Yup." Zoey motioned to the chair. "You can sit down if you want."
"Thanks." She sat down and looked at the girl. So it was true. Someone else had her memories, but that someone was here right now, willing to help. "So--"
"I'm scared too," Zoey said suddenly.
"Scared?"
"Yeah," Zoey said, "I don't know what's going to happen. I've never done this before. When I teleport, I usually don't see those people again, well, only inside my head when I see their memories, but I guess this time is different."
"What do you see inside there?" she asked.
"I see a lot of things." Zoey crossed her legs on the bed. "I feel a lot of things too. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of sad people in this world. I mean sad like they're empty, like you."
She looked at her questionably.
"It seems like we have some things in common, Rogue," Zoey said thoughtfully. "You had a troubled childhood, people were afraid of you so you left home, so did I. We went searching for the thing that would help us, be our anchor, our strength, but that's where we're different." She paused to think, to feel. "You've found yours, and I'm still searching for mine."
"Your brother?" said Rogue.
"He's out there, and I want to find him," Zoey said. "He was my only family and I let him go."
"You will find him," Rogue said.
"I hope so," Zoey said.
"You said I found my anchor," Rogue said, "who is it?"
Zoey smiled at her, wondering how she could ask a question like that. The answer was so simple. "It's Logan."
**"Hey, Bobby." Jubilee approached him slowly. He didn't turn to her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." His voice was cold and distant.
Jubilee looked around the room. It was empty besides her and Bobby. "Do you want to study for that math test together later?"
He shrugged. "Sure." Even colder, even distant.
"Okay, whatever." Jubilee rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
"Wait."
She turned back and Bobby was looking at her.
"I'm sorry, Jubilee," he said. "I'm just in a bad mood, that's all."
She shrugged. "No biggie."
"Have you talked to Marie lately?" Bobby asked.
"Haven't seen her all day," she said. "My guess is that she's with Logan." She noticed Bobby's eyes darken. "Oh, I get it."
"What?" he said.
"You're jealous," she said, sticking a piece of gum in her mouth. "It's all over your face."
"Am not."
"Are to."
"Am not."
"Are to."
"Am--" He stopped. "What are we, like two?"
Jubilee blew a bubble with her gum until it popped. "Speak for yourself."
**Jean found the girl alone in her room. "Hi, Zoey, can I come in?"
The blonde nodded.
Jean came in and closed the door behind her. "How are you doing?"
"Fine, I guess," Zoey said. "The people here are really nice. I'm not used to it."
Jean looked over the girl. She was young, probably sixteen, seventeen. Round innocent face with bright blue eyes framed with long blonde hair. She was dressed in gray sweats and a T-shirt, probably on loan from one of the girls. Jean noticed that Zoey was doing the same to her, sizing her up.
"You're pretty powerful, you know that?" Zoey said.
"What do you mean?"
"When I was speaking to you telepathically, I could feel your power," she said, "It was intense, almost scary. It's only going to get bigger."
Jean thought about her dreams and the vision in the mirror. "I can control it."
Zoey looked at her skeptically, but her expression quickly changed. "What's going to happen to me?"
"Well, we're trying to find out how exactly your teleportation works with your ability to retrieve memories," Jean said, "And then, we can try to get Rogue back her memories."
"And my brother?"
"The Professor is doing his best to find him," said Jean. She moved to the door. "I should get going, and you should get some rest, you've had a long day."
"Yeah, I should." Zoey lifted up her blanket and watched as Jean left. She waited a moment and glanced out to the hallway and saw that it was clear. She left her room and went downstairs to meet John.
**"He used to send me postcards from all the places he went to." Zoey took out the cards and handed them to John. "There's one from France, and Alaska, and even one from China."
John looked through the colorful pictures, scanning over the short messy messages Zoey's brother had written on the back. "He went to all these places in five years?"
"He always wanted to travel," Zoey said. "I remember he had this globe in his room and he would tell me how he was going to visit all these countries, and now that's what he's doing."
John handed the cards back to Zoey and looked up at the moon. They were sitting on the tables near the basketball court. "You think it's true that the moon looks the same to everyone?"
"Like if my brother was looking at the moon right now, we'd be looking at the same sky?" Zoey said.
"Yeah."
Zoey followed John's eyes. "I think so." She sighed and looked back down. "So, fire boy, show me what else you got." She smiled at him as he pulled out his lighter.
**She knew she would find him here. Standing in the same room, looking through the same window. The moonlight came through the glass, casting a warm glow around him.
"Hey," she said softly.
"Hey, kid." He looked at her with a small smile. "Another bad dream?"
She shook her head. "I was looking for you."
He raised an eyebrow.
"I wanted to talk," she said.
"About what?"
"I just wanted to say thank you," she said. "I know I was mad at you before, but I was scared and confused. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, you were just trying to help me so thank you."
"Don't worry about it, alright?"
She looked at him looking at her. "Well, that's all I wanted to say." She turned to go when he reached for her, touching her arm gently.
"Listen, kid, I can't sleep," he said. "Wanna keep me company?"
"Sure," she said smiling.
**Zoey went back to her room undetected. She tried to ignore the feeling inside her stomach, a feeling she thought she would never have, but after spending time with John, she now knew that it was possible to have a connection with someone. She smiled to herself as she climbed into bed, but before she could fall asleep, a shadow moved inside her room. She sat up and turned the lights back on. She gasped at the sight. She was staring at herself.
"What are you doing here?" she said madly.
Mystique morped into her true form. Her yellow eyes stared at Zoey. "Erik sent me to check on your status."
"Everything is going the way he planned," Zoey said. "Now leave."
"I saw you outside with that boy," Mystique said. She changed into John. "Don't let him make you forget why you're here."
"I won't as long as you don't hurt my brother," Zoey said.
Mystique winked at her with John's dark eyes. "He is a cutie, isn't he?"
"Leave," said Zoey.
Mystique walked out the door as Zoey turned off the lights again and laid awake in the dark.