(Thank you to Jessi H for reminding me that they are in high school, and not college as I said in chapter three. Thank you to everyone who wrote those reviews – it's so nice to be appreciated! [smirks, then hides it behind raised hand] On with the fic!)
"What do you mean?" asked Ororo apprehensively. "I thought that he was still asleep in his bed."
"Nope," Logan answered. "I thought that he could use a little time to get ready for that med exam, so I went to wake him up. He's not there. His holowatch is gone, too. Seems like he just up and left, there's no sign of where he is."
"Do you think that the Brotherhood could be behind this?"
"I kinda doubt it. Didn't smell anything except Kurt – and there's something strange about that. Normally, his room stinks of brimstone, right?"
"I can't really say I've been in a position to notice," Ororo responded dryly.
"Yeah, well, he teleports in there all the time. But the newest traces of that stench were several days old – and have you seen Kurt teleport these last two days?"
"No, now that you mention it," Ororo admitted. "But what would that mean?"
"Fits in with the idea that he's losing energy, huh? But that don't explain the temper tantrum he had at Kitty!" Logan shook his head in frustration. "Y'know, I'm gonna be so glad when this is all sorted out."
Kurt sighed, shifting his position in the tree as he watched Logan and Ororo through the window. "Warum wollte ich hier herauskommen?" he wondered [translation: why did I want to come out here?]. He felt strange, as if there was something inside his head pulling at him. It had been so strong that he had given up on trying to get back to sleep, and had come outside to try and escape from it. Instead of getting rid of it, however, he now felt it was harder then ever to ignore. But don't give in to it. You really need to remember what's going on soon, Kurt, there's not much time left now…he ignored the voice again. After all, there was nothing important that he'd forgotten…oh, but there is. The reason this is happening, you've forgotten that. Better think hard…he forced his attention away from the voice in his head, then froze as he felt his tail start to slip from the branch. He tried desperately to teleport to safety, but the ground started to swirl beneath him and became a cloud of back…
Logan and Ororo started to their feet as they heard the crash. "Outside. Let's go see," Logan said briskly. Ororo nodded, and followed him. They both stopped in the doorway, staring at the sight of Kurt in a heap beneath one of the trees.
"Well, at least now we know where he is," Ororo commented helplessly. Logan growled, and picked Kurt off the ground. "Let's get him back to safety."
Unnoticed, an empty vial that Kurt had been lying on gleamed in the sunlight. The contents had obviously been used a long time ago, but it was interesting for the fact that someone had scrawled on it in marker pen 'Ich hasse Medizin von ihr nehmen!' [translation: I hate taking medicine from her!]