The girls' names, I found out later, were Shauna and Hannah Timere. Shauna was the younger of the two and had the coolest power I had seen yet: invisibility. She could go invisible at will and do so with anyone or anything she touched. The Professor codenamed her Phantom.
I must add that Hannah's powers were nifty, too. She had a variety of them, but they all concerned her eyes. She had X-ray vision, could see in the dark, see metal objects through any solid obstacle, see Shauna when she was invisible, and could even see whether or not someone was telling the truth. She codenamed herself Translucence.
The two were sisters but they looked completely different. Hannah was tall and well muscled, with flowing black hair and flashing brown eyes. Her face was heart-shaped with a large nose and firm mouth. With a complexion like ivory, she looked almost like a specter.
Shauna, however, was short and petite. Her hair was the color of straw and was twice as long, but always pulled back into a low ponytail. Gray eyes that looked as if they could pierce stone glinted in low-set forehead. Her nose was small and her mouth soft in her angular face. She looked as if she tanned easily.
I didn't like either of them. Though I had treated them warmly enough when they had come to the Institute, they had given me the cold shoulder. Shauna and I shared a room and she always ignored me, yet she always went through my stuff and used it.
It was a well-known fact that I disliked them both. My patience only went so far, and it wasn't even that long. They both hadn't let me absorb their powers until the Professor had coaxed them into consenting.
"Oooh!" I gasped when I saw Shauna flipping through her CD collection, "You have the new Linkin Park CD!"
"So?" she asked coldly.
I flounced over to her. "Can I borrow it? I love two of their songs on it, but I don't have enough money to buy it."
"No."
Annoyance stabbed at me. "Why not?"
No answer.
"Jerk," I muttered, flopping down on my bed.
Gray eyes flashed. "What did you just called me?"
My temper reared its ugly head. "I just called you a jerk. Want to do something about it? I mean, it's not like I'm lying or anything."
She winked out of existence, going invisible in only moments. My heart jumped into my throat. I couldn't see her anywhere. From the look in her eyes, she was ready to kill me. I pumped up my fire and let my hands burn with it. Falling into a defensive stance, I looked warily around me.
Something hit me in the back of the head and, seconds later, hit my gut. Then it hit me across my face, causing blood to spurt of my nose. I lashed out with my burning hands and caught her arm. She screamed in agony and popped back into visibility. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils.
I let go. She stared in numb horror at the burns on her arms, her shrill rising in pitch and volume.
Scott was the first at the door. He looked from Shauna's burned arms to my flaming hands. "What did you do?"
I turned off the fire and pinched my nose. "She started hitting me!" I accused.
"She called me a jerk!" howled Shauna.
By this time, Kurt had 'ported into the room. He saw the burns on her arms and immediately 'ported her to the infirmary.
Scott's face was red going on purple. "You know you're not supposed to use your powers on another student!"
"Tell that to Shauna," I retorted in a nasal voice, crush forgotten, "She went invisible and started hitting me. I couldn't see her and my hand grabbed her arm. It was in self-defense!"
"Melody!" The Professor's voice rang through my mind. "To the infirmary!"
I made a face and pumped up my phasing ability, sinking through the floor. I fell a few floors and eventually landed in the corridor leading to the infirmary. Scowling, I plodded into the room.
The Professor was livid. Kurt courteously averted his eyes.
"What were you thinking?" Professor X demanded.
"'What was I thinking'?" I repeated, cheeks flushing in anger, "I was thinking she'd have killed me if I hadn't acted!"
Shauna lie on the bed I had occupied only a week ago. Her gray eyes were filled with tears and her arms were bandaged. She gave me a watery glare.
"Explain."
"I asked Shauna if I could borrow one of her CDs and she said no. When I asked her why, she didn't answer me so I called her a jerk. Then she went invisible and started to hit me. You should have seen the look in her eyes! She would have killed me! I fired myself up and grabbed her arm which, by the way, I couldn't see."
"Lair!" Shauna shrieked.
"Stop!" the Professor roared.
We both fell silent.
"There is one way to resolve this," he said, "Shauna, lean forward. I'm going to read your mind."
Her eyes bulged with—what? Horror? Fear? Anger? I didn't know.
The Professor held her head in her hands and closed his eyes. As he read her mind, his expression was grim. Finally, he sat back and furrowed his brow at Shauna.
"It would seem, Melody, that you are telling the truth. I will now deal with Shauna as I see fit. Kurt, Melody, leave."
Kurt took me by the arm and quickly 'ported.
When we were safely back in my room, he demanded, "What was that?"
I sniffed and wiped the trail of blood from my upper lip. "She tried to kill me. If I hadn't done something, she seriously would have killed me. You should have seen the look in her eyes. It was like insulting her was way over the top."
He gripped my wrist so tightly it cut off my circulation. "Be careful. If she tried it once…"
"When am I ever not careful?" I asked, gently prying his fingers off.
He gave me a very significant look, eyes narrowed and tail twitching.
I grinned sweetly, but really I was touched. I hadn't known anyone cared that much for me.
Just then, Scott peered inside again. "What happened?" he asked, sunglasses glinting.
My knees went weak. I just stood there and grinned sappily at him, looking quite like an idiot.
"It wasn't her fault," Kurt explained for me, "Shauna attacked her. Melody burned her in self-defense."
"Oh," Scott said, visibly relaxing. "Good."
He withdrew his head.
Kurt turned back to me. "Promise me you'll be more careful than you usually are," he said, giving me puppy-dog eyes.
"Not puppy-dog eyes!" I cried in mock horror, throwing my arms in front of my face.
"I'm serious," he said in a deadly tone.
I cleared my face of all humor. "Fine. I will."
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes."
He eyed me up, head cocked to one side. Reluctantly, he released my wrist. I rubbed it.
"I just don't want you to get hurt," he said with a sigh.
I nodded. "I know."
"Good," he said.
And, with a loud bamf, he was gone.
~*~
"Whoa! Cool!" cried Ashleigh, "A Sadie Hawkins dance!"
She and I had become close friends over the past two weeks. All the classes we had we had together. We sat together at lunch, sometimes joined by Kurt or Kitty. We were in the same after school activities.
Life was good.
I examined the poster that hung in the corridor. We had never had a Sadie Hawkins dance over at Albright's, so this would be a totally new experience for me. I was all ready starting to plan how to ask Scott to go with me.
"Who are you asking?" I asked her.
She thought on this. "Arcade," she said unblushingly.
"Arcade? Tawk? Kitty's friend?" I demanded.
She nodded.
I laughed. "You two would make the perfect couple!"
"I know we would," she said with a dreamy smile.
We walked over to our regular lunch table and sat down. I pulled out my own homemade lunch (I was paranoid of school lunch; who knew what was in the stuff?) and began to eat. My eyes scanned the lunchroom. I caught Arcade as he entered the room and nudged Ashleigh.
She quickly got to her feet. "Gotta go," she said with a wink, scampering off.
I continued to eat my lunch and watched with dancing eyes as Ashleigh asked Arcade to go with her. His face flashed a variety of colors before he finally nodded. She hung on his arm and grinned up at him.
"Na, und wie?"
I jumped and whirled. "Kurt!" I yelped, "Don't do that!"
He slid into the seat next to me. "Sorry."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"What's up," he replied. "Usually, you'd said 'ganz gut' in reply."
I glared. "And what does that mean?"
"Pretty good."
"Ganz gut, then."
He gave me a toothy smile. "So, where's Ashleigh?" he asked, "Usually you two are inseparable."
I took a big bite of my sandwich. "She's asking Arcade to the dance," I said through the peanut butter with difficulty, "and, from the looks of it, he's agreed to go with her. I dunno if she'll be coming back. Pity. She's wasting a perfectly good cupcake."
"Then let's not waste it," he replied, pulling it out of her bag.
I hit him.
He sighed and put the cupcake down. "Fine," he said with an exaggerated sigh.
Just as he set it down, Ashleigh and Arcade came walking over. Beaming, she told me, "He's going with me!"
Arcade's face flushed, but he looked pleased all the same.
"Who're you going to ask?" Ashleigh asked, snatching her cupcake from in front of Kurt.
My face turned red and I looked
across the cafeteria at Scott. "Um, I don't know."
"Oh, come on," she retorted, "From the
look on your face, it's totally obvious."
I shrugged again. "So? I may not even ask him."
"So? We—and I think I speak for all of us—want to know!" she said, leaning forward.
Kurt and Arcade agreed.
My blushed deepened in color. "Do you promise not to tell anyone else?" I asked quietly.
They nodded impatiently.
"Scott," I whispered.
Ashleigh squealed and threw one of Arcade's fries at me. "Scott!?"
I sank down into my seat.
"Well, you'd better ask him before Jean does. And, if she doesn't, Taryn will." Kurt said, cocking a brow.
"Don't tell anyone," I practically begged.
Ashleigh put her hand over her heart. "Hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," she quipped, quoting part of the old rhyme.
Kurt elbowed me. "Don't worry about it."
Arcade didn't say anything.
"Arcade?" prodded Ashleigh.
He squirmed, barely containing a grin. "Fine."
Someone hollered for Kurt. "Oops," he said, getting up, "Gotta go. See you after school, Melody."
I nodded. "Buh bye!"
He swaggered over to the person who had called him. Who was it? I squinted.
Shauna?
I discreetly pumped up my Healing Factor. My sense of hearing increased by a tenfold. I turned my ear toward them and tried to look nonchalant. Chewing slowly, I listened in on their conversation.
"Hey, Kurt," said Shauna breathlessly.
"Oh. Um, hi, Shauna. What do you want?" Kurt asked in reply.
"Er… well, there's a dance in about two weeks…"
"Yeah, I know."
"Well, I was kind of wondering…"
"What? That I'd ask someone for you?"
There was a prolonged silence, in which I snorted.
"No. Um. Well, we haven't known each other for a very long time…"
"I know. It's been only about five days."
"So, um, I wanted to ask…"
"Yeah?"
"Would you go with me?"
I dropped my sandwich. Ashleigh and Arcade stared at me. Kurt was quiet for a very, very long time.
"No."
Shauna inhaled quickly. "Why?" she asked, sounding on the verge of tears.
"Well, you did kind of try to kill my best friend."
"I—but—you—" she spluttered.
"Sorry," he said and I heard him walk away.
I turned off Logan's Healing Factor, numb with disbelief. Shauna had asked Kurt to the dance?
Shaking my head, I turned back to my friends and rejoined the conversation. This could be dealt with later. It wasn't like this was going to have a lasting effect.
Right?
~*~
"X-Men, to my office."
I looked up from my homework when Professor X's voice rang through mind. His voice wasn't urgent, which was a good sign, so I took the time to finish the sentence I was in the middle of writing and jogged to his office.
Everyone was all ready there when I entered. Shauna glowered at me when I entered, unconsciously rubbing the bandages on her arms. I glowered right back, totally unfazed.
"Everyone here? Good," the Professor said, wheeling out from behind his desk. "I've called you here to tell you that I will be leaving the Institute for the next two weeks."
Surprised whispers started up among us. Kurt, who was across the room from me, looked at me with surprise.
"There have been signs of dangerous mutant activity in the area, and the task I am about to take is fit only for a telepath. I'll be leaving this evening after dinner. That was all. Thank you."
As I turned to leave, Kurt bounded to my side. I waited for him and we left the room last. He made sure no one was in earshot and hissed, "Melody! Do you know what this means?"
"What?" I asked, confused.
He ran a hand through his hair. "This gives Shauna the chance to get revenge on you!"
"Are you serious?" I demanded, "Do you really think she's going to try that again? Look what happened to her last time!"
"Melody, she's more of a threat than you think she is!"
"How do you know?"
He clenched and unclenched his fists, frustrated. "I don't."
"There. You've admitted it."
"Yeah, but she's tried it once. What's going to stop her from doing it again?"
"Kurt, stop worrying so much. I can take care of myself."
He gave me a very fish-eyed look. "You're getting cocky. Just because the Professor switched you out of the new recruit's training sessions into mine doesn't mean anything. She could kill you!"
"I can—oh, hi, Professor!" I began, breaking off when Professor X wheeled out of his office.
"Hello, yourself," he replied, looking from me to Kurt and back again, "Not fighting, I hope?"
"No!" Kurt and I yelled at the same time.
The Professor laughed. "Good," he said, wheeling away.
When he was around the corner, Kurt gripped my shoulder. "She's dangerous. Trust me. Please?"
I sagged against the wall and gave him an exaggerated sigh. "Fine."
Shauna came striding down the corridor. He looked at her and backed up a step. "Trust me," he repeated, and 'ported in my face.
I coughed and waved away the smoke his 'porting caused. "I really wish he wouldn't do that…" I muttered, and trotted down the corridor to my room.
~*~
I ran. The air I took into my lungs was so cold that it felt like fire. My leg muscles burned with strain. They screamed to stop, but I knew I couldn't.
A flash of red narrowly missed my ear and tore the ground in front of me. I screamed and careened wildly away from it. My knees buckled and I went down, rolling down a steep hill. Rocks cut into my arms and legs, splitting my skin and causing me to bleed.
I looked up the hill and my insides froze with terror. Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I turned on my phasing power and sank into the ground.
Above me, I clearly heard Scott say, "Where did she go?"
"I don't know. I couldn't see her," replied Kurt's voice irritably.
My strength was slowly sapping away. I could feel it sliding through my fingers like water in cupped hands. I couldn't phase forever…
"Here, CopyKitty! Here, kitty, kitty!" called Evan.
"Stop being stupid, Evan," Rogue snapped, "You'll only let her know where we are."
I slid under the ground so that I'd come up behind them. There was nowhere to hide, but I could run.
Slowly, I came up about ten feet behind them. A solitary tear slid down my cheek. I wiped it away, frustrated, and slowly crept away. Maybe—just maybe—they wouldn't turn around…
No such luck.
I heard the lens of Scott's visor go up before the optic blasts lashed out at me. With a grunt, I hit the ground a few feet away and rolled. The beams followed me. I struggled to my feet and surged forward.
Several of Evan's bone spikes missed me narrowly. I threw my arms up to protect my head, but continued with my sprinting pace.
BAMF!
I threw myself forward when I heard the sound of Kurt 'porting. Seconds later, he appeared where I had been moments before. He saw me and lunged, feet aiming for my head.
I ducked, but (alas!) I wasn't fast enough. He delivered a powerful blow to my chest, winding me. I curled around the injury, tears springing to my eyes.
"Don't!" I screeched when he kicked me again.
"Why?" he asked coldly, "After you did that to us?"
"What'd I do?" I shrieked after another blow.
He pulled back his fist, saying, "You know what you did!"
His fist caught my jaw. I groaned and skittered backwards, coming up hard against a boulder. I pressed myself against it and tried to stand, aching all over and panting.
Closing my eyes, I tried to phase through the boulder. To my complete horror, I found I couldn't. I tried it again.
Nothing happened.
"You'll never betray us again," said Evan, approaching and sprouting a long bone spike on his arm. He drew his arm back and launched it at me. It struck me in the stomach and completely pierced my abdomen.
I gagged and clutched it, numb with disbelief. All the pain I had felt before was gone. Black spots invaded my vision. Blood seeped down over my fingers.
And began to scream.
"NOOOOOO!"
I gave one wild thrash and flopped out of bed, landing hard on the floor. My blankets were tangled around me. Not only that, but I was drenched in a cold sweat. My scream still resounded in my ears.
No. Wait a moment…
That wasn't my scream!
Immediately, I was on my feet. The person screaming was recognizably Kitty. Though I was dazed and somewhat confused, I pumped up Quicksilver's super speed.
This was hard to do. I had almost no energy left from the training session I had had earlier. I was now officially running on the last of my power… and it probably wouldn't be taking me that far.
I was out the door in a flash. Glancing over my shoulder, I could see other startled X-Men emerging from their rooms. There was no time to stop, however. I sprinted down the corridor and stopped in the doorway, where I saw Kitty…
And the knife that was slowly falling at her chest.
I was across the room in a second, but I could feel my super speed faltering. The world was resuming its natural pace. Panicking, I reached out and grabbed the knife.
My fingers enclosed around the blade of the knife, slashing my palm wide open. I grimaced in pain and drew my hand back. Blood spilled from my hand and hung, suspended, in midair. I shut the super speed down.
Kitty shrieked when my blood splattered on her pajamas. I dropped the knife as if it were diseased, staring in horror.
BAMF!
"Was passieren? Was gehen auf?" demanded Kurt in German and froze, staring at the knife on the floor and the blood all over Kitty and me. (A/N: Did I do the German right? I'm new to this stuff…)
Scott, Rouge, Evan, Bobby, and Amara crowded at the doorway. Scott finally fought his way through and demanded, "What's going on?"
"Ja," agreed Kurt, his accent heavier than usual, "Vhat's going on?"
"Someone tried to kill me!" shrilled Kitty, "I woke up because I, like, heard a noise and then there was—there was, like, a knife floating over me! The next thing I knew it was, like, falling at me. Then Melody, like, came in using her super speed and, like, caught the knife before it, like, got me!"
I couldn't help the way I stared. That was a lot of "likes". I knew she said "like" a lot, but I guess it got worse when she was thoroughly startled.
My palm throbbed and I gave a dry sob. The pain was excruciating. I could tell at a glance how deep it was. It would cripple me if I didn't get medical attention soon. The knife had cut the tendon.
Suddenly, Logan exploded into the room. "What's going on?" he demanded, and balled his hands into fists. Blades the size of my forearms popped out of his knuckles. I shrieked and jumped back, as I had never seen him do this before.
"Someone tried to, like, kill me!" Kitty said, blinking up at him with wide, blue eyes.
He eyed the blood all over the floor. "Are you okay, half-pint? Where'd all the blood come from?"
"Me," I all but wailed. "I was stupid enough to grab the blade!"
"Then heal it," he retorted, "You have the Healing Factor."
"I'm spent!" I howled, my hand convulsing. This decked me with a fresh bout of agony. I felt like I was going to lose my dinner.
He took my hand in his rough ones and forced my palm open. I shrieked and tried to grab my hand back, but his grip was unrelenting. "This is serious," he rumbled, "Elf, take her to the infirmary."
"On it, Logan," Kurt replied, taking my shoulder and 'porting.
When we reappeared in the infirmary, I turned to him and wailed, "You were right! I should be more careful."
A/N: Dun, dun, duuuuun! The plot thickens! Sorry that went a little fast. I'm eager to get into the good stuff. Plus, this was getting a little long, so I had to split it into two chapters. The murder thing was gonna go for this one chapter. Aaah, well, you'll stick around to read my next one.
Stay tuned for, "Chapter 7: Murder's Music"!