Tolly: Nobody gave me any suggestions, so I'm going with my original idea of who's going to bring these three to Xavier. In case you start wondering, his reason for being at the show is pure boredom, the kind that makes you feel like you're about to go mad. You know what I mean? Or is it just my boredom that does that?

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It was the start of Pix's show, and she was locked inside a box. She heard the applause as the curtain rose, and then the murmurings of the crowd as they wondered what was going on. In the shadows of the box, Pix grinned. Show time.

She pressed her hands against the insides of the box, and thought intently of her dressing room backstage. With a familiar puff of dust, the box vanished, and Pix somersaulted onto the stage. As the audience cheered, she shook her head as though dizzy, sprang to her feet, bowed, and began her act.

She started with tricks that could be dismissed as slight-of-hand, like card tricks. But before long, the crowd got more and more amazed as their cards began appearing in unusual places. Pix teleported the cards they had picked into their pockets, up their sleeves and even inside ladies' purses.

Finally, she threw the deck into the air, and they vanished in a cloud of glitter. It was time for her finale.

First, she borrowed a hat from a boy in the audience. Next, she ripped off the sleeves of her outfit, which had been velcroed on. Everything she did was eliminating the places in which objects could be hidden. Finally, she announced, "For my final trick, I shall need an assistant. Look under your seats. If you find a magic wand, come up to the stage." Quickly, she teleported a wand under seat 16F, a predetermined place.

The audience eagerly bent over, looking for the wand, straightening back up with shrugs and rueful smirks. Finally, a man stood up, not looking very happy. Pix never let the smile fall from her face, but inside, she gulped. This guy looked tough, his black hair coming to devil-like points, and his face set in an embarrassed scowl.

He all but threw the wand at her as he reached the stage. Pix, loud enough for the whole audience to hear, told him to roll up his sleeves. He did so, revealing hairy arms. She gave him the borrowed hat, saying, "Whatever happens, don't drop it." The man raised a bushy eyebrow, obviously skeptical of her talent. She reached up, touched his head, and made a blindfold appear over his eyes. The audience laughed. Her hirsute assistant was startled, but didn't drop the hat.

"Ladies and gentleman," said Pix, reaching her hands into the hat. "I present…Hocus Pocus!"

Feeling a tiny, soft body appear between her fingers, she pulled Baby Bunny # 1 (a.k.a. Hocus Pocus) out of the hat and held it up. She set it carefully down on the table next to her.

"Abracadabra!" Bunny # 2 appeared.

"And…Alakazam!" She pulled the third bunny from the hat. The crowd roared.

One by one, she teleported her fluffy little friends back to the cage in her dressing room and threw the hat back to the boy. With one last bow, Pix grabbed the hand of the still-blindfolded man and disappeared.

Whenever Pix teleported, she didn't go directly from one place to another; there was a place in between places. She felt the man's hand grip hers painfully, but she understood his surprise. Traveling through the place between places felt like skydiving. The only direction was down, or so it felt. They could have been going in any direction, hurtling through a mist of iridescent dust. In about two seconds, though, it was over. The two of them reappeared in Pix's dressing room, and Pix whipped off the man's blindfold, enjoying his disorientation. For a little while, at least.

"What the hell just happened?" He snapped, angrily brushing away a few stray specks of pixie dust.

"Just magic," said Pix. "Now, if you go out the door, turn left and follow the hallway, you'll come to a door into the lobby. Good night."

"That wasn't just magic. And don't try telling me it was a trapdoor." The man glared at her like a wild animal, and Pix took an involuntary step back. His nostrils flared, and Pix was sure he was catching her scent. His expression softened, just a little. "Don't be scared."

"Wh-who are you?" Pix stammered.

"I'm just like you."

"Huh?"

The man glanced down at his hands, which were closed into fists. Slowly, three metal blades slid from behind his knuckles. Pix gasped, but oddly, she wasn't afraid anymore.

"You're a mutant," she said, incredulous.

Just as he was about to answer, Glitch and Fauve burst into the room.

"Pix, that was…" Glitch trailed off, seeing the man and his claw-like blades.

Fauve's hand shot out, and a jet of blue flame sped towards him. Too late, Pix cried out, "No, he's--!"

The fire hit him, and he stumbled backwards, claws retracting as his hand went to his burned face.

Pix ran to him, and he turned back to look at her. She winced when she saw the third degree burns. But as she watched, the blistered skin was replaced by undamaged skin. The man smirked at her shocked expression. "See?" he said, in his gruff voice. "I'm like you."

"I guess so." said Pix softly, impressed.

"They your friends?" He nodded over her shoulder.

"Oh, yeah. This is Glitch and Fauve. Glitch, Fauve, this is…er…"

"Wolverine." he said.

"Nice name." said Fauve, blowing a wisp of smoke off her palm. Glitch elbowed her. "What?" she said innocently.

"Our real names are Georgina and Jessica." said Glitch. "And Pix is really Melissa."

"Logan," said their new acquaintance. "Pix?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"After the pixie dust," explained Pix, summoning a small tornado of it. "Anyway, it's really nice to know that there's another mutant around, but we've got to get home before our parents start worrying." She began gathering up her stuff.

"But, we don't have any parents, Pix." said Fauve bluntly. Pix grimaced.

"Wait, you're orphans?" asked Logan.

"Yes," said Fauve, at the same time that Pix said, "Close enough."

Logan snorted, but not exactly in a harsh way. "Figures." He started rummaging through his pockets. Finding what he was looking for ( a crumpled piece of paper), he smoothed it out and handed it to Pix, saying, "He'll know what to do."

"Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?" she read.

Logan nodded. "The kids there call it Mutant High."

Pix exchanged a glance with her two friends.