They turned and walked slowly through the alley together. The girl did her best to hide the pain in her ankle, but her limp was apparent. Logan watched her in concern as she hobbled out of the alley and to the sidewalk.

"Need any help there?" he asked, offering an arm. She eyed him uneasily.

"No," she said resolutely, "no, I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt that bad anyway..."

He snorted. "Like hell it doesn't. I'm parked six blocks away, you could really injure yourself if you keep walking on it."

"Well what do you want to do, carry me?" she snapped, annoyed.

He shrugged. "Sure, why no-"

"NO WAY." she interrupted him, "There's no way I'm letting you carry me through New York City like an injured puppy."

He raised an eyebrow. "You can't walk six blocks on a twisted ankle."

"Watch me." she said, walking straight past him with her head held high. He shook his head and followed, his long strides quickly catching up to her short, staggered ones. To his utter amazement, she walked the entire six blocks without stopping or crying out.

"Here we are." he said, stopping at the Harley Davidson motorcycle and offering her a helmet.

"You have got to be kidding me."

He shrugged. "Well you made it six blocks, kid. Maybe you could walk the next 100 miles to the school?" Sighing, she pulled her shimmering hair into a low ponytail before sliding on the helmet. Logan got on and revved the engine, waiting for her to climb on behind him.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Aravis."

"Hold on, Aravis!" he said, before pulling away from the curb. Aravis rolled her eyes and laughed. She tightened her grip around Logan's waist as the bike picked up speed.

Over an hour later, they drove through the large iron gates and up to the mansion. Aravis sat open-mouthed on the bike and stared at the building.

"This isn't like any school I ever went to." she said as she slipped off her helmet.

"Me either." laughed Logan as he got off the bike. He offered a hand to Aravis, who took it and slid gracefully to the ground. She yelped in pain when her foot hit the pavement, and she quickly sat back on the Harley. She lifted her pant leg up, exposing her severely swollen ankle.

Logan cringed at the sight. "It's really bad," he said, bending to get a closer look. "I shouldn't have let you walk that far..."

"Its not that bad," Aravis responded, dropping her pant leg into place. "and you didn't let me do anything. I wanted to walk."

"Well you can't walk on it now. I'll have to carry you in and let Jean have a look at it." Before she could respond, Logan scooped her up off the bike and carried her up the walk and toward the mansion.

"Hey! Put me down now!" she yelled, writhing furiously in his arms.

"No way," he said, holding the slender body tightly to his chest. "Jean'll have my head for letting you walk that far, I won't have you waltzing into the med lab on a wrenched ankle." Aravis finally relaxed, realizing his grip was too strong to fight against.

"Who's Jean?" she asked, sullenly.

"Another teacher here at the school, and a doctor." he responded, shouldering the door open and heading for the elevator. Aravis gazed around, marveling at the enormity and beauty of the school. Several children ran past, laughing and speaking in animated tones. They stopped when they saw Logan holding the girl in his arms, and she heard one of them whispering about her as they stepped into the elevator and made their descent to the med lab.