Chapter 3: "Huge Blind Spot"

Krissy wanted to check up on Christian, simply because she felt a little bit responsible for him, since she and Chance had been the ones to get him out of Norway. But she was sure he wasn't settling in very well, probably because he was making it a point to avoid people.

"You know," Krissy said as she caught Christian after classes were out that day. "No one would be upset with you if you accidentally touched someone. As long as you're trying—"

"No," Christian said, shaking his head. "I can't control what people see if it's an accident, and I don't want people avoiding me."

"But you're avoiding them."

"Yeah, well, habit of life," Christian said.

Krissy shook her head as she walked with him. "Well, I'm not avoiding you."

"That's because you don't seem to have any sense," Christian pointed out with almost a smirk her way.

"I happen to believe the best of people."

Christian shook his head at that, the smirk tugging a little harder at his expression. "You must know better people than I do."

"Well, yeah, I grew up with the X-Men," she said with a smile, then turned a bit more serious as she tipped her head to watch him. "But that also means I grew up with some X-Men baddies, you know. I know what evil is."

"Yeah, and I worked for it for two years," Christian said before he let out a breath and shook his head. "Sorry, I'd just rather be cautious than caught."

Krissy let her shoulders drop. "Yeah, I have a best friend with a similar outlook," she said before she shook off the thought and seized him by his gloved hand. "At least come outside for a while."

"It's hot out there, and I'm wearing gloves."

"I'm wearing fur. And you don't hear me complaining. Besides, we can go somewhere there aren't as many people, and you can push up your sleeves."

"I really shouldn't do that."

"I told you, it's fine—"

"Krissy." Christian pulled them both to a stop as soon as they hit the lawn and held out his hand to Krissy, watching her expression carefully. "This," he said, "is what happens when I touch someone."

Krissy stared at his hand for a long moment before, tentatively, she slipped her hand into his — and gasped at the flood of color that filled her vision and senses as soon as she did.

"So, what are you seeing?" she heard Christian ask, almost outside her own consciousness. She could hear him, but she couldn't tell where his voice was coming from, and she couldn't see him anywhere in the vast meadow of flowers.

"Don't you know?" Krissy asked, blinking at all of the flowers as a light breeze started up around her.

"I'm hoping it's something nice, but I can't control it yet," Christian explained. "So if I accidentally sent you into the bottom of the ocean surrounded by sharks or something, let me know."

Krissy was just shaking her head and about to tell him that it was something nice, but then she felt something wet pass over her feet and looked down to see that water was rushing in all around her. She sank fast, bubbles rising from her mouth as dark shapes started to flit in and out of her peripheral vision. Even though she knew it was all an illusion, because Christian had told her ahead of time, it felt too real. The sensation of water in her lungs and the pressure in her ears….

She yanked her hand out of Christian's, and immediately, she was back outside on the lawn in Westchester, gasping in lungfuls of air before she broke into wracking coughs. It still felt like she had been drowning.

Christian was right beside her, wide-eyed and apologizing over and over again, looking scared to touch her again. "I'm sorry. I told you — I can't control it yet," he said when she was done coughing, and he sounded positively miserable about it.

"It's okay, it's okay," she gasped out, trying to get her reaction back under control. "Really. It's fine."

"I just got thinking about sharks—"

"It's fine. I knew it wasn't real," she promised. She pushed herself up so that she was sitting instead of on her hands and knees and frowned at the totally miserable expression on his face. "Hey, no, it's okay," she said quickly. "It's not your fault. That's the whole point of the school — to show you how to control it." Krissy gave him an encouraging smile as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Really, it's okay. Everybody has problems when they start out. I kept teleporting into weird places, like, whenever I'd sneeze."

"But you didn't have it turned on all the time," Christian pointed out, staring at his hands in front of him before he slipped on his pair of gloves.

"You could talk to my friend Charlie," Krissy offered. "She's an empath, and she spend a long time not being able to shut out other people's feelings."

"Yeah, and Cyclops gave me the welcome speech, I know," Christian said as he leaned back against the wall of the school. "I just wanted to explain: that's why I'm avoiding people. So that doesn't happen."

"Maybe… you just need a little more practice."

Christian's eyebrows shot up, and he gave her a sort of appraising look. "What, do all that again? Are you insane?"

"I'm an X-Man. I think I can survive a trip or two to fantasyland, and you clearly need someone to help you out, so… why not?"

A slow smile started up at the corner of Christian's mouth, and he very slowly nodded. "You know," he said, "that's not a bad idea."

Jacob Hall was a solidly good flirt, for his age. He had made a show out of catching Elin's attention every chance he got. And he was shameless about it, too. Between classes, after school if he could catch her — he even made a point to invite her to the football game before the first week was out, but that was Friday night, and Elin already had made plans with the rest of the crew at Xaviers to send Chance off.

The group of friends had thrown together a bonfire down by the lake, complete with plenty of music and food — and a few reminders to Chance from both of his parents that he needed to stay in contact, keep his comm on, the whole nine yards.

"Geez, you'd think I was going off to a warzone," Chance said with a grin as he sat down next to Elin with a can of Coke.

"Same thing to them," she said. "Foreign country. Suspected hostiles …"

"Hey, I've been through the paranoia sims. I know how to deal with that," Chance said with a smirk as he bumped her shoulder.

"I guess we'll see, won't we?" she replied with a matching smirk.

"If you get the 'SOS' message, bring backup," he teased.

"But that might go against my family's motto," she laughed.

"Yeah, but then who will save me from the moose?"

"Oh, not that motto. The 'I'll do it myself' motto. So … you know. Moose burgers out of Boris or whatever you named him."

Chance laughed at that. "Yes. I definitely will be concerned about naming the moose attacking me. That's high on my priority list."

"See, I thought it was your not-so-trusty, shifty moose-steed," she said.

"Oh please. Like I need one of those when I've got a ship and Mac's letting me into his suit workshop."

"Chance," Elin said, sounding a little more serious, "should I tell your dad that Mac is letting you into his pants?"

Chance blinked at her for a moment before he simply burst out laughing, holding onto her shoulder for support. "That… explains… the panic… button," he managed to get out between laughs.

"They do want to be sure you're not compromised," Elin reasoned with a little smile.

"This after you accused me and Krissy of becoming swingers. No wonder Dad's so uptight," Chance laughed.

"What was I supposed to think when she's suggesting you ask someone out?" Elin challenged.

"I swear, I had no idea she didn't tell you," Chance said, holding up one hand with the other over his heart.

"Don't put it all on her. You didn't mention it either," Elin pointed out, then waved a hand. "But it's fine. I'm sure you told the people that you wanted to know. And I knew it was going to be hard to communicate with everyone anyhow. Not a big deal."

"Well, like she said, it wasn't one big 'we're breaking up' moment. We just… went from dating to friends. I couldn't have told you when it happened either. It just did?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I dunno."

"Chance, you're making a big deal out of it, and it really doesn't matter."

"Yeah, but I…" Chance let out a breath. "Never mind. I just… yeah. Didn't want you to think I was ignoring you."

Elin looked like she was going to say something but shook her head before she bumped his shoulder. "You were, but you can stop the Sad Summers thing."

"I'm doing the Sad Summers thing?" he asked, smiling her way.

"You were … now you're forcing a smile," she said with a crooked smirk.

"Well, I…" Chance cleared his throat. "I care a lot about, you know… don't want you to think I'm just…" He shook his head. "I'm just going to stop talking now."

She reached over to pinch his leg. "Stop that."

"I just said I would?"

"No … the Sad ... " she let out a sigh and got up to pick up one of the bags across the way and then returned to hand it to him. "I'm guessing you just need a s'more or something. Restore the 'sweet' to the Sweet Summers."

He couldn't help but grin at her and nodded. "Yeah. That'll probably help," he agreed. "And, you know, nerves. I'll be better next weekend, probably."

"Nerves? You're going by Uncle Mac," she said, sitting down in front of the log he was on.

"That's not…" He waved a hand. "Never mind. Do these bags have Reeses in them?"

"Of course," she said, though she was digging through to pick out just the right marshmallow.

"Then let's just… make some s'mores and enjoy my last night before I go off to war with the Great Canadian North," Chance said.

"Easier to roast from down here," she said before she tipped her head back to look up at him. "Or … you know. If you're afraid of a little dirt and leaves, you should know you won't make it a week up there."

He shook his head at her as he slid off the log to sit next to her. "Yeah, no. I can handle some dirt," he said before he made a space next to her and concentrated on getting the marshmallow just the right brown color.

And across from the two of them, on the other side of the fire, the Lee twins were dying.

It's like watching a train wreck, Melody projected to her sister.

In slow motion, Celeste agreed.

Seriously. You don't even have to be telepathic to know what's going on here!

And yet they are so. So blind.

SO blind, Melody repeated, nodding her head fervently. Should we give them a little push?

I don't know. We can't exactly read Elin.

Yeah, but come on. We can read Charlie, and Charlie is dying just as much as we are, Melody pointed out. And she actually does know what Elin's feeling.

Yeah, but remember the last time we tried to get involved?

Yeah, but this is a train. Wreck.

Celeste let out a sigh and tipped her head back. I don't know, she projected to her sister. She didn't even know he was single until this week. It's only been a few days. We can give them time.

Okay, but if this goes on for much longer, I'm going to have to start throwing things at them.

You and me both, sister dear.

James came down to the bonfire a little late, looking almost apologetic as he took a seat away from most of the group. "So you're really going to run away and join the circus?" James asked, looking at Chance before he turned to the twins. "How's the hive mind going tonight?"

The twins glanced at each other and then shrugged in unison. "We were just talking about how awful the start of the semester is."

"You missed running, didn't you?" James almost sang out.

"Hey, Grampa Wolvie didn't say we could never use our powers," Melody pointed out.

"And it was a private conversation," Celeste added.

"Uh-huh," James said, tipping his chin up. "And all I saw was the fact that you two spent an entire summer doing this crap and are totally out of practice in self-control. Have fun in combat."

Melody rolled her eyes at him. "We're allowed to talk to each other."

"We're not interfering with anyone."

"Alright, but you know … when you let your eyes dart from one person to the next as you 'discuss' them, it's a dead giveaway."

"Oh, like you and your siblings don't whisper too low for the others to hear when you have snarky commentary," Celeste shot back.

"Not anything we wouldn't say to your face," Elin defended. "And would you prefer we just … blurted it out for the whole world to hear?"

"We can. Easily," James agreed.

"That's why we have been keeping it quiet, duh!" Melody said.

"It's discreet," Celeste agreed.

"So we can die in peace."

"And misery."

"Over the stupid."

"So much stupid."

"You are going to be so disappointed," Vanessa said suddenly. "For so, so long. I'm sorry to say."

Both of the twins turned toward Vanessa in surprise. "Sorry," Melody said. "I don't think we've met?"

"Right. Sorry," James said before he gestured to the bubbly blonde. "This is Vanessa. She's helping me at Stark's carnival. And she'll be going to school — or the essential classes otherwise." He took a deep breath and simply rattled off everyone's names as he went around the circle.

Melody grinned James' way. "She's cute, Uncle James."

James narrowed his eyes at her for a moment. "You're a troublemaker."

"I'm just saying," Melody sang to him. "I don't even have to read her mind to know she's cute!"

"You want to ask her out?" James said. "You'd be cute together."

Melody shrugged. "Well, Vanessa?"

Vanessa grinned at her and slowly shook her head. "No … you have enough handsome admirers right now. And my dance card will be full later this year."

"Confident. Hold on to that if you're helping James," Chance smirked.

"Precognitive," James corrected.

"Wait, wait, and she was just saying we'd be disappointed?" Celeste cut in before she spun to face Vanessa and point a finger her way. "No! No, that's just… that's so not right! There is a train wreck!"

Vanessa tipped her head to the side. "I just … don't really see it any other way … at least for now. There would have to be a drastic change. A bold declaration would do it."

"Oh, so she's like Uncle Billy," Melody said. "Are you going to make harbinger visits too?"

She grinned and shook her head. "I really only see the smaller things. Not world ending things. Though I did hear about him."

"He likes to show up every once in a while and tell our dad not to declare war on people," Melody giggled.

"And annoy our grandparents," Celeste agreed with a giggle of her own.

"I try to focus on the positive," Vanessa said.

"I think that's a good life creed," Chance said with a smile.

"Yes, well … it's good to share good news … and sometimes it's much more fun to sit back and watch it."

"But so painful," Melody argued.

"And so, so stupid," Celeste agreed.

"You two need to stop," James said seriously. "It's not gonna happen."

Both of the girls turned to face him and then tipped their heads back and groaned. "Fine," Melody said.

"They're crazy," Elin whispered to Chance before she stole his perfect marshmallow.

"Hey. I worked hard on that." Chance frowned her way.

She grinned up at him. "Yes. And I thank you kindly."

Chance shook his head at her as he dug for another marshmallow. "Whose farewell party is this, anyway?"

"Do you want me to roast one for you?" she offered.

"Nah, I can get it. But c'mon, El."

"I promise I won't do it again. I just had to for the look on your face, really," she swore.

He shook his head at her. "You know, El…" He trailed off and then popped the marshmallow in his mouth rather than roast it and stuck another one on the stick instead.

"You lose your train of thought?" she asked before she handed him a peanut butter cup.

"Just decided not to put my foot in my mouth and risk another marshmallow kidnapping."

"Oh. Ticked you off then, okay," she said, nodding.

He shook his head at her and reached over to squeeze her arm. "Never. Just in a weird mood."

"If you keep it up, I'll have to push you in the lake." She moved over to bump his shoulder. "I thought you weren't going to freak out about this Canada thing, big guy."

He let out a little laugh. "It's not the Canada thing that has me freaked; it's just… there are people here that I'll miss."

"Pretty sure no one's leaving at this point," she replied. "It's safe to relax."

"Yeah, I know," he said, leaning back against the log a bit. "Must be something about apples falling from trees," he said with a small smirk her way.

"You sure you want to do the campfire roast?" she asked. "Because the teasing hasn't even started yet. Movie is always an option. Pretty sure it's Charlie's turn to pick."

"No, I want to spend time with everyone," Chance said. "Not just watching a screen. But I really appreciate the offer."

"Doing my share to keep you from having a cardiac episode too young," Elin said.

"And I appreciate it greatly," Chance said, bumping her shoulder with a smile.

She turned his way with a troublemaking smirk then once again snatched the marshmallow off of his stick — though before he could argue, she was building up the s'more. "Come on. Split it."

He just started laughing at her and shook his head. "That's the only way I'm going to get a s'more at this rate, isn't it?"

"No, no, I'm done after this, I swear," she laughed.

"Oh yeah, that's what you said the last time," he laughed, not seeing the way the Lee twins across the fire had literally fallen over to lie on their backs on the ground to cover their faces with their hands. "Gimmie. I'll take half."

She broke it in half and weighed it out before carefully handing over the bigger half. "I almost wanted to make you wear it. But then you'd have been burned … and I'd have questions to deal with ..."

"Yeah, I don't want to get burned, thanks," Chance said, smirking her way.

"No way that would be an issue," she said before she whipped a marshmallow at Krissy's head. "Oops. I slipped."

Krissy stuck her tongue out at Elin from where she was helping Kade make his own s'more. "You so did not."

"I did. And I will do it again," Elin said, waited a heartbeat and lobbed another her way. "Call it a tax for keeping secrets while yelling at me to share."

Krissy turned bright purple and then lobbed a wrapped chocolate bar at Elin… Which really only served to turn the bonfire into a marshmallow fight — not that anyone was going to complain about it.