Chapter 8: An Old Friend
Needless to say, they were late to dinner that night, and Que for once felt somewhat better. She ate more than she had in months too.
She met up with Aasir after tutoring Paige. Aasir had asked her to meet him out on the roof again now that it had gotten warmer. They enjoyed gazing at the stars when the evenings were clear and warm enough.
Once she got to her room, she opened the window and climbed out beyond the sill. Her room was quite conveniently placed on the corner of the build. She had the trellis and vines to climb down and there were drains that helped her scale up to the roof. Aasir typically went up to the attic and climbed out the window there, but Que thought this was more fun and discrete.
There was a flat patch of roof where they always met. Aasir was already there, had set up the telescope, and laid out a blanket for them to lay on.
"Hey Que," he called to her as she peeked over the edge.
"Hey, you're early. See anything interesting tonight?" she asked casually and glancing into the telescope to take a quick look at the stars.
"Not really, although I did see a small meteor. I heard we might see a small shower tonight," he replied still gazing skyward.
Que got bored of looking and sat down next to Aasir.
"I noticed you and the Professor were a bit late to dinner tonight. Did everything go alright?" he asked.
Aasir was always pretty good about not pestering Que about her meetings with the Professor. He'd ask occasionally how things were going and let the conversation drop if needed.
"Depends on your definition of alright," Que said pausing. Aasir didn't question her, but waited to see if she would continue.
"We… got into some topics that were… not very comfortable. I may have gotten a bit carried away and shoved the side table over. He just looked at me and said I'd be cleaning it up," she replied, slightly embarrassed.
At this Aasir tried to suppress a laugh, but he was not successful.
"Aasir!" Que whined.
"Oh man! I'm sorry," he said in between laughs. "Just picturing you angrily tipping over a table, then Prof just staring at you, telling you to clean it up. It's comical."
Que cracked a smile and shoved him playfully. "Okay, thinking back, maybe it is a bit funny. I mean, I'm glad I didn't break it. He probably would have make me mend it in the shop classroom. That would have been so embarrassing!"
Aasir's laughter finally subsided and they laid in peaceful silence, watching the sky.
"Oh look Aasir! Did you see it?" Que said pointing east. She'd seen a meteor streak across.
"Aww man, I mi…" Aasir stopped as he saw another and then another. "Oh, Que look! Wow! Should we record it?"
"Definitely!" she said. She pulled a small half globe and set it behind them on the roof's edge.
"Done," she said tapping a few buttons on her watch as a green light on the globe turned to red.
"This is awesome Aasir. I'm really glad it was nice enough to come up here tonight," Que said laying back down close beside him. Out of all the other students at the mansion, Aasir was by far her best friend. He made her feel… happy, and he could make her smile just by entering a room. She felt so comfortable with him, like she didn't have to hide who she really was.
The air had gotten a little cooler. His side was warm against hers, and she scooted closer. Thankfully, he didn't mind and leaned in too. They gazed up at the starlit sky for what seemed like ages, and Que wished for the briefest of moments that they could just stay like this forever.
Assir shifted slightly and propped himself up on an elbow facing Que.
"Hey Que?" he asked, his voice a little strained.
"What?" she asked.
"You know I've been… thinking and…" he hesitated.
"Oooh thinking, that can be quite dangerous you know," she teased, still gazing skyward.
"Yeah, well I've been thinking, and you know… there is the umm… Spring dance coming up," he said nervously.
"Oh Aasir, is Tracy harassing you about it again? I can fix that, you know? Just said the word," she said obliviously, continuing to watch the occasional meteors spit across the sky.
"Oh no, no. Tracy hasn't bothered me anymore. I was really thinking maybe
… we could… go," he sputtered.
"If you want to that is. I know you said the dance would be dumb, and you would probably go do something more important with your time, but I thought it might be cool to go together…" he trailed off at this last word.
Que sat up straight.
"What? The dance? Together? You and me?" she said stunned. Her face felt hot, and she hadn't a clue what else to say as of yet.
"Umm… Yeah. I mean if you're not too busy," he said.
"Busy?" Que said dumbfounded. "Uhh, no of course. Yeah, we can g…"
She paused, glancing at the grounds beyond the roof.
"Get down!" she whispered harshly, pushing him down. Que put a finger to her lips for quiet then pointed toward the side of the lawn. Aasir gestured that he couldn't see anything, but Que was insistent and continued to point at what looked to Aasir to be a slight breeze by the woods. There among the edge of the trees Que could see the slight distortion and shimmer of a figure. The figure was slinking at the edge, hedging closer to the mansion, brush to brush.
Inside the mansion things were winding down for the night. Only the senior staff and a student or two were still up wandering the halls. Jean and Scott were curled up together in the library, Hank was still hoveled away in the laboratory, Peter, Storm, and Kurt had gone out for the night, and the Professor was alone in his office reading over some student papers.
Charles had had a long, and quite interesting day. Que finally sharing and confronting the guilt she had over her friend was still on his mind. She still had a long way to go, but he was becoming more hopeful about helping her. Though as consequence of their discussion, Charles had begun to wonder more about this faction that had preyed on they children. Que had said there had been ten being trained when she was there. He knew Que and Biel, and there was the first time she'd mentioned another comrade, Tomas, who had been killed in a training accident. So, that left seven unaccounted for, seven mutants who had been through similar experiences as Que. Charles jotted down a few of his thoughts on the matter and slid them into Que's file before continuing to ponder the situation.
He was abruptly interrupted when Que's voice filled his head.
"Professor! There is something on the grounds!" Que called to him.
"Que not so loud please. What is happening? Where are you?" he replied. Her thoughts had been so loud it made his ears slightly ring.
"On the roof with Aasir. Just look!" she said, again a touch louder than Charles would have prefered.
The image filled his mind and he too could see an almost invisible thing at the edge of the ground woods. It was well concealed and only the slight shimmer at the figures edges was what gave it away. Seeing through Que's perspective in real time was quite interesting in itself, Charles thought off handedly. The fact that such precise detail was visible at that distance was impressive. With her brief allowance into her thoughts, Charles could also feel what she was feeling. Her nerves were on edge, but she was not afraid for herself, and there was an overwhelming urge to act.
The image and input vanished.
"Que! I will signal the others. Stay where you are!" he commanded. There was silence. "Que! I know you can hear me. Do not act rashly. Stay where you are," Charles emphasized the last few words. The silence continued.
Stay where you are. What a ridiculous thing to say, Que thought. She needed to help. Whatever was out there couldn't be anything near the trouble they had faced at Christmas. Still, she didn't like the idea of an unannounced visitor encroaching on her home.
"Aasir, I'm going in for a closer look," she said. Aasir's expression fluctuated from disbelief to concern to determination.
"Fine. I'm coming too," he said.
"What?" Que said, surprised that he wasn't trying to stop her.
"Fine, but be something small or average," she said as Aasir rolled his eyes.
Aasir swifty shifted into a small grey mouse, scurried up Que's arm and hitched a ride on her shoulder. Que edged to the opposite side of the rooftop.
"Aasir you might want to hold on tight. I've been practicing something new," Que whispered. Before Aasir could make even a squeak of complaint Que sprank from the roof. Wind rushed all around as the ground neared. Aasir gave a long, shrill squeak, but just before they reached the ground Que made a hard upward blast of her own breeze. They landed neatly in a nealed position on the ground, and Que plucked a windblown Aasir from her shoulder and held him in her palm. All his fur stood on end and his eyes seemed a bit wide. Que gave a small laugh, but before she could say anything else. Aasir started squeaking furiously at her.
"Aasir, shh! Sorry, sorry. I'm kind of glad I don't speak mouse," she whispered, stroking his fur back down. Aasir turned his furry head irritably away from her and ceased squeaking.
"Oh don't be sore," she said placing him back on her shoulder. "Common, let's go greet our guest."
Que crept around the side of the mansion toward where she had seen the figure. It took her a moment, but she easily spotted the intruder. It had not moved much since they left the roof and seemed to be contemplating the best path toward the house. There was a lot of open land in between the woods, lake, and mansion, but it seemed to make up it's mind and started for the nearest patch of garden rocks and bushes.
Que decided the figure was already too close to the mansion, and it was time to act. Que ran from her hiding spot from the side of the mansion toward the figure. The earth began to shake and four large slabs of earth erupted up around the still mostly invisible intruder. The shimmering figure leaped skilfully onto one of the large slabs and bounded out, it's disguise falling away as it's concentration broke.
"Stop!" Que yelled as Aasir lept from her shoulder changing form into an equally agile panther. The figure turned to run, but a dome of electricity encircle the person.
"Who are you and why are you trying to sneak into the mansion?" Que asked authoritatively, straightening her stance, and giving the intruder a most steely glare.
This time the masked figure did stop and turned to look at Que and the still panther Aasir.
"Que?" the figure said quizzically.