A few years passed since Helen had signed Ashley up for school, in which Ashley had grown to be a terrorizing eleven-year-old. She was now in the fifth grade. Over the years, she had learned to control her abnormalities.
Warm, early spring air wafted through the Sanctuary. Ashley sat at her computer, which Henry had built for her as a birthday present, surfing the Internet. She yawned when she could not find anything to hold her attention.
"Bored?" came Will's voice. She turned to find him standing in the doorway to her room, and she frowned at him. "Your door was open," he explained when he noted her frown.
"There's nothing on the Internet," Ashley complained with an exasperated sigh.
"It's a Saturday afternoon—and a nice day out. Why don't you call up Jane and go to the park with her?" He dug his hands into his pockets.
"She's on one of the orphanage retreats," answered Ashley with another sigh. She looked up at Will. "I think they were going to our side of the Puget Sound."
"Oh—well, that's a shame. And your parents and Kate are out on a pickup job in the Olympic Mountains. And Big Guy and Henry are on another mission of utmost importance in San Diego." He ran a hand through his hair. "Is there a movie out that you want to see?"
"There's that one about the rogue M6 agent who goes on the run—I think it's still in theaters. Why?"
"You're obviously bored. I don't have any patients." He shrugged. "Figured I could treat you to a movie."
She smiled brightly and grabbed her purse that was sitting on her desk. In a flash, she was gone. "Down here!" she called from the bottom of the stairwell.
Will let out a heavy sigh, uncertain of what he was getting himself into. He walked slowly down the hall and to the stairs. Seeing Ashley waiting for him with a purse over her shoulder was something that he would never get used to. Before the Cabal mess, she had told him that she refused to carry purses unless it was part of a job she was on, which did not happen often because Helen handled the social jobs. He joined her in the foyer. "Alright—which car do you want to ride in?"
"The motorcycle!"
He scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Why not?" She narrowed her blue eyes at him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well—your parents would kill me, if they found out."
"I've road loads of times with Mom," Ashley argued.
"That's different," countered Will sternly. "Look—we'll ride in one of the convertibles."
"Those all belong to Kate."
"I can deal with Kate being mad at me a lot better than your parents being angry with me."
"Your funeral." Ashley shrugged, and they walked together to the garage.
Will grabbed the keys to the 1969 red Ford Mustang Convertible, unlocked it, and got in. He waited for Ashley to get buckled in before revving up the engine, making her grin.
He drove as carefully as he could, doing his best to avoid the cops as he went, and muttered something about needing to have a talk with Kate about her high speed chases.
The movie went relatively well. Will was thankful that the theater was dark, especially when Ashley's fangs began to grow. He felt waves of pity whenever this happened, and his breath hitched. He tensed up, ready to have to restrain Ashley should she start losing control. He took her to a burger joint afterwards before driving them both home.
Ashley went up to her room after thanking him. She collapsed on her bed, staring at the ceiling for a long while before drifting off to sleep.
"So—you stole my car, did you?" Kate said from the shadows, her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her foot.
"I didn't steal it, Kate," Will groaned. "And I thought you weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow."
"Magnus, Druitt, and I were on a pickup job, Will. And in case you haven't forgotten, having Druitt around means that we don't have to spend hours in a car."
"Yeah—I've noticed. By the way, could you not go on high speed chases while Magnus is away? It makes driving a real pain."
"Next time, don't use my car."
"Or you could stop the high speed chases with the cops." With that said, he walked away.
The following morning, he was woken by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He rolled over, and groaning, answered it. "This is Zimmerman." He stifled a yawn as he rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"Will, could you come to my office?" Helen asked in a calm voice.
"Sure thing—be there in a few." He blinked when she hung up. Was she upset that he had taken Ashley to the movies? Did she feel the movie was inappropriate for her eleven-year-old daughter? These thoughts and others swam in his head as he hurried to get dressed in a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, hoping that this wasn't a formal meeting. He walked down the hall on autopilot, nearly bumping into Kate on his way.
They exchanged a short greeting before going their separate ways; Will to Helen's office, and Kate to whatever it was Kate Freelander went in the mornings. He knocked, and waited for Helen to tell him to come in. He found her sitting at her desk, filling out a stack of paperwork.
"You wanted to see me, Magnus?" He dug his hands in his pockets, and waited for her to explain the purpose of this private meeting.
"Are you familiar with the Tunguska Event?" Helen asked, looking up at him and setting her paperwork aside.
"Can't say that I am," answered Will as he took a seat and leaned forward. "Why? What does it have to do with us?"
"Well—it was a blast that happened near Tunguska in 1908—and I just got word that there is a group of abnormals, similar to Ashley in that they possess multiple anomolies."
"Wait—what sort of blast?" Will asked, deciding to ignore the other details—at least for now.
"It's speculated that it was a meteor blast."
"But you don't think it was." It was a statement, and Will was not sure if he liked where this was all going.
Helen smiled as she shook her head. "No—I had John visit an old Cabal facility that he was able to pinpoint, and their files were corrupted, but Henry found small caches of data suggesting that the Cabal was responsible for the event."
"And you want me to go and check it out." He sighed heavily.
"Yes, but I want you to keep to Moscow until I am able to send John to aid you." Her voice was very serious and she looked him in the eye.
"Why can't you send him with me now?" Will dared to ask.
"He is away on some matters dealing with the Mumbai Sanctuary. Can I trust you on this, Will?"
"Yeah—when do I leave for Mother Russia?" He did his best to imitate a Russian accent.
"In two hours. I will have my private jet prepped for you. Be sure you're on time—I don't want an angry phone call from Jeremy."
"Psht! Jeremy and I are cool." He grinned as he walked out of her office.
"I have the file sent to your e-mail!" Helen yelled before he was out of earshot.
Ashley went to school as she always did that Monday morning, having been dropped off by her mother. The Minotaur that Kate and the Big Guy had brought back from Greece due to a contamination that had gotten loose in the Athens Sanctuary had woke her early that morning. It had been 4:13 that morning that the commotion had woken her, and just like any other time, her claws and fangs were fully extended. It had taken her mother two hours before she was able to come into Ashley's room to check that everything was alright. Her father and the others had been busy helping with the situation.
As she walked through the playground, she did her best to ignore the other children, who were whispering about "that creepy house" she lived in. Her expression brightened when she spotted Jane running at her from the swing set.
"Ashley!"
"Hi, Jane," Ashley replied brightly. "How was your weekend?"
Jane shrugged. "It was alright, I suppose. What about you?"
"Oh, I went to go see that movie about the rogue M6 agent."
"Your mom let you see that?"
"She was away on a business trip."
"Who took you then? Your dad?"
"Will took me."
"Hey, do you think I could come over to your place after school?" Jane asked before the bell rang, signaling all students to go to his or her classrooms.
"I'll talk to you at lunch, ok?" replied Ashley, biting her bottom lip. She walked, dragging her feet, to Mr. Albright's class. She sat in the class, at the back, next to Cain Wright.
Every day, as she sat next to the boy, she remembered her first day of school, and the day she attacked him out on the playground. After the incident, she had not seen him until the first day of fifth grade, and much to her dismay, she was forced to sit next to him. She took the punishment silently, while he complained ever so loudly to Mr. Albright, and while Mr. Albright was Darren Albright's father, he had ignored Cain's insistent requests at being moved.
Ashley felt on edge sitting next to him, but she did not let it show. She paid attention to the Math lesson that Mr. Albright was giving on the whiteboard, but when a note passed her way, she was drawn into looking at it. It was addressed to her. She glanced around, and the only anomaly she noticed was that Cain was very pointedly not looking at her. She shook that thought out of her head. Cain never looked twice at her. She blinked at that new thought that had formed in her mind. Since when did she care if Cain looked at her at all? He had nearly had her kicked out of school after her first day.
She opened the note. It read: "Meet me at the swing set ten minutes after the start of lunch recess". The handwriting was sloppy and very masculine.
During lunch, she snuck over to sit next to Jane. They always sat alone together during lunch, even when they did not have the same class.
"Ashley, are you ok?" Jane asked in a soft voice, her eyes full of concern.
"Yeah—but this pizza tastes like crap," replied Ashley, making a face.
"It's still better than what they give me at the orphanage."
"You should come over for dinner sometime. My mom's cooking is really good."
"I asked you if I could come over this morning, remember?"
"Yeah—I remember. But I don't think that tonight is the best night. There was an incident with one of mom's patients, and no one has gotten any sleep."
"Is that why Henry was so grouchy this morning during computers?"
"Probably—but he's always grouchy these days."
"I think he needs a girlfriend."
Milk sprayed out of Ashley's nose, and all over Jane. "What?" she exclaimed before she realized what had happened. "Oh crap; I'm so sorry, Jane!" She did her best to help Jane clean up the mess as a couple of the recess aids walked over.
"What happened?" demanded a large woman, glowering down at the two girls.
"Nothing—Jane said something that I wasn't expecting is all." Ashley could not help but to glare up at the woman. She felt her fangs growing in her mouth, and her heart began pounding against her chest. She looked down at the wrist monitor she was still forced to wear 24/7. It was beeping angrily at her. "I gotta go!" She hurried away from the table and into the nearest girls' bathroom.
She gripped onto the sink, and felt her claws extending. She prayed, tears streaming down her face that no one would come in. Much to her dismay, the door opened. She squeezed her eyes shut and yelled in a hoarse voice: "Get out!"
"Ashley?" It was Jane.
Her mind raced. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to know that she was different. Her heart raced faster than it ever had before, and she found it more difficult to keep herself at bay.
"Jane, get out!" Henry had come in, and was shoving Jane out of the bathroom. "Ashley, you've got to calm down!" His voice cracked slightly.
"Get out!" Ashley turned around to face him. Her vision was hazy, but she could still see him standing there.
"Ashley—it's alright. No one is going to hurt you." He backed against the door as she took a step forward. "Ashley, if you don't calm down, your mother is going to be pissed at both of us."
She fell to one knee. Her vision was back, but she was panting with the effort to calm herself down. Her fangs and claws slowly retracted until she was back to normal. "I hate this, Henry! Why can't I be just like everyone else?" she sobbed.
"Hey—it isn't all bad. Your abilities will have their uses, when you're older."
"Easy for you to say!" she snapped, glaring at him. "After recess, I'm going home."
"If you keep ditching school, I'm going to have to modify the V Rein to have a built in EM field," Henry told her.
"I can't risk hurting anyone. And could you bring Jane home? She has the right to know what just happened."
"Are you sure that's safe?"
"I'll have mom put me in a secure room. And I'm sure mom will tranquilize me, if needed." She got back to her feet, and exited the bathroom. She shoved past the group of students who had gathered around the door.
"What was that?" Jane grabbed her roughly by the shoulder.
"I'll explain tonight," mumbled Ashley. "Look—I'm sorry, but I don't want you around me right now." She walked at a brisk pace out to the playground, and stopped by the swing set to wait for whoever had written the note in class.
She glowered a few minutes later when she saw Cain and his buddies walking toward her, but it was Cain alone who approached her. "Had to bring your bodyguards with you?" she sneered.
"I kinda hoped to talk to you—alone. They insisted on following me." He was turning red around his cheeks and neck. "You're—um—you're pretty good at soccer."
"Were you the one who wrote that note?"
"So what if I was?" he grunted, turning away.
"Why? I thought you were out to make my life miserable ever since that day on the playground." She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.
"I—um—I never realized you are such a nice person, for a girl." He scratched the back of his shaggy hair.
"Is this some kind of joke to you, Cain?" Ashley demanded hysterically. She had to remind herself to remain calm though, but her claws had extended a couple centimeters.
"Look—I've liked you for a while now—so can we just get on with it?"
"What?" She stared at him, wide eyed, with her jaw hanging open as his words floated around in her head. Was she really hearing this? For the last three years, Cain had done nothing but make her hurt every time she turned around, and now he was confessing that he liked her. She could not believe what she was hearing.
"I like you, ok?" He looked away from her; his face beat red from embarrassment. "So—um—would you, you know, be my girlfriend?"
"This isn't a joke?"
"For the last time: no!"
"Alright—deal." They both jumped when the bell rang. She leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok! I have to go for a doctor's appointment," she lied quickly. She ran for the nearest bathroom, where she teleported to outside the Sanctuary.
"Mom, I'm home!" she called when she walked inside. She blinked when the Big Guy walked up to her. "Big Guy, where's my mom?"
"Went to town—grocery shopping," Big Guy grunted. "What are you doing home? Shouldn't you be at school?"
Ashley frowned and blushed a deep shade of red. "I had another incident, ok."
He grunted. "You didn't get in trouble, did you?"
"No—I managed to stop myself before things got out of hand. Henry's bringing Jane over. I'll be in my room. Send my mom up when she gets home, ok?" With that, she teleported herself into her bedroom, glad that at least within the walls of the Sanctuary, she was not a freak of nature. She collapsed on her bed, where she stayed until she heard the distinguished sound of high heels down the hall. She sat up in time to see her mother standing in the doorway.
"What happened? Are you sick?" Helen's voice was full of worry.
"No—not really." Ashley frowned, knowing that she would not be able to hide the truth forever. "I—I almost—I almost attacked Jane—at lunch—" She cringed, already sensing her mother's disapproval and worry. "But she's ok!" she amended quickly. "Henry was able to get her out before she even realized what was going on."
"What happened?" Helen's voice was unreadable; she had gone into "Doctor Magnus" mode, as Kate had come to calling it.
"Well—you see, we were at lunch. She had said something that made me squirt milk out my nose. Then one of the lunch ladies came over and was yelling at me. I started feeling my fangs and claws grow, so I ran to the bathroom, but Jane came to check up on me. Henry got her out though, until I was able to calm down." She looked away; her eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm not angry at you, Ashley." Helen stepped into the room, and sat next to her daughter. "What you did was very admirable." She wrapped an arm around Ashley, and rubbed the young girl's shoulders.
"But I could have hurt my best friend!" cried Ashley.
"But you didn't. Ashley—you haven't attacked anyone in two years—and they deserved it."
"Mom!" Ashley gasped in disbelief.
"No one is allowed to hurt my little girl. Those people should be glad it was you and not me."
They were silent for a few moments, each enjoying the other's company, which did not get to happen very often with Ashley spending all day at school, and Helen with her work. They both jumped when Helen's cell phone went off. She answered it.
"Magnus? It's Will."
"Will—how's Moscow?"
"Quiet—no one's able to tell me a thing about Tunguska. They seem a little nervous about it actually."
"Understood."
"What do you want me to do now?"
"Come home. I did some readings, and there have been fluxes of radiation coming from that area. I have Russian officials standing by for evacuation, should it become necessary."
"The files said that Tunguska was clear of radiation." There was a hint of panic coming from Will's voice.
"This is new."
"Uh—could you send Druitt to pick me up?"
"I am unable to reach him now—I'm sorry, Will, but you're on your own."
"Yeah—Jeremy left me high and dry."
"I will transfer funds into your account to get you home, Will."
"Yeah—thanks Magnus."
Helen almost did not like the sarcastic tone his voice was taking, but she ignored it. She felt bad for putting him into that situation, but she felt confident that she could get him out of Moscow before the radiation spread. "Safe travels, William." She hung up, sighing.
"What's wrong, mom?"
"Oh, just a miscalculation on my part." She tried to sound unconcerned in front of Ashley. She even put on a small smile.
Ashley sighed as she lay across Helen's lap, closing her eyes contentedly as her mother ran her fingers through her hair. "Mom?"
"Yes, Ashley?" Helen continued as she looked down at her daughter, not for the first time surprised at how quickly children seemed to grow up.
"I told Henry to bring Jane over after school—and I—I want to show her what I really am. And I—I want you to be there—just in case I lose control like I almost did today."
"I won't let any harm come to you or your friend," murmured Helen. "But you do realize that this could bring about the end of your friendship with Jane, if she's not ready to accept our way of life."
"I'm prepared for that," Ashley whimpered.
"Alright—school should be nearly over now." Right on cue, they heard the front door opening and Henry's voice filtered up to the bedroom. "Should I put you in the cell where we usually keep new arrivals?" She did not like the idea of locking her daughter up like an animal, but she knew that if she did not, the results could be catastrophic.
She nodded. "And could you have Henry put up an EM shield around it—just in case?"
"Of course, dear." Helen followed Ashley out of the room and to the elevator. They were silent as they went down to the main floor where the abnormals were kept, safe in their enclosures. Helen stopped at the cell where Ashley would be kept to show Jane why she sometimes acted so weird. She punched in the number key to open the door and watched helplessly as Ashley walked in. She sighed as she closed and locked the door. "I'll be back before you know it." With that, she turned on her heels and walked away.
Jane looked around, barely phased by the size of Ashley's home. She had been inside countless times over the years, and had even spent a couple Christmases with Ashley and her family. She froze when she saw Helen walk up to her.
"Jane—I'm so sorry if this has all been confusing to you." Her voice was strained as she forced the words out.
"Ashley told me that tonight wouldn't be good because you had a new patient," replied Jane quickly.
Helen forced a smile. "Yes, but there is something that Ashley wanted you to see." She turned to Henry. "Henry, could you put up an EM shield around Cell 3?"
"Right away, Doc." He hurried away, not wanting to see Jane's face when she saw the truth about the Sanctuary.
"What's an EM shield?"
"It is an electro magnetic field—it keeps out disruptors such as cell phones and the like from damaging our systems." She cringed before adding, "Follow me."