Thank you for the review and to the new favourite and follows. Interesting to read the speculation about the villain of this latest story: I find I'm running out of major X-Men villains but it's nice to hear people's ideas. Bit of a clue in this chapter...

CHAPTER THREE

Jubilee sat in the front room of the mansion, flicking through a magazine. Occasionally, she glanced up at the sofa where Colossus and Siryn had resumed their kissing, both of them completely oblivious to her and occasionally giggling in a way that was so distracting that every other student had long since vacated the room.

Jubilee finally threw the magazine onto the coffee table in front of her with an audible thud. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

She was across the hallway and starting to climb the stairs when Siryn came running out after her. "Jubilee? We are all right, aren't we?"

Jubilee managed a smile. "Of course we are, Therese."

"I know that we haven't been spending as much time together since I got together with Peter but I still want to be friends."

"He's probably wondering why you just ran out on him."

Siryn gave an awkward smile. "Probably."

"Don't worry, you get back to him. I'm sure I'll manage to amuse myself." Jubilee gave a grin to show that she meant it.

Siryn looked at her cautiously. "Okay. Look, how about we do something this weekend? Just the two of us, no boyfriends."

Jubilee nodded. "That'd be good." Encouraged by the response, Siryn headed back into the front room. Jubilee watched her go. In truth, she was happy for her friend and understood. Given all the time they spent together, it was inevitable that the fledging X-Men would start pairing up.

Jubilee headed on up the stairs to her room, went inside and shut the door behind her. Which was when a pair of strong arms grabbed her around the waist and she realised someone had been in the room waiting for her, hiding behind the door. The arms spun her round and then a pair of lips met hers, delivering an impassioned kiss.

Jubilee returned the kiss for a moment before pulling away, a smile on her face as she put her arms around his neck. "I nearly screamed when you grabbed me like that. Might have been hard for you to explain what you were doing in here if people heard."

Gambit smiled back. "I'd just have told them I needed to borrow a hair band."

They kissed again and he lowered her onto her bed as he began to unfasten her blouse.

It was inevitable that they'd all start pairing up. And somehow, the fact that no-one knew about Jubilee's older lover made it all the more exciting.

The mansion was quiet. Soft snoring sounds came from many of the rooms. The residents' sleep was peaceful, untroubled. None of them suspected that there was anything to fear.

In the darkness around the building, unobserved, within the grounds of the mansion, were three men. Two of them were crouched on the ground, scraping away at it. The third stood over them, keeping a close watch on their activities. He turned his attention to the fourth member of the group, a woman, whose attention was focused on the building. "Be careful that we're not disturbed,"he told her in icy tones. "Many of the X-Men have abilities that could pinpoint our presence if their suspicion is roused."

"Don't worry,"she returned. "I'll make sure they're kept suitably off balance."

The group's leader turned his attention back to the other two men. The larger of the two looked up at him. "It's definitely here."

"Then get it,"he retorted, his tone making his impatience clear. His pale skin stood out in the moonlight, making the darkness of his eyes even more obvious and unnerving.

"Allow me,"the other man replied. He took a long metal spear and thrust it into the earth. The spear lit up with energy.

Wolverine woke up. At first he didn't know why. It was still night and he and Storm were alone in the room, Storm asleep next to him. But some sixth sense had told him he needed to be awake, caused him to sit bolt upright with a start. He sniffed the air experimentally, trying to pick up some hint of what had disturbed him. He still wasn't what his instincts were picking up on but they told him where he needed to be. He threw off the covers and bounded from the room.

Storm was awoken by the movement. "Logan?"she asked but she received no answer. Pulling on a robe, she hurried after him.

Logan raced down the stairs, Storm close behind him. He ran to the rear of the mansion, threw open the doors and ran out into the grounds. Storm followed cautiously and saw him kneeling in the grass. She saw an object embedded in the ground in front of him and even though she couldn't see it clearly she knew what it was. A tombstone, marked with an X symbol and the name Jean Gray.

"Logan?"she asked again, cautiously, unsure what it was that had provoked this reaction from him.

Behind her, others were beginning to emerge from the school, aroused by the commotion. Lights were coming on and in the new illumination she saw what had upset Logan so much. The grave had been dug up, the coffin containing the body of the woman he had once loved exposed. Storm took a few steps closer, looked at the coffin and realised what Logan had known straightaway, even before his mind had consciously processed the fact. "It's been opened,"she said quietly and looked at him.

Logan didn't speak. Instead, he opened his mouth and let out a bestial roar of fury at the violation that echoed around the grounds.