The shop wasn't exactly Jubilee's usual hang out spot, but in this case it was kind of unavoidable. Since it's where the guy she wanted to talk with spent most of his time, outside of classes. He'd been working on the beater he'd bought for the last two years. Sometimes he got some help from the faculty or other students, but most of the time Sam Guthrie slogged through fixing up his car all on his lonesome. Something that, oddly, Jubilee never recalled hearing him complaining about.
Probably because it gave him a place he could listen to country music on the radio, and not get harped at. Jubilee just grimaced at the radio when she slipped into the open garage and walked towards his car, leaning against Logan's jeep parked next to it while examining Sam with his head poked under the hood.
"Heya Hayseed, whatcha doin?"
Sam just grunted, finished what he was working on, and a moment later pulled his head out of the hood. His hands were pretty greasy, and he had a few streaks on his cheeks. "Well, ah am trying to get this gasket fixed so Frank quits leakin oil all over the place, but I just ain't havin no luck Jubes. What ya out here for, ain't normal to see ya out here less ya trying to con someone into a mall trip."
Busted. Jubilee tried to remember what she'd decided she was going to tell Sam, but there just wasn't a whole lot she could say. She was friendly enough with him and Dani, but they just were different kinds of students, with different upbringings. It wasn't that they were enemies, so much as parts of very different social circles within the school.
"Well uh.. to be honest Sam, I kinda wanted to ask you some questions about an old student that I guess you were friends with?"
Sam just nodded, looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Go ahead and shoot Jubes, ain't promisin that I'm going to answer though. Somethings are personal like, ya know, but I'll try an help ya out."
That was the Sam Guthrie that Jubilee knew. A bit wary about her gossiping ways, but always willing to lend a hand. He was one of the respectable types, always trying to be an adult even though he was still just a senior. Although with all those siblings of his, he probably had to play an authority kind of roll back home.
"Well uh, I was wondering what you could tell me about Illyana Rasputin." A touch of hope to her voice, without going specifics. That was good, right?
"Kinda thought that's who you'd be asking about, after what ah heard about Kitty's speech in English a few days ago. Well Jubes, I probably can't tell ya a whole lot but lesse. Yana. Pretty girl, Yana. When I first met her, she always had a smile for everyone, no matter the day. Longer I knew her, less that was the case though. She was a spitfire, makes Mr Logan look relaxed. Some folks said ya was taking your life in your hands, if ya argued with Yana. People that said that were just full of it and afraid of Yana though, she didn't ever mean no one harm."
"Why was everyone so afraid of her?"
"Lot like Mr. Logan in that way, too. Just had a way about her, an she was powerful Jubes. For a few of us, the stuff that went down at Alcatraz was like a reminder a the past, seeing one a our own with power none of us got walkin the line. Yana never did that though, mind ya. She never lost control like Doc Grey did, no matter how close she mighta came. Peter an Kitty, an I reckon me an Dani too, we helped keep her grounded much as we could. Weren't all that many folks who could even talk much with her, cuz of the fear."
"Everyone was just afraid of her because she was powerful, Sam?"
Sam frowned, and thumbed his chin a bit. "Well, that ain't really the whole truth of it.. But see here, Jubes, there were a lot of things bout Illyana that didn't make much sense. She was younger'n all of us, not even ten when we first met her ya know. Then she had her accident and well, next thing we know she's the same age as Kitty, Dani, an ah. So she fell in with us an her brother, but mostly with Kitty. She loved Petey, but she spent the most time with Kitty. Only one she really felt comfortable with after she became a teenager, ah reckon."
"Wait, wait, she became a teenager? From a little kid?"
"Well.. it's a complicated thing, an it ain't my place to tell ya that story Jubes. She was powerful, ya know? Most powerful teleporter we ever seen yet. Couple times, when the X-men were in a rush like, she teleported em quick like. Not just a mile or two, like Mr Wagner neither. She was bouncing them around the globe, thousands a miles in the blink of an eye. Yana could even time travel." He shook his head again, as if every time he thought of time travel he just wanted to say something about how 'don't that beat all? Real time travel'.
"So uhm. She ended up sacrificing herself?"
"Oh yeah, Yana saved the whole world, Jubes. Whole Universe, probably even. Knew she had it in her the whole time, but she never believed us she had it in her until right at the end. Part of why a lot of us get choked up, or don't like talkin bout her. She'd been through a lot here at school, at her homes, an then Inferno came along and it just.. it was bad. There was a whole lot of apologizing after Inferno, all the people who'd been wrong bout Yana. Course none of us wanted to hear it, most of us we'd a rather she'd been selfish and stayed with us, then did herself in, but what can ya say? She was gone, an all the prats who made fun of her or didn't trust her while she was here were still around. Life ain't always fair, that way."
Sam shrugged again, grunted.
"So uh Sam, when I was talking to Kitty, she said that Yana was er. Well, a witch."
Sam nearly dropped his wrench.
"Ah-ha! I knew it, Kitty was lying to me!"
Her hope of catching Kitty in a lie died however, at the shake of Sam's head.
"Nah, just surprised she told ya that Jubes. Kitty was closer to Yana'n the rest of us. Peter was her sister, yeah, but Kitty and Yana chose to be as close as sisters could be. Kitty was the one who had to defend Yana to everyone, cuz that's why everyone was afraid of her. Yana wasn't just no run of the mill hocus pocus witch, Jubilee, but she was a demon sorceress."
"Wait.. what? Demons?" Jubilee was blinking. Were Kitty and Guthrie taking her in on a prank? But he sounded far too serious, and looked so sad.
"Me, ahm a god fearing man Jubes, an so are a lot of others here at the school. Quite a few people were terrified of Yana when they found out what she was, or that she commanded demons. Was even worse, when people found out she started turning into one.. Ahm a god fearing man, Jubes, but Yana was never deserving a lot of the things that got said to her or about her. Wasn't nothing hateful bout that girl, no matter what kinda folk she consorted with."
"Right.. demon sorceress. Kitty was roomates with a demonic magic user." Jubilee just leaned against the jeep staring off into space. The world, it appeared, had been turned on it's head and everyone was just a bit crazy.
"Thanks Sam... I think."
The whole world was insane. Or maybe it was just better to not ask about Illyana Rasputin. So far, all that seemed to do was make her head hurt.
What was the deal with this girl? A teleporter, a witch, and everyone was reluctant to talk about her. Why? Well, so far she'd gotten a lot of hocus pocus talk. Which meant she needed to go to someone fairly grounded in reality next. Oddly, the practical one was the one who made illusions. Go figure.
Jubes found Dani Moonstar down at the stables, taking care of the white stallion that she had a strong suspicion was actually hers. She'd never spent that much time around Dani, they just didn't quite click. For starters, Dani was all about nature, and from Colorado. She'd seen nature that didn't have smog, where Jubilee had always thought that such a thing didn't exist except as a fairy tale.
That, and her powers didn't always make Dani one of the most popular people around. She could project your worst fears or greatest desires, and in a school full of teenagers, that was a powerful thing if you wanted to embarrass someone. All in all, it meant Dani Moonstar didn't get bothered all that much.
"Hiya Dani! Whats up chica?"
The young Cheyenne woman looked up from brushing her horse, her eyes narrowing just a little in suspicion at Jubilee's friendly tone. "Jubilee. What do I owe Little Miss Gossip's presence to, this morning?"
"Oh, er. Well I've been curious about a few things, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me? About Illyana Rasputin?"
Dani's eyes narrowed. "You've already talked to Sam and Kitty?"
Jubilee nodded.
"Then there's nothing more I can tell you. Peter could tell you more." Dani's answer was clearly a dismissal, glad that she'd found a way to not have to talk to Jubilee.
"Oh. Right. Thanks." Jubilee murmured and walked away, cursing under her breath the whole way. Well, if Moonstar wasn't going to talk to her, she could check the library again. It beat trying to talk to Peter Rasputin about his sister. She didn't figure that would go over to well, asking Petey about his little sister. If Kitty, Sam, and Dani got touchy and protective of her, then she could only figure what Pete's reaction would be.
Like many things, stumbling across the book in the library was an accident. It'd been slipped behind a musty old book that probably hadn't been read since Professor Xavier was a kid. Well, probably not that old, but still. At first, Jubilee couldn't figure out why someone slipped a diary behind books and hid it in the library.
Mumbling, she stopped by Kitty's room since Rogue managed to talk Logan into going shopping with her – and she didn't even take me with her! Some friend.
"Hey Kit? Ya have any idea who Irene Adler was? The names sounding real familiar, but I can't remember who it was.."
Kitty just gave her a 'duh' look. "Irene Adler? Destiny! She was the future teller that hung around with the Brotherhood. Why?"
Woah. Future teller? I'd better read this then, maybe it'll tell me something useful!
"Oh, just doing some digging on the brotherhood and saw her name, but there wasn't anything appended for a code name. Thanks Kit!"
Jubilee was both excited, and disappointed, by what the book contained. While there were allusions to quite a few things, she didn't quite understand a lot of it. The language was too poetic, flowery, to take anything solidly. Yet she found what she thought was the entry about Inferno.
The Elder's Child will cast open her eyes,
with a wider gaze she shall understand at last,
and as a Child of Light will sacrifice to buy safety for all,
for she must depart the world less she destroy it.
It all read like that, but in flipping through the entries, she was able to figure out a few things. That one was about Inferno and Illyana, she figured. Then there was one that mentioned a bird of fire and destruction admist a prison. Alcatraz. Most of them though, she had no clue what any of it meant.
"Gah. This is just stupid. I should probably give this to someone, it's an important book.." Then why was it hidden in the library, where anyone could get it? Just not in the most likely of places. She was kind of curious who had hidden it there, though. A teacher? The Professor? A former student?
Oo. This one looked interesting. In a gloomy sort of way.
Chaos and Strife follow in her wake;
Blood nourishes the ground where she walks;
the Darkchyld comes again, both great and terrible;
with powers to dim even the Phoenix, friend and foe will quail before her;
Yet the danger to the world will be two fold, one by friend and one by foe...
There was, it looked like, more. Yet the page had been ripped, and whatever it had said beneath that bit was now long gone. Jubes felt a chill move down her spine though, and before she knew it she was running for Miss Munroe's office.
"Miss Munroe!!" She had to share this with someone.
