Author's Note:

Okay, I know it's annoying to hear it all the time, but come on, not a single review? I know you guys can do better than that! 2 chapters in a week? I'm on a roll, give me some props, haha!

Anyways, here's chapter 6! The title's gonna change soon, any suggestions, please?

Onwards! I'll have a pic of her on my profile up soon, but not until I get at least... 2 reviews, okay?

XOXOXO

~Bianka

6:27 PM

Downtown Bayville

What is it with boys and rock music?

"Come on, Kurt!!" I pleaded, grabbing his arm and attempting to pull him away. He'd been drooling over the same display in the CD store window for a full minute, and already Ray, Bobby and Sam had moved on. I had been the only one deluded enough to think that Kurt's moment would pass, and had decided to wait for him.

"But… it's so… beautiful…!" he said, sighing in admiration. "I didn't know they were releasing another album!" I groaned and, miraculously, managed to detach him from the window.

"We'll come back before we leave, okay?" I lied.

"Okay," he agreed reluctantly, his soul still glued to the glass. I tried to suppress the guilt and convinced myself that the situation was nothing like telling a child that Santa Claus was real. Arms linked together, we followed the direction I'd seen the rest of the guys go.

The mall was cold, but I'd loved it the moment I'd walked in. Almost the whole ceiling was made of glass and there were fountains everywhere, giving it a very refreshing feel despite the throngs of civilians (predominantly teenagers, of course). All of the palms looked real, and as I passed by one bush, a bird even shot out of it. I laughed and watched the large raven fly up to the second floor, its beady yellow eyes bringing back memories.

Memories of being the local witch.

"Hey there, cutie!"

The boy hissing in my ear brought me out of my memories. I stopped in my tracks and looked around, but nobody was close enough to have spoken to me. "What's wrong?" Kurt asked when he noticed we'd stopped. I shook my head.

"Nothing, I just thought I'd heard something," I said dismissively. Giving him a fake smile, I continued to pull him along.

"So, how old are you?" he asked conversationally.

"Seventeen, almost eighteen. You?"

"Eighteen."

"Cool. And what's your special power?"

He looked at me with a curious expression. "You don't know yet?"

"Y'know, I've heard the elf can be clingy."

I stopped and snapped my head to the side, but once again, nobody was around. "Danny?" This time there was a hint of worry in his voice. I scanned the crowds for anybody looking in my direction, but the only one I could see with his eyes on me was Kurt. After a couple more seconds, I reluctantly kept walking. "Danny?" he repeated.

"It's nothing," I said quickly, but even I could tell that my smile was less convincing this time. He raised an eyebrow doubtfully.

"Really? Try me."

Before I could consider it, I saw one of the guys waving at us over the crowd. "There they are!" I exclaimed, and releasing his arm, took off in that direction. I lost sight of them in the multitude, but pushed my way through anyways, hoping they would still be there when I got to the other side. Somebody called out my name and I stopped; hadn't Kurt been right behind me?

"Oops, I'm sorry!"

That was the only warning before the stranger bumped into me. I tripped over my feet trying to regain my balance, but he wrapped a hand around my arm and jerked me up straight. There was a strong gust of wind and for a moment the ground seemed to have been pulled out from under me. Even if only a second or two later my feet stuck onto firm ground, I felt extremely dizzy. The floor seemed to rock and I gripped onto the person's arms until the world decided to stop trying to make me fall. "You should really watch where you're going, you don't know what kinds of freaks show up in this town."

"Yeah," I muttered absently as I regained myself, and then looked up at him. The nineteen-year-old had silver-white hair and pale skin, but his sneaky platinum eyes were what caught my attention. Despite how much they reminded me of a fox, I couldn't help but find them… well, enticing. Then I realized he was holding me way too close to himself, and with a nervous chuckle, I put a hand on his chest and pushed away. "And sorry, by the way."

"Oh don't worry, I needed to talk to you anyways," he said, waving away my apology. I didn't understand at first, but then my jaw dropped as I took in the towering cement wall that was the back of the mall and the desolate employee parking lot that we now stood in. I looked at him and backed away, trying to silence the sound of my heart pounding in my ears and mentally preparing to defend myself if he came any closer.

"What the hell just happened?" I demanded. He rolled his eyes.

"Geez, you're a mutant, aren't you?" he exclaimed. "You should be a bit more used to weird, Andrea." Yeah, sure, I'd found out that I wasn't necessarily a human a couple of days ago, but to have the fact thrown in my face so casually wasn't something I was used to. Biting back my surprise, I clenched my fists and gave him a warning look.

"How do you know what I am?" I snapped. "Or my name?"

"Well duh, you're hanging out with the X-Freaks." This time I saw him move a split second before I felt a tap on my shoulder. "We have to keep tabs on the competition, y'know. Your name just happened to pop up, Andrea."

"Stop that!" He moved out of the way of my annoyed slap. "And it's Danielle to you. What do you want?" My words came out much cooler than I'd expected, especially considering how out of my element I was. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was a mutant, but the only mutants I'd knowingly met went to the Institute. He, apparently, was a rival.

"Not too bright, are you?" I growled in response to this, but he held up his hands in a peaceful gesture. "Calm down for a second, wildcat. I'm here to extend an offer."

I glared at him through narrowed eyes. "An offer?" I repeated, then wanted to punch myself when it didn't come out as menacing as I'd intended. He grinned and rushed to my side, faster than I could catch, of course, and slung an arm over my shoulder.

"Yes, an offer. You see, our employer's been watching you, and we don't think that you and the X-Geeks are a good fit," he stated, shrugging. "It happens, so we're here to offer you a place with us."

I ducked under his arm and put some comfortable distance between us. "Who's 'us'?"

As if on cue, several voices reached us, and three teenage boys rounded the corner of the building. "Pietro, what's going on?" demanded the leader. "This better be good." He had shaggy brown hair and wore an open brown sleeveless thrown over a white T-shirt with torn jeans, but the first thing I noticed about him was that his emotions spiked. What that meant exactly, I couldn't tell, but his aura wasn't constant.

Temperamental, maybe?

His eyes fell on me. "Who's this?" he asked, jabbing a thumb in my direction.

Pietro was back at my side in a flash and, after wrapping an arm around my shoulder again, waved a hand at the three boys. "This is the Brotherhood: Lance, Toad, and Fred. Guys, this is the girl Magneto was telling us about," he said, a message I couldn't understand hidden in his words. All eyes turned on me at that second. The leader, Lance, looked doubtful, but he crossed his arms and looked me over. The guy next to him, Toad, if I wasn't mistaken, had a pale-green complexion and stood hunched, his bulging yellow eyes curious. The largest of everyone present, Fred, stood behind them two, a tall boy with a buzzed blond Mohawk and a huge stomach held back by worn overalls. They were a curious bunch, but something was off about the situation.

Lance seemed to think so, too, and scoffed. "Come on Pietro, you can't be serious," he reasoned. "She's with the X-Men."

"Exactly," I stated, deciding to speak up. I lifted Pietro's arm off and moved until I was between him and the group. "I don't know what it is you guys do, but I'm just here to figure out how to deal with this whole psychic thing. Xavier offered me that, so I'm gonna stick with him, thanks."

"Another psychic?" Toad exclaimed, and stumbled back. "Don't you think we're good enough with Wanda?"

"Yeah, except Wanda doesn't read minds," Pietro insisted. "Come on, think about it! She's perfect!"

"Except she's already with us."

The "poof" sound that had resulted in nothing but confusion since last night brought me relief, especially when Kurt dropped a hand on my shoulder. The sound of pounding footsteps quickly followed, and coming from the other side of the mall, I saw Bobby, Ray and Sam running towards us. Pietro immediately looked irritated, and they all moved into defensive positions.

"You okay?" Kurt asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, we were just--"

"Yeah, we were just talking, Nightcrawler, so if you don't mind, we have some business to discuss," Pietro said in annoyance. Something snapped around my waist and jerked me forward, setting me down behind the Brotherhood.

"Hey, what the--?" The words stuck at a strange ringing sound in my ears. I winced and shook my head to alleviate it, but all it did was reduce the noise to an almost-silent buzzing. I looked up and saw that the rest of the guys had arrived, Kurt and Bobby in the center. Lance, who I just happened to be standing behind, flexed his fingers and then clenched his fists.

"Looks like we have a fight on our hands, guys," he said, the joy that he got out of that fact apparent in everything from his tone to the excited grin on his face. I stared, unable to understand why he didn't seem to just want, but need this fight like I needed to run when I felt overwhelmed. The familiar feeling of forgetting myself crept up, and for a split second, I felt him:

This wasn't about the X-Men, and this wasn't about getting the girl to join us. My whole body vibrated with energy just begging to be released, and no sooner had the energy built up than I felt it rushing down my arms. I extended them out to my sides, grit my teeth, and holding onto a single thread of control, focused everything forward, toward the blue—

I blinked. Only a foot or two behind him, my arms and body mirrored his stance perfectly. Before I could question why, a single thought came forward:

He was going to hurt them.

"Stop!" I yelled, grabbing onto his arm. He was too far gone though, eyes rolled to the back of his head and arms rigid. I felt the ground begin to shake, and without any further hesitation, I shoved past him and stood in front of Kurt and Bobby. "Lance, stop!"

I felt it overcoming me before I heard the sucking sound, and going only on instinct, I planted my feet firmly on the ground and closed my eyes. I wasn't fully aware of what I was doing as I clenched my fists and focused my eyes on his worn sneakers: all I knew was that I needed to do this, I needed to—

It happened in three blinks.

One: Kurt and Bobby tried to pull me out of the way.

Two: I didn't move. Lance let out a yell and the ground began to crack, the fault coming straight in our direction. Simultaneously, my fists swung out on their own accord, a typical block had it been a physical fight.

Three: The ground beneath the Brotherhood waved like a sheet of fabric being shaken. They were on the ground before I blinked, but when I opened my eyes again, all I could see of them was from the shoulder up.

Silence for one God-forsaken second.

"Holy—"

"Yo, get us out of here!"

Blood dripped down from my outstretched hands, and when I opened my fist, I could see that I had done it to myself. Four crescent-moon shaped cuts were testimony to how powerful this episode had been. Then again, episode? As the reality began to set in, I felt my hands start shaking and my heart rate increasing.

This wasn't normal, even on my standards: I hadn't just tapped into his mind, I'd tapped into his power.

Too much.

Too fast.

So I did what I always did in these situations:

I ran.