Chapter: 5 Morning After Dark
Zoey did eventually fall asleep, but it was a lot of tossing and turning.
And when she woke up to sunlight in her room she decided to get out of bed; though she was reluctant to, that mattress was magic.
She had half unpacked her things into the dresser, such as bras and undies in case any of the guys came to her room, and kept the rest folded nicely in her suitcase which fit under her bed nicely.
She dug under her bed in the suitcase for a pair of jeans and a floral pattern shirt. She put on light make-up covering the dark circles under her eyes with concealer. Her stomach growled, and she decided to head the kitchen.
It was only 8:00am and the house seemed quiet as she walked along, admiring the landscape and city scene paintings on the walls as she made her way through the halls and staircases, sliding down the last railing.
Usually she would have found Simon and woken him to take him out, but he had slept in Ororo's room, so she didn't want to bother them.
She reached the big kitchen but saw the light on, and came upon Hank drinking a mug of something as he wrote in a notebook, sitting at the kitchen island. He had on large black sweatpants and a big plain white tee with blue fur jutting out from the neck and arm sleeves. Even his blue hair was in disarray
"Morning, Zoey!" Hank said, not even looking up.
"How did you do that?" she asked as she followed the smell of coffee to the high-end coffee machine, which also looked like it made espressos, and poured herself a mug. She added some milk and four sugar cubes, and came to sit next to Hank, feeling the strength of his power running through her body. She tapped her sharp nails on the marble counter.
"I have an excellent sense of smell," Hank said as he continued to write in the notebook.
"But how did you tell it was me?"
"Your smell," he said, finishing a side note to a weird diagram that looked like DNA, and closing his book. He turned to her and smiled, sipping his coffee.
"Is that an attempt at politely telling me I stink?"
"No, no," he said quickly, and laughed. "Each of you has a different smell, such as Janie smelling like lavender, or Alex like burnt paper."
"Okay then… what's my smell?" she asked.
Hank took a big gulp from his mug, and set it down.
"Fresh out of the oven peanut butter cookies."
Zoey spit her coffee in surprise, and they both laughed at that.
"Cookies?"
"Peanut butter cookies. It's a great smell. It just throws me why it's something like that."
"Something that doesn't fit my ability, you mean," Zoey said. "But actually I can make a mean batch of those, and I guess peanut butter has the texture to shape to whatever you want, I guess."
"That makes sense now," Hank said.
"Do you know the way around this kitchen?" Zoey asked, changing the subject.
"Somewhat, yes. I tend to eat larger portions, as well as more meals than the others. Why do you want to know?" he asked.
"My mom had taught me to not just thank the host, but to offer a grander gesture of gratitude. I was thinking a big breakfast for all would be sufficient."
Hank actually growled, but his smile comforted her and she knew he was excited.
"We usually just make our own food, except for dinner when Janie makes it. Hence all the minute rice, TV dinners, and leftover delivery pizza. An actual breakfast sounds like heaven, I have to admit."
"Charles doesn't hire anybody? I mean he must have chefs and butlers and maids for a house like this-"
"He hires a maid once every other month for a big clean of the house, but he erases their mind afterward. He doesn't want to raise attention by having amnesia ridden chefs as well, but each of us knows the basics to keep us alive. But enough about that, I'm hungry," he said as he stood up.
"Sounds like a plan, then," Zoey said as she went to the fridge, and pulled out a large carton of eggs, the orange juice and milk, and with enough moving take out containers, uncovered some bacon that was soon to expire within the next week.
Hank helped her find the bread, and started to toast the pieces as she started to bombard him with questions about how they all got there.
"It was during the Cuban war crisis," Hank said as he went to grease to frying pan for the bacon. Zoey was cracking the eggs, using the whole box of dozen.
"Sebastian Shaw was a mutant who wanted to start a nuclear war, believing that it would make more mutants and make us stronger. Originally we were all staying at a CIA facility, but then Shaw found the place destroying it and our safety along with it. We had nowhere to go, but Charles brought us here. It's been home ever since."
Zoey smiled. And Charles had said it was nothing.
"He really is the Gandhi of mutants," she muttered as she whisked the eggs.
Hank let out a growling laugh as he started buttering the first pieces of toast and putting more in.
"That is so true! Maybe we should have made that his codename."
"Codename?" Zoey asked as she poured the eggs onto the multiple frying pans she had on the big industrial sized stove, and added the bacon to the last one.
"Yeah, each one suited to our power."
"Like superheroes," Zoey said as she started to flip the bacon.
"We're not superheroes..."
"What's yours?"
"Beast," he said proudly.
"What is Charles's?"
"Professor X."
"But why Professor?" she asked.
"Well he got his PHD in genetics with emphasis on mutation, and he always talked about turning this place into a school for the gifted."
"A school? He teaches you guys?" she asked. The lax control in this place made that hard to believe.
"Well maybe a few times a month he'll give us short lessons, biology, algebra, reading American classics. He focuses on our abilities too, but he's been disheartened about opening an academy. After he found out he couldn't walk anymore, and with Erik and Raven leaving him, and having to make Moira leave, he just lost heart, stopped trying to expand to make this a school."
"Who's Raven? And who is Moira? He made her leave?" Zoey asked as she finished up cooking the eggs and loaded them onto a big platter.
That sounded like a relationship, and Zoey felt uneasy and too interested. She stopped and turned to Hank, who was munching down on some toast, finishing a piece in two bites.
"Hey, save some for the rest. But who's Moira and Raven?" she asked again.
"I've probably already said too much, sorry. I can't-
"Fine, then if he didn't want to make this a school anymore, why did he bring in Ororo and Janie? Why did he come to me?"
"Actually they came together. They were both walking in the back country around here, and Charles spotted a moving raincloud even though it was a clear day. He welcomed them with open arms. They've only been here two weeks but have already got the hang of things."
"Why did he come to me?" she egged on.
"That… I will leave for the Professor to tell you himself," Hank said nervously.
Zoey heard something from within the house, and snapped her head to look at the doorway. Hank had done the same, and she heard him sniffing. She sniffed too, but only smelled the bacon.
"You have my hearing, too; you are just full of surprises. But it's only Janie," he said, and went back to finish buttering the rest of the toast.
Sure enough, a couple seconds later, Janie appeared in the doorway. Her hair was down; it was wavy and ended a little bit below her shoulder. She had on a brown dress that reached her ankles and flowed easily, and a small pouch was tied around her waist.
"Good morning!" she said brightly as she came in. "You made breakfast?" Janie asked, surprised as she saw the feast on the counter.
"Just a 'thank you' for letting me be a guest here. I made enough for all of us! Dig in, get first dibs," Zoey said. Janie smiled and went to a cabinet and brought out plates.
The three of them all made their own plates, Hank filling up two, he almost went for a third but Zoey cut him off. They sat around the kitchen island and dug in.
"So what do you guys do around here?" Zoey broke the silence.
Hank and Janie exchanged a glance, and she raised a brow.
"What?"
"Well, it all depends. Usually Charles just lets us go on our own. We have to stay here, of course, but there's enough to do here to entertain anybody. He spends a lot of time in his father's study, and at Cerebro. I had to cut him off the other day. He's been using it so much recently, he has a risk of going bald," Hank said.
"Cerebro?" Zoey asked. Hank frowned.
"I need to stop talking," he said, and used a spoon and fork together to shovel some more eggs into his mouth.
"But Charles also spends time with each of us. Sometimes together, but mostly individual work for us to practice our abilities. He helps us expand them, find new things we didn't know about ourselves," Janie said. "For instance, I only learned about this a few days ago," she said, patting the small bag hanging on her waist.
She closed her other hand into a fist, and closed her eyes for a second. She opened them a few seconds later and looked down as she opened her hand. A pink gerber daisy rested in her palm.
"That is so amazing," Zoey said. "Do you mind if I try?" she asked.
Janie smiled and nodded, untying the pouch of dirt from around her waist. Janie and Hank waited in anticipation as Zoey rested one hand on the pouch, her other closed in a fist.
She closed her eyes, and concentrated on the dirt that seemed to be vibrating under her hand. She felt the vibration flow up her arm and down the other to her fist as she envisioned her mom's favorite flower.
She opened her eyes, and looked down as she opened her hand. She smiled when she saw a purple Petunia. It was missing a petal, but Zoey didn't care, it still looked beautiful. She tucked it behind her ear.
"That was amazing," Hank said.
"It's all Janie," Zoey said, smiling.
"But it was you too, Zoey. It's your ability," he replied. She felt a Charles-esque speech coming on, so she smiled as she finished the last of her bacon, and stood up to bring her dish to the sink.
"Well I saw the library yesterday, and I've been itching to raid it. I'll see you guys later?" Zoey said as she turned around.
Janie was frowning slightly, and Hank was back to devouring his meal. Eventually Janie nodded, and Zoey left the room. She was a few feet past the doorway when she heard Hank.
"She'll eventually come around."
Zoey raised an eyebrow but still made her way to the library.
Come around to what, exactly? She sighed, and rushed to the library, feeling all the powers leave her, needing a break. She wasn't like them, and probably would never be. She felt her powers were a curse. Why did she have to abnormal?
She opened the doors to the library, and closed them behind her, the click of the door making an echo.
She walked up to the nearest armchair, and sat herself down, letting out a big breath.
She still had trouble believing she was here. She wasn't sure if she had hoped if it was all real or not. She decided on the former as she turned to the table next to the chair, which was slowly swallowing her it was so comfy.
There were three books, two on genetics and biology, and the last one was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. She grabbed it from the bottom of the pile and opened up the book to the bookmark, and started reading. She had gotten a few pages in, not sure what was really going on, but enjoying the characters and their humor all the same.
She adjusted herself, moving around to tuck her legs under her body, when the bookmark, in its original place, fell out and landed on the floor.
"Shit," she said.
She didn't remember where the bookmark was, or whoever was even reading it. She reached forward to grab it, and realized it wasn't a piece of paper, it was a photo. She turned it over after reading the text on the back: Lamb and Flag, 1962.
It was Charles, smiling wildly with a pint pitcher in hand, and an arm around a pretty blonde. They were both looking at the camera and genuinely smiling.
So this was Raven – or Moira, she thought.
What did she do to dishearten Charles and his idea for an academy?
She studied their positions, but Zoey couldn't decide if they were either really close as friends or maybe more. Either way, Charles looked really happy.
She was studying the photograph so closely - the sweat on his brow that indicated he was probably already drunk, and the dress on the girl that showed off her curves – that she didn't hear someone come in.
However, the clearing of their throat sent her jumping, and the book and photograph flew in the air and landed, the book making a loud thump.
"Crap!"
She looked up to find Charles bending over and reaching forward to pick the book up. She grabbed the photo, trying not to crumple it, though it was a little worn, probably from a lot of use.
Charles sat back up, the book in his hands.
"I seem to be startling you as of late. Am I interrupting deep thoughts again?"
"No… no not really. I came here to read and found this so I started it but I lost your place," she explained.
He came closer to her in his chair, and looked at the photo in her hand.
"It fell out," she said quietly, handing it over. He took it and gave it a glance.
"It's okay, I remember where I was," he said, tucking the photo into the book.
Zoey sat there, fiddling with her hands.
"She's very beautiful," she said slowly, looking up. Charles was already watching her.
"Yes, she is. But that's not Raven's true form," he reached over and rested the book back onto the small table.
"Form?" she asked, not sure where he was going. At least she knew who the girl was.
"She can shift the atoms of her body at will to change her appearance and form, and even her voice. Basically she can be whoever she wants,"
"A shape shifter?" she asked, and Charles nodded. "What's her true form?"
"She's blue, with scales. She has yellow eyes and bright red hair."
"That sounds beautiful."
Charles looked surprised at what she had said. He smiled, but only nodded.
It was now more than ever that she just wanted to invade his mind to find out who Raven was to Charles, and why he was so reluctant to talk about her. But she figured she could find out about her from the others before the week ended.
She knew she wasn't staying.
She would enjoy the week and politely say her goodbyes. She was thinking maybe of leaving Simon, even thought it broke her hear, but he seemed happier with the grass and Ori's unfading attention. But she couldn't live such a quiet life like they did here. She liked traveling around the city to meet with friends, or see a movie, maybe a pub crawl.
What they did here was too remote for her, too Thoreau.
"We missed you at breakfast," Charles broke her thoughts. "Thank you for that."
"No, it was my thanks for welcoming me as a guest," Zoey said, smiling.
"Well I have to say thanks back. Sean and Alex scarfed that bacon down in less than two minutes."
Zoey laughed lightly.
"When was the last time they had that kind of breakfast?" she asked. Charles shifted his arms, and drummed his fingers on his leg.
"I've always wanted to hire a cook for the house, but it's hard to find someone to trust, without me having to constantly observe them or influence them."
"Why not just have them stay here?" she asked.
"Well, one time a maid accidentally saw Hank, and she was tough to catch, she was a fast runner. It's just too risky to take so many chances," Charles said.
"Well, you'll figure out something, you have for everything else."
"Well, here's hoping," he said, giving a faint smile.
"So what's the plan for today?" she asked.
"That depends on you."
"How so?" Zoey asked.
"I was wondering if you wanted to… practice your powers with Alex? Just that-"
"Yes! I do!" she said quickly. He raised an eyebrow, and she continued. "I feel almost heavier, with that thing you did to my mind. No offense, but I don't want it anymore," she said.
"No, I understand. Let's go," he said, he backed his chair a little, and it spun around and started moving forward. Zoey caught up as he lead them towards the elevator
"My stepfather was a hard believer of the nuclear war, and had a few bunkers built underneath the house," he said, coming to a stop in front of the matte copper doors. Charles brought his hand to his head, and Zoey didn't feel any invasion. After a second, he nodded, and Zoey pressed the button.
They rode the elevator in silence, and the doors opened to a dimly lit cement hall.
"Cozy," Zoey said sarcastically as they walked out and the doors closed behind them.
Charles laughed nervously as they walked to a pair of large metal doors. He reached for one of the handles, but then stopped.
He lowered his arm and looked at Zoey expectantly.
"Wait, seriously? These things are huge! I can't," Zoey said, knowing that he wanted her to move them. "And I didn't even know what was happening last night."
"You were thinking of him and his power. Do the same now, concentrate on his power."
She closed her eyes and brought her hands into fists. She thought of Erik; his piercing green eyes standing out against his black outfit, the anger behind his eyes… and the misery. How he took her watch off and even put it back on, how he opened the main door with a swing of a hand and re-locked it behind him. How she had made the pour spouts fly. And the kitchenware.
Suddenly she felt his power in her mind, and she opened her eyes and put her hands forward, palms open.
The door closest to her made a small creaking noise, and slowly started moving. But suddenly, after a couple of inches, it stopped. Zoey tried harder, remembering the small vibration of the metal when she touched the pour spout, and the door started moving again, opening widely.
Zoey dropped her hands and it all stopped.
Erik left her mind and she focused instead on Charles, who was smiling, but his eyes said differently.
"That was amazing progress, Zoey."
"Progress?" an angry voice said, and Zoey turned to Alex who was walking towards them.
He was looking right at her, his blonde hair messy, and wearing the same white tank and sweats he had on yesterday. "You were with him?"
She nodded slowly.
"He tried to uh, recruit me. He was there before Charles came,"
"He had the nerve to face you?" he asked, looking at Charles.
"Alex, Erik and I parted our ways… in peace."
"But he did that to you! How could you not want to do something?" Alex said, pointing at the chair.
"What?!" Zoey was shocked.
Erik is the reason he's in a wheelchair? She suddenly didn't feel that Alex was overreacting so much.
Charles ignored her as his tone turned dark as he talked to Alex.
"I will not be discussing this with you; I will have no more of it. What happened was between Erik and me."
Zoey went over and opened the second door manually, knowing she wouldn't be part of the conversation; she had nothing to say.
She was just shocked. Charles still considered Erik a friend, after what ever happened to let Erik make Charles not ever walk again? Sometimes Charles seemed to have too much forgiveness in him.
She found a light switch and turned it on, showing the long tunnel-like room, with a crowd of mannequins at the far end. She heard Alex sigh heavily, and his footsteps echoed in the room the same as hers. She turned around to see Charles coming towards the both of them, his chair moving in silence.
"Alex, you need to help Zoey harness your power. Right now she has a sort of wall to keep her from accessing you, but when I get rid of it, it will start again. We had the same trouble with you, but now that you can use it, even sometimes without the need of Hank's suit, you should be able to transfer that control to Zoey as well. Or at least help her through it," Charles explained as Alex went to the end of the bunker and lined up three mannequins in a row.
"Zoey, when you're ready, I want you to try to only hit the right mannequin."
"Hold on a second! I still haven't seen Alex's power in action. I want to see a demonstration first," Zoey said, crossing her arms.
"Sure thing," Alex said smiling. Charles sighed, and backed his chair to the doorway, Zoey following.
"Whenever you're ready Alex," Charles said.
Alex took a few steps back, and curled his hands into fists as he set his feet apart. He then started to swing his body back and forth as the red light emitted around his shoulders and stomach, and soon a big disc shot out from his chest and flew towards the middle mannequin. It made a loud boom as it hit the plastic, setting it ablaze and knocking it over.
Alex stopped emitting the red light, and turned to Zoey and Charles. Zoey smiled, and walked forward.
"Let's do this," she said, looking over to Charles.
He brought a hand to his head and she closed her eyes as the warm tickling feeling behind her ears and down her neck started. It was only a few seconds later that she felt Alex's heat surge through her body, and the red lights started shooting from her hands. But instead of drilling into the ground, the rays shot off from the floor at an angle and then it shot around the room.
"Charles!" Zoey yelled out, not sure what to do.
Alex stood in front of her, and grasped both of her hands with his own. They felt like icepacks, and it spread throughout her whole body, but the red light dimmed out from around the room, and from her hands.
Zoey looked at Alex wide eyed. That was such a risk he just took, it could've made it worse for her; it could've hurt Charles if it multiplied her power.
"It didn't multiply it Zoey… him touching you just tamed it," Charles said. Zoey snapped her head to Charles.
'I thought we had a pact, Charles,' she said to him in her mind. She was just mostly embarrassed he knew she was worried about him getting hurt.
'We do, and you're breaking it now as well'.
Zoey blinked her eyes and left his mind, and she felt him do the same.
"Try it now," Alex said, letting go of her hands and stepping back.
Zoey stood there. She raised her right hand slowly, trying her best to aim it at the mannequin, trying to bring on the intense heat that Alex's power held. She felt it and smiled, but frowned when she felt it in both of her hands, not only one. She put them both up and only short bursts shot from her hands. It knocked over two mannequins and both of them were on fire, quickly filling the room with a burning plastic smell. Alex patted Zoey on the back rather hard, and smiled before he went to the fire extinguisher and went over to douse the flames.
"Well done, Zoey! Let's go again," Charles said with a smile.
And she did. For the next hour or so she went again and again, practicing aim, and controlling the power to either both hands or one hand. She even practiced with Alex of bouncing back the red rays between them, like a game of catch, which did eventually hit a mannequin and it blew up into several pieces.
It was then that Charles called an end to the practice, and they closed the bunker and went back to the main hall.
"See you around Zoey, that was fun," Alex said as he walked off down the hall towards the bedrooms after the short elevator ride.
"That was…" Charles said, and Zoey turned to him. "Pretty impressive."
"Did you underestimate me?" Zoey asked.
"What? No! No, I mean it was just impressive how quickly you adapted to his power, given your hard time to control it before."
"Well, I've been told I'm a quick learner," Zoey said shrugging.
"Or it could have to do with the touch. It might-" Charles began but Zoey knew where he was going and interrupted him.
"So can we work with Ori next? And by the way I think Simon's found a new best friend…"
Charles laughed.
"Yes, Ori and Simon have gotten surprisingly close; she always showed care for animals. Last week when we were practicing a storm, she accidentally hurt a small pigeon that was blown against a tree and she started crying. Very caring that one, but I think we should work with her power later. It's time you took a break, and I want to teach Ori some multiplication tables, so go and do whatever you like. Just no trouble, please. Being the oldest of the rest, I would hope you might set an example?"
"Oldest? How old do you think I am old man?" she asked smiling as she sarcastically acted surprised. Charles laughed nervously.
"What, maybe… 23?" he said, and at that Zoey laughed.
"27, thank you very much! And just how old are you? 50?" she asked, grinning.
"Actually not too much older than you. Who'dve known?" he said. He gave a short nod and his hand turned the control to turn the chair around and he left Zoey behind.
Janie sighed as her last pencil broke. The only sharpener was in the living room, so she reluctantly broke her concentration on the algebra she was working on, and stood up.
She opened her door and stepped out, then turned and walked into a hot and wet wall. In instinct her hand flew out to slap whoever it was as she stepped back.
When she saw it was Alex, wet after a shower and holding a towel around his waist, she hoped to god her blush wasn't too obvious.
She slowly looked up from his hand gripping the towel, to his toned stomach and chest, and felt her heart flutter when she met his dark and imposing gaze.
He was grinning.
"You like slapping me, don't you?" he asked.
"No!" she said quickly. He let out a small laugh and she continued. "You just keep taking me by surprise, that's all. And I told you why I don't like surprises."
"No, you didn't tell me that," Alex said, taking a step towards her. She took a step back. "You told me why whenever somebody touches you, you think it's an attack," he took a step towards her, and she took one back and she bumped into her door, "but you never told me you didn't like surprises."
She felt panicked now, but there was a bubbly feeling in her stomach she didn't recognize. He wasn't being threatening, and she couldn't help but glance down at his abs once or twice as he took another step forward, now a little too close for comfort.
"Well," she took a deep breath, and bravely looked up to meet his gaze, not flinching as she realized his eyes were a few inches away. "I'm not one for surprises," she said. Alex just smiled and brought his head an inch closer.
"I think I might be able to change your mind about that-"
"Woah guys, keep it private!" Sean's voice boomed down the hall in an obnoxious way. Alex jumped back, keeping a hold on his towel. Janie looked down and saw that some droplets of water from his dripping hair managed to land on her shirt.
"See you," Janie said quickly and rushed to the living room to sharpen the pencil, though she knew now she wouldn't be able to think about math for a while.
Alex turned to Sean, glaring.
"One of these days, my power will be directed right at you, buddy," he said grumpily, and rushed to the next door - his room, and locked it behind him.