I'll be sharing my room at the school with someone who's expected to arrive later today. Storm, Blossom, and I got to the school late last night, so I spend this morning unpacking. I fold my clothes neatly into my dresser and hang a few things on the left side of the closet. I test both beds and choose the right one, by the window, for my own.
I don't know exactly when my roommate is supposed to arrive, so I put my empty suitcase on my bed to claim it in case I'm not here when she arrives. I look around the neat room with satisfaction.
"Time to explore," I whisper to myself. I step quietly into the hallway and pad my way down the regal stairs. I find the kitchen and some of the classrooms. Then I see Storm stepping into a secret elevator and I smile smugly.
I snap my fingers and cross the hallway to step into the elevator in her stead. I hide in the corner and hold the doors-close button. When I unfreeze, the doors slide shut and I glide down into the basement. The door opens and the Professor and a rugged looking man are walking down the hall towards me. I snap, flinching.
Neither of them are looking at the open elevator, I seem to have gone unnoticed. The rugged looking man is wearing dog tags, barely visible under his shirt. I lift them and peek.
"Wolverine," I whisper. I slip them back into place and walk down the hall behind them. All the rooms down here are sealed off. Door after futuristic door I pass, tapping and pushing on some. Not that any would open unless I unfroze, and that's not going to happen. Then I come across a more important looking door. At the end of the hallway it stands, huge, round, and metal. I run up to it and scan my surroundings, considering letting time play just to check this one out. Then I realize it's probably locked anyway, and it would really just be a stupid risk.
I find myself disappointed as I reenter the elevator and unfreeze to go back up. When the doors open at the top Storm quickly grabs my arm and looks into my eyes.
Immediately, I freeze them and run to my room. I know they'll be after me now. She saw me. And who knows if Professor X or Wolverine did.
I panic in my room for maybe an hour before I realize I never unfroze things. This makes me a little more panicky. I don't know how to control this! The world I stepped into is so much bigger than I am.
Another hour at least passes before I hear a knock on the door.
"Mallory," I hear the Professor say.
"Call me Lapse," I reply. Maybe if I come into this conversation in control, I won't get into as much trouble for snooping.
"Lapse," he says, "What were you doing in that elevator?"
"I-" I say. I go to the door and open it a crack. "I was exploring."
"You could have asked us what was downstairs," he says.
"I didn't know there was a downstairs," I say, "And you wouldn't have told me about it."
"Maybe not immediately, but after a while I'm sure we wouldn't have a choice. You may end up working there someday."
I open the door more. "What do you mean? What's down there?"
Then he told me about the X-men.
My parents somehow kept this from me. Actual mutant superheros. I only ever heard about the bad guys.
"Do you want to see my power?" I ask him with a grin. I know he's probably been inside my head and seen what I've done so far, but he nods and I hold out my hand. He grabs it and I snap my fingers.
I start by picking up my bedspread, leaving it to float in the air. I can feel his eyes following me as I lift my empty suitcase and open all my drawers. I lift my clothes, my shoes. I even lift the string with which I turn on my bedside lamp.
I snap my fingers again and everything falls with a collective whoomph.
The professor smiles at me.
"I can't wait to see you in class, Mallory," he says, rolling out of the room. I look at the mess I've made and sigh.
Someone else enters the room as I shove in my clothes and close the drawers. Suddenly it's all done, every bit of the mess I've made is cleaned. I'm sitting on my bed looking at a strange new face.
"That's better, now isn't it?" she says with a smile. Her British accent is unexpected. "Hello," I say, holding out my hand, "I'm-"
"Lapse, yes. So you've said," she says with a smirk.
I blink in confusion, searching her mirthful blue-green eyes for a little bit of an explanation. She only smiles wider.
Then she stands. "If you must know," she says, "I'd like to be called Blanc. It's French for white."
I watch her as she flits around the room, arranging this and that. Her stuff is all over, as if she already had time to unpack. A few strange waves of utter nonsense fill my thoughts, like I'm accidentally watching two movies at once.
She smirks at me. "We'll I'm going for supper," she says, taking a light jacket off a hook in the closet and putting on some slippers.
That can't be so, I haven't had lunch yet. I look out the window to see the golden light of a setting fall sun. Blanc opens the door and I turn to look at her.
"You know," she says without turning towards me, "We're sort of two peas in a pod, you and I. You avoid memories, and I..." she flips her long blonde hair, "erase them."
I stare at the closed door, completely lost.
