((just as a warning, from now on, most chapters will include increasingly intense dream scenes; and I'm officially writing Kurt's dialogue in a German accent now))

A couple hours later, around midnight, Nolan had mostly recovered and was in the infirmary resting. "What happened?" Storm asked quietly as she walked me back to my room.

I sighed, "I was trying out a telepathic technique that worked well in my world, but something went wrong. Nolan's defenses... they were practically nonexistent; I thought I sensed walls, but they were just natural divisions. I saw everything, everything, Storm. It flooded our minds with his memories, and..."

"He's going to be fine," Storm put her arm around my shoulders. I winced at the touch; my scars were still flaring up. "It'll take a while, but I'm sure you can handle it." I nodded and slipped into my room, hoping things would be better in the morning...

My eyes snapped open to a scorching sensation ripping through my body. It felt like I was burning from the inside out, the strange metal now restraining my neck and muzzle as well. I groaned, and a guard whipped around and grinned wickedly, "Ah, now we can have some fun. SNIFFLEBUT! GET OVER HERE!" I looked as far to my left as possible, my eyes widening and pupils slitting in panic. A burly human with thick, coursing muscles approached with a whip made of the same metal as my restraints. "Snifflebut" stalked into my cage, raising the whip. It cracked against my scales, wrenching a scream from my lips as several chords barbed long, deep gashes into my abdomen. The monster continued this for what felt like days, alternating between my abdomen, wings, and legs so that just as the wounds began to scab, he would rip them open again...

I jolted awake, panting as I convinced myself it was once again just a memory coming back in a dream. The scars from that day burned like a nadder's fire, making me wish I didn't have to wear clothing - even if it was just an extension of myself. Nonetheless, I got up from the soft, carpeted floor and decided on billowy, brown pants and a loose, teal peasant blouse. I swiftly brushed my bedhead of thick curls and spun illusions around my body, tinting them more so that the inflammation and ruddiness around my scars would blend in better with the rest of my pale skin. I gathered my tablet, scanning through the books and comics I had scheduled for today, and was surprised to see that the original Robin, Dick Grayson, had spit off from Batman to become Nightwing. I wanted to start reading the next comic and the spin-off series for his character, but I needed to meet Charles early for class assignments.

I jogged down the hall to Charles' office with my satchel slung over my shoulder. I knocked twice and entered, Charles ushering me to sit in a rolling chair on the guest side of his desk. He slid the roster in front of me:

Science: AP Physics

Math: AP Calculus AB

English: Literature and Composition I

World Language: (first year) Afrikaan or Russian

Social Science: AP U.S. Government and Politics

Electives: 4 credits needed

There were also a few specialty courses - telepathy, telekinesis, and transformation - but all of the other courses except for LAC1 were for Seniors! I raised an eyebrow at him, but he was deep in conversation with someone on the outer fringes of his telepathic reach. I quickly glanced through the electives options and picked Sociology and Computer Science for this semester. That would give me one credit towards my electives requirement and hopefully give me more of a transition into this new society.

Charles absent-mindedly signed the syllabus and dismissed me with a wave or his hand. Kitty and Kurt were waiting for me outside the office. "So, vat courses dit you pick?" I handed them the sheet, and their eyebrows shot up. "How dit you geten sat many Senior kourses?"

I shrugged, "Charles just handed me the sheet with the courses he wants me to take along with the Electives sheet. He didn't have time to go over it at the moment, but I guess I just tested out of the lower years."

Kitty and Kurt shook their heads in disbelief. "I guess you're one smart cookie!" Kitty giggled. Goodness, this girl was odd. What does a small piece of sweet dough have to do with being smart?

A bell sounded, and we split up, my first class being LAC1, while Kitty had AP British Literature and Kurt had a chemistry lab. I slipped into my soft chair a few minutes before everyone else arrived and was surprised to see that most were younger students, perhaps in middle school. The teacher, a tall, red-haired woman probably in her thirties, introduced me to the class and said her name was Jean Grey. I was apparently jumping into the second half of the course, so hopefully my writing skills were better than my understanding of these strange people. Everyone got out notebooks, pencils, and pencil sharpeners, so I followed suit, several people snickering at my cover. Kitty said her parents gave it to her as a prank gift, but it was the only notebook left. The cover had a young child with dark hair and light brown skin along with the title "Dora the Explorer" across the top. Based on their looks, I assumed this was a rather childish cover. Ignoring them, I simply flipped it open to Kitty's note, "They won't like it, but trust me; they'll all be jealous by the end of the week."

Remembering how I connected to the tablet, I extended my mind to the notepad and felt a reluctant connection form between our energies. I was able to see now that Kitty had actually written in invisible ink most of the notes I would need for the course. I sat back and relaxed, occasionally adding a few words here and there.

"Kylrm, what is a good topic sentence for paragraph 3?" I quickly scanned the paragraph about chemistry in the textbook again and gave a catchy, simple answer. Jean frowned, "I suppose that's all right, but something more like this would be more appropriate." She went on to give a long-winded statement that danced around the bush - or however that saying goes. I fared much better in Physics with Scott and Calculus with Charles, my other two morning classes.

At lunch break, I sucked the energy out of the food without tasting it so I could more efficiently read our homework for LAC1. I sighed, "Why in Thor's name do you have to make sentences that long!"

I heard Kitty's melodic laugh - finally, a laugh instead of a giggle - and Kurt's chuckle, "Having trouble with Lit?"

I let a small smile out, "I just don't understand why they want you to add all these, these unnecessary flourishes that have no relevance to the data. I would much rather just say what I want to say and be done with it."

Kurt full-out laughed, drawing a few stares, "Ach, I hat sie same problem. You're alvays addink sie extra vords."

Kitty glared at him, "They're not extra, they catch the reader's attention." Turning back to me, she sighed. "It's like telling a story; you want as many details and captivating things as possible without overwhelming the reader or listener."

I nodded, but I agreed with Kurt; it all just seemed really unnecessary and maybe even a bit pompous. I glanced at my schedule and grinned, "Guess what's up next? Combat training!"

Kurt groaned, "Logan teasches sat kourse. It's so..."

"So intense," Kitty picked up. "Logan's really into combat; some say he's the best there is, but that means he expects the same level from his students. My first day, I got this!" She pushed aside her tank top strap to show a small scar across her shoulder. "During the knife patterns, he did an upper-cut without retracting his claws and now I've got this scar for life."

I held back a chuckle at the barely-noticeable mark as compared to what I hid. "You know, a little foundation and no one would see it," I commented.

She gasped, "You've discovered make-up and didn't tell me?"

"Yeees, why?"

Kitty grinned, "We are going to have a girl's night! What does Friday look like for you? No more late-night rendezvous, I take it."

"Well, I've got AP gov and poli 8-9, but- "

"Great! We'll start at 9:30 sharp then. I've got some extra studying; good luck you two with combat training!" she called as she jogged away.

I shuddered when I watched her pass through a wall, "You never get used to that, do you?" Kurt shook his head, smiling. "What?"

"Oh, she'll find out soon enough." I frowned, but he refused to tell me anything more, and I certainly did not want to search his mind after, well, Nolan.

"ALL RIGHT!" Logan stormed through the doors to the training room. "Now, we've got a newbie here. You should all know her by now, but her name's Kylrm. Trial tests first; refresher for everyone, then we skip to what I was planning on teaching today. No special treatment!" I smiled, used to this much tougher attitude than that of most teachers. "Dragon and Plasma! On the mat!"

I started as the boy who had thrown fire rings at me earlier approached, and although he did not recognize me in this form, the nickname certainly gave a hint. "So, you shoot plasma?"

He smirked, "And I'm going to whup you!" I felt the energy in him rise like in a night fury and darted out of the way, knowing I would be vulnerable in this form. Curious to see what was allowed, I switched to a speed stinger with proportionate nadder wings and danced around the mat, learning his pattern of attack: step, gather energy, blast, repeat. He kept taunting me, "What, is the wittle dragon scared of a wittle plasma blast? I thought your hides were tougher than that!" I just smirked and dashed up behind him as he stepped for a seventh time - he clearly did not have a shot limit like night furies - and dug my stinger into his leg. He yelped and froze in place from the venom.

I switched back to human form, "Try not to be so predictable next time." He tried to quip back a snide remark, but it was muffled by his paralysis. "Don't worry," I replied to the stares. "with that little body mass it'll wear off in fifteen to twenty minutes." Logan started forward, but I showed off a bit by picking the boy up and carrying him off the mat.

"Aaall righty then," Logan cleared his throat. "While Havoc's out, Speedy will be in charge of fire practice." It took me a moment to realize he meant me. I frowned; the nickname didn't really seem fitting for a dragon. "To the skies!" Logan gestured for me to fly up, and we spent the remainder of the two hour-block dodging and firing. I had the advantage of being able to fire different types of blasts, but eventually I would hit my shot limit and resort to titan mode, which was highly unstable.

I trudged through the rest of my classes of the day, exhausted after what could only be described as an intense battle of popularity. Everyone aimed specifically for me without a thought to each other. I managed to pull myself together for my last class, Computer Science, which for once made sense to me. We started learning about a language called Python and how another language engine converted the code we wrote into code the machines could read, a series of 0's and 1's.

At dinner, Kitty, Kurt and I caught up on each other's days, and I noticed a strange after-glow about her. It hit me that I hadn't seen Colossus at combat training. I carefully looked at her emotions her for a moment and let the matter go without saying a word. They were both of age, and based on what I had read, relationships and intimacy were considered very lightly and practically on a whim in this part of the world. Around eleven, I headed back to my room, explaining that I hadn't slept well last night and needed some more rest.