Chapter Four

It had been a good first day, Verity thought as she neatly unfolded one of her blouses out of the suitcase that lay open on her bed. She had been given a tour, got to know one of the more difficult teachers a little better and the day had been rounded off by an exemplary dinner with the rest of the staff. Admittedly there had been a surprising moment in which Verity pondered over why Westchester was having such a glorious sunny day when she was sure the news report had forecasted heavy showers. It had resulted in Ororo dropping her fork and Scott gagging on a piece of lettuce.

Nevertheless, the man's colour eventually returned to his face as he hurriedly explained his food had gone down the wrong hole. This had prompted Verity into a long recollection of how she almost choked on an omelette when she was younger, leaving her audience very uncomfortable.

But now, the skies outside were dark and sullen, bringing the promise of rain the weather report had displayed earlier that day. Hanging up her clothes in the wardrobe, Verity continued to unpack her luggage. She would make sure she would enjoy her stay here, despite it being a report. If she was happy, they would be happy. Whilst the hour was drawing late, Verity wasn't quite ready to go to bed yet. Putting her now empty suitcase down besides the wardrobe, she moved towards the desk near the window, opening her laptop and turning it on.

The welcoming jingle echoed loudly around the room, causing Verity to wince and cling onto the laptop in a desperate bid to quieten the sound. The last thing she wanted was to wake up neighbouring sleepers. Once the laptop had started up, she opened up a fresh document page, watching the blinking cursor. Her hands sat poised over the keyboard before she quickly typed in her heading.

'Educational Assessment 2015

Xavier's School for the Gifted
Verity Knowles'

She nodded in a satisfied way, situating the cursor for her first paragraph. She considered over what she could write, pondering over her first day here and trying to get across her first impressions of the mansion. Just as she managed to write her first few words, she was brought out of her concentration by a distinct sound through the walls of her room. She straightened from the desk, frowning as she listened into the sleepy quietness that had settled over the vast mansion.

Verity quickly stood from her chair, turning and making her way to her bedroom door. Unlocking it, she peered out into the empty corridor, of which was only lit by a few sparse lamps. The sounds were clearer, and seemed to be coming from a room further down the corridor. Someone sounded rather distressed. If Verity knew better, she would shut her door and proceeded to mind her own business. But instead, she stepped over the threshold, locking her door behind her, and she then set off, following the sound.

She stopped before the door in which the sound was coming from and she cautiously placed her ear to the wood. The low voiced mutterings continued, occasionally punctuated by strained gasps. She quickly brought her ear away from the door. Whatever was going on in that room, it most certainly wasn't any of her business. There was a low thud of something hitting the floor, the resulting crash making it sound like an object had just got knocked off the bedside table. Verity literally shot backwards from the door. She needed to get back to her room and quickly! Just as she turned to go and hide her red face behind her locked door, another sound caught her ear. Amongst all those grunts and groans, she could hear words being spoken more clearly this time.

"N-no.. No! A-argh!"

Verity hesitated, glancing back at the door. She recognised the voice this time. She very cautiously tiptoed back to the door, timidly knocking on the wood. "Logan? Is everything alright?" Her only response was continued grunts, which sounded pained and distraught. "Logan!" she called a little more anxiously. Her hand darted towards the doorknob. Did she dare enter? There was another crash. It sounded like something else had hit the floor. Her fingers clenched about the cool doorknob and she wrenched the door open. Eyes met Logan whom lay sprawled on his back in the bed, covers dishevelled and halfway on the floor. An arm laid haphazardly over one of the bedside tables, the source of the crash a broken lamp on the floor. He didn't stir when she entered. "Logan!" she tried again, advancing forward and carefully stepping around the shards of the glass lamp.

As the rule went, it was not wise to wake someone from a nightmare. But this seemed to be more than a nightmare. Plus, he was causing damage to his room, and she noticed bloodstains on the bed but yet saw no apparent injuries. He must have cut himself when he hit the lamp.

"Logan!" she tried, all the louder, feeling panic beginning to overtake her.

His eyes flew open and her momentary relief was shattered as he let out an unearthly roar. He shot upward in bed, ragged pants shaking his chest. A distinct 'snikt' had sounded about the room and it was only as Verity glanced down did she saw gleaming metal blades protruding from his knuckles. She let out a horrified scream, scrambling backwards and tripping over the lamp in the process. Logan whirled startled eyes upon her, quickly sheathing his claws as he saw her staring at him in terror from her sprawled position on the floor.

No.. it was ruined. All of it. Everything Xavier had stood for.

As he sat staring at her, unable to move, he saw her eyes slowly dilate before her lids sunk over her frightened gaze. Falling still, her head slumped towards the floor, lifeless hands sliding off her torso and hitting the carpet.

When Verity next woke, she was in her bed. Her eyes slowly opened to see the sunlight ceiling as dawn slowly washed light over the grounds of the mansion. She must have stayed up very late, for she slept through the night without stirring once. She gave a yawn as she rubbed her eyes, sitting up and slipping her legs out of bed. Proceeding to hurriedly get ready for the day (which was a little delayed as she distractedly realised she had spent ten minutes trying to pull on her trousers back to front.)

Hurrying down to the kitchen twenty minutes later, she walked in to see the staff all eating breakfast, and all looked up as one to eye Verity warily. "Good morning," she said pleasantly as she entered the kitchen, moving to sit down with them. Scott cautiously offered her the toast holder, from which she selected a piece. "Thank you," she said, proceeding to slaver copious amounts of butter over the piece of bread.

"How was your first night here?" asked Jean politely, though all eyes were locked on Verity, including Logan, who was watching her over the top of the morning's newspaper. They all knew how Charles had had to quickly intervene in the dead of night to stop Verity fully recalling the events.

"Oh, very good, thank you," replied Verity, smiling. "The beds here are wonderful; never had such a wonderful night's sleep. Though, that being said, I did have quite a bizarre dream. It's a little fuzzy now, but I remember going out of my room and exploring and I came across a rather strange sight."

At this point, Logan unhelpfully gagged on his toast, and proceeded to thump his chest heavily as he wheezed. The X-Men seemed thankful for the distraction and clamoured around the choking Logan, offering aid. "I gotta.. I'm gonna.." Logan pointed vaguely at the doorway. He stood to his feet and exited so fast he almost broke into a run.

The event had broken Verity out of her musings about her 'dream' and she continued to eat her toast and watch the rainfall outside, seeming completely unperturbed.

That was a close one! She's barely been here a full 24 hours and the X-Men have almost slipped up several times! She got her first class next, let's see how that goes!