The grown ups had left what felt like days before, but really had only been a few hours. Jamie had sneaked into the hanger to watch the jet take off, but once it was gone he was at loose ends.

He'd tried to shoot some hoops, but hadn't been able to get into it. Reading and drawing had the same result. Even if he shifted, which usually made him very happy, he didn't feel anything but sadness and fear.

After a while he'd gone to the girls dorms and sat on Millie's bed for a while. It'd started to smell less like her and more like him the more he went there, but he couldn't help it. It made it feel like she was there or would be all right. He knew he was breaking the rules by sleeping in the girls dorm, but no one cared right now.

Jamie took her Cookie doll down with him and went to wait out on the front steps. He toyed with the doll's red skirt as he looked out at the dark sky. He wanted Millie back and ok. What was the point of God letting him find her if He was just going to take her away again? He wished that there was someone he could talk to, but everyone was so busy with everything else and he didn't want to be a bother. It was more important to get their friends and family back than it was to listen to him whine and cry like a baby. He knew that.

But that didn't make it easier to sit here and wait now that they knew where they were and had gone to get them.

Narrative

Evelyn was stood in front of her most senior of officers, being commended on a job well done. She'd managed to kill a high ranking senator without the press or anybody being any the wiser that the assassin was in the service of their very own country. The Irish in her wanted desperately to speak out of turn, but the soldier instinct was stronger, so Evelyn held her tongue.

"We have a new mission for you," her superior officer continued. "It's more subtle than you're used to, but I have complete faith that you'll complete it with as much finesse as you've shown on other areas.

"An' what's the mission?" Evelyn asked, her Irish accent lilting the syllables and making every word seem like a spoken word of poetry.

Her superior officer held up a finger and turned his attention to his laptop for a second, bringing up a picture of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning "Do you know what this is?"

( Insider )

[OPEN]

Shinji was stood outside of the gates of the school, wondering if now was a bad time to call by, everything seemed quiet. He reached for the buzzer then caught himself, cursing lightly in Japanese. This was stupid, really stupid.

He'd done fine all this time by himself, why did he need to go getting involved with others like him?

Although he had to admit that he was tempted, so very tempted by the idea of being around people like him, people who understood and could help him figure his power out. Maybe even stop the headaches?

Shinji eyed the mansion again and even went so far as to press the buzzer before sure enough he was turning on his heel and fleeing like somebody had set his ass on fire.

What in the hell had he been thinking?

Doug's hands should've been hurting, but honestly? Painkillers were so his best friend in the entire world at the moment. He'd popped one before tucking the bottle carefully into his pocket and heading for the rec room.

This was where his determination to not let things ruin his life had kind of keeled over and died.

He'd come down with every intention of watching TV, or at least sitting and reading whatever book someone had left laying around. He'd picked up the TV remote from the coffee table only to drop it. Repeat five or six times before tears of frustration welled in his eyes and he slumped down on the nearest couch.

The gardens on the institute's grounds were quickly becoming Terry's favorite place. It was so quiet and peaceful, the flowers smelled so sweetly. If you stood still enough you could almost imagine that nothing terrible could happen. Terry sat on the ground in the back of the gardens, singing softly to herself as she read.

Maeve was asleep, she could hear her daughter's even breathing over the monitor that sat beside her. She wasn't worried. She knew that if Maeve had started to cry, she'd hear it. Hell, people two states over would hear it.

Right then she was just enjoying the quiet. Trying to not think of the terrible things all the kidnapped people had gone through. She wanted to sit with them, to help them through but that was presumptious. She barely knew most of them.

Sighing, she continued to read. Eventually she would get used to it. At least she hoped so.