With some very long talks with both his wife and more specifically with Victoria, Artur managed to convince his beautiful daughter that going to this school would be a good thing. Mentions of possibly finding friends as well as doing fun things and learning new subjects helped sway the girl into agreeing. The only bad part was how she was getting there.

Since Victoria couldn’t be exposed to any sunlight the only option her father could work out was to have her shipped over to America. His sweet little girl was going to go by ship and she would have to stay in the cargo hold to avoid any sunlight, but at night time she could walk the deck and get fresh air. To keep up her health her mother’s nurse friend had supplied several packs of blood from the hospital. The ship was scheduled to reach port in New York at night time so Victoria could depart right away.

Once the ship was secured in the port Victoria was to meet up with Artur’s friend. His name was James Cole and he would take the girl to Xavier’s Sister School. There she would be taken in and taken care of. James gave Victoria his number in case she needed anything as they pulled up to the front gate of the mansion. “Here you go Victoria. This is a good place with good people. I know you’ll make some new friends here. You can always call me if you need something.”

With a nervous nod the girl got out of the car as did James. He grabbed her trunk out of the back of his truck and helped carry it up to the front door. “You ok?” He asked looking at the girl. Victoria looked back up at him with hesitation but eventually she nodded with a soft reply. “Yes.” James rang the door bell and stood back making sure someone would answer and help her inside.

Nate was not really part of the Mansion welcoming committee, but he was also a night owl. Normally those things would be very unrelated, but a letter came in from a parent regarding his daughter's arrival at the school. According to the letter, her mutation left her with a painful allergy to the sunlight, and as such the girl would be arriving late in the night.

Most of the faculty went home at night, and the younger mansion greeters were unavailable or lazy. (He was pretty sure he could assume the latter for one or two of them.) He was going to be awake working on a drawing and rearranging his classroom (after a space-altering mutant girl had a sneezing fit,) so he bit the bullet and volunteered to wait up for the girl and show her around.

He was waiting in the lobby, scrolling through his phone when the bell finally rang. He walked through the door and out to the main gate. On the other side, he could see a man and a little girl with him. "Evening! Just let me get that."

He activated the gate and opened it up, removing the barrier between the school and its new student. "Hello sir. Glad you found the place alright."

He bent a little at the knees to make up for the almost foot of difference between him and the pale young lady. "Your name is Victoria, right?" He was smart enough to read the letter himself to avoid the awkwardness of not knowing the new kid's name.

He held out a hand to Victoria, (hoping her mutation did not forbid her from human contact, which he also should have looked up,) accompanied by a welcoming smile. "My name's Mister Holloway, and I'm one of your new teachers."

It didn’t take long for someone to come from the mansion to the gate. Victoria looked the man over as he approached and more so after he opened the gate. In her mind he looked like how a teacher from a place like this might look. It actually helped ease some of her nervousness. James nodded in acknowledgement to the man’s comment of finding the place.

The girl’s red eyes watched as the man lowered himself more to her level. When he asked her name she nodded and listened to his introduction. So he was one of her new teachers? This prompted an immediate question. “What do you teach to the special people here? My daddy told me this school is for special people like me.” James smiled and nodded at the girl’s statement in affirmation.

The girl was a curious one. Before she was going to accept his hand, she wanted to know exactly what he was in charge of. It was a tough question, because he was in the process of adding a new class under his belt.

He did not want to jinx his request, but he did his best to offer the young girl full disclosure. The more information she could have about her new school and home, the more comfortable and welcome she would be. "As of right now, I'm actually a teacher of the arts. I might also start teaching a more hands-on class soon, but for now, expect to see me with pencils and paintbrushes in hand."

He wondered how Victoria would take the news of his position. It was rather disheartening to see how many students came to the school and became disappointed when they realized there were more classes than mutation and fighting classes. It was a place to hone mutations, but it was also a school, and the typical classes were just as important to developing minds.

A teacher of arts?! She loved those things! She wasn’t very good at painting or drawing, but maybe he also taught stuff like music. Music was her favorite of all because of her mother.

Smiling and accepting his answer Victoria placed her hand in his palm then looked back to James. The man smiled and nodded that everything would be ok. “Don’t forget. If you need anything just give me a call ok?” “Thank you James!” The girl replied with a hint of excitement in her voice.

Turning back to Mister Holloway she smiled with a look as if to say I’m ready to see my new home.

The young girl called her guardian James, which made it pretty clear that he was not in fact the father who wrote her letter. Whoever he was, it was clear she had someone she could rely on in New York, and that was good; not every Mansionite was so lucky.

The young girl took Nate's hand and the act of acceptance made him feel confident about the new student. "Alright, off we go," he said with a grin. He said farewell and thanked the gentleman one more time, taking the trunk from him, and brought Victoria out of the late Autumn night and into the warmth of the lobby.

Nate offered to take the young girl's coat now that she was out of the elements. "So do you want to see your new room? Or would you like a quick tour of the Mansion first?" He had an idea of which option she would take, but it was worth asking in case she was in a hurry to unpack her belongings.

Once inside the large building Victoria hesitated for a moment and looked up at her new teacher. “It’s really ok for me to come in?” With all the newness of being at such a place she needed to hear something else to help ease her mind.

In the lobby the girl’s eyes were wide in awe of how beautiful the place was. It was warm and had a welcoming feel to it. She let Mister Holloway take her coat and promptly thanked him. “Aitah! Um…I’m sorry. I mean thank you!” His questions received an eager response. “Can we tour first? It’s soo beautiful here!”

The question Victoria asked was surprising to Nate. She was either very timid or very unsure of how accepted she was at the Mansion. He placed a hand on her shoulder to assure her. "Of course. This is your home for as long as you want it to be."

Nate draped the girl's coat over his arm, pushing the trunk into the corner of the lobby with his foot. The would deal with that later when it was time to move Victoria into her room. "Tour it is!" He offered the girl his hand. "Off to the library?"

Mister Holloway’s reply did help ease her anxiety a bit more. He was being so nice and helpful. So far it was everything Victoria had imagined. She couldn’t wait to see more of this amazing place.

Smiling big Victoria took Mister Holloway’s hand and nodded. Walking down the hall the girl’s head was on a swivel as she looked everywhere and at everything. Pictures, lamps, chairs, rugs…everything was so beautiful! She wasn’t sure how big of a library a place like this would have, but she thought it might be a pretty big one.

As they walked Victoria started to wonder about something. “Mister Halloway? Are there other kids like me here?” She wondered if there was going to be anyone for her to interact with besides teachers.

The girl was excitedly drinking in her surroundings, clearly pleased with her new location. It was interesting; some students seemed apprehensive regarding their sudden change of scenery, and some came to the Mansion as nothing more than a last option, but then there were kids like Victoria, who seemed to relish the new opportunity.

Victoria asked about the other kids her age, which was reasonable when walking through such empty halls. "Yup. We have plenty of special mutant children who are your age, younger, and even older. It's late though, so most of them might be asleep right now." Then again, there was no telling what night owl students might lurk in the quiet Mansion.

When they finally reached their destination, Nate pushed open the large wooden doors of the library to reveal a large room filled with rows of shelves of books, and walls of shelves of books, and... alright, lots and lots of books. It was what one might expect, but the sheer volume was pretty impressive. "Here it is! And you are more than welcome to come here any time you want and take out any book you feel like." Sure, some kids did not care about reading, but it was important to make the library feel welcoming, just in case all hope was not yet lost for some.

Hearing him tell her there were other kids in the mansion bought another smile, but it faded rather quickly as she looked up at him. He had said something she never heard before. A word she wasn’t familiar with. Mutant. A look of concern washed over her young face. “Mister Holloway. I don’t understand something. You called them special …umm…mutant?...children. What does that mean?”

Nate looked down at his pint-sized companion, caught off guard by her surprise. The term mutant seemed foreign to her, which seemed like an issue, considering she was most likely a mutant at a school for mutants so they could handle and learn about their mutations and feel at home with mutant peers. The word "mutant" came up a lot in that sentence for a pretty important reason.

"Um." Where the hell was he supposed to start there? "Mutants are... um, people who are born with a special mutation," which was as far as he would try explaining genetics to a twelve year-old, "and those mutations let us do things most people can't do."

Nate shrugged, now worried about what situation Victoria expected she was in. "This is a school for mutants. Like... well, like you, Victoria." Was he really the first person to call her a mutant?

Mutations could let some people do things most others couldn’t? She though of herself for a moment. She couldn’t be in sunlight, but how is that doing something most others can’t? Don’t people go out at night? She knew they did because she had seen them. This was getting confusing. Then he said she was a mutant. She almost wanted to cry. “I can’t be a mutant. My parents always said I was special, and that this place was for special people. Not mutants.” She had a hint of disgust in the word.

Nate was taken aback by Victoria's apparent disgust. He could not just lie to her, because it appeared her identity was an issue that was skirted around enough in her life. He needed to help her realize that mutant was not some slanderous term before he accidentally caused a self-hating mutant.

"Hey hey," he interrupted, trying to keep things lighthearted, "When did I say mutants were not something special?"

Perhaps a demonstration was in order, before Victoria took off crying through the halls. "Just... watch."

Nate stepped toward the nearest shelf of books. He considered creating several shadowy tendrils, but turning himself into a Cthulhuesque horror would probably be a poor introduction to the world of mutants. Instead, from his feet, the shadow created by the warm library lighting formed upward, with a large hand at the end of it. The shadowy hand and arm extended, wrapping itself around a shelved book and removed it.

The shadow moved over to Victoria and presented the book to her. "See? Mutant. And special." And awesome, if I do say so myself.

Victoria almost jolted at her teacher’s attention grabbing interruption. She listened to him attentively now. He moved over by some of the books. The girl thought he was going to reach out and pull a book out for her to read over regarding mutants.

Well, she was kind of right. She watched what looked like a black snake with a hand for a head move up from his feet. It moved up the book case and wrapped itself around a book and removed it. Then it offered the book to her. She had never seen anything like this before so she hesitated. But her teacher was here and he was the one showing her this. She reached out to grab the book and her curiosity stepped in making her hand try to touch this shadow. Strangely it felt soft like some kind of fine cloth. “Wow!” Maybe it wasn’t such a bad term if people like Mister Holloway was also a mutant.