She had been here for a while now, and she knew certain things without people ever telling her. She knew about the plane and about the basement but she was never told or shown. She wanted to find the places and just look at them, telling herself that she is not that crazy that she imagened the entire plane and secret basement under a mutant school part. Some secrets could not be kept from the little mind reading girl that walked around the school now a days.

She walked through the hallway in the early morning. Not many people where up yet exept the ones who couldn't sleep or where sneaking out and what not. She still wore her improvised pijama's and she had no socks on. Her bare feet could be heared through the empty hallways as she looked around like a little detective, a scared one but still a little detective. It was almost like a adventure to her. A adventure because she didn't belong her and she felt that. Nobody told her anything, but everyone somehow knew. It made her feel a bit lonely and she wanted to break that. She wanted to find out what she knew was true and if people would stop acting weird around her and just accept her. Not that she was staying for long, once she got her way back to her puzzle filled room in the sanctuary.

But what would she do if she found out the basement. She would explore some more, maybe see the plane she had been knowing about. The plane was the big price to see. That would make her day a good one since she never saw a plane upclose. Only in the air, outside the window of her asylum room.

It was early morning. The only reasons Katrina ever had to be awake at that time of day, especially now that summer vacation had started, was either because she had stayed up late reading and hadn't fallen asleep yet, or had nightmares that had woken her up early. Today, it was the latter of the two.

She walked down the street, her red-gold retriever pulled anxiously to get farther ahead and her arm was pulled straight out ahead of her. She had to walk stiffly so she didn't get pulled over onto her face. As she walked the sky turned cloudy, and it turned cool. The dog stopped to sniff a sign post, then turned up to look at her master with empty eye sockets. The tongue hanging down from her jaw-less mouth was blackened with rot. The dog tugged on the leash again and they were off again.

The sky continued to darken, but the clouds were not real. With her ability to see both reality and illusion, she could tell that these clouds were true clouds. Who would be making them, though? The corpse dog continued to lead her down the street and she followed obediently behind. The trees were gnarled and angry on this pathway. Their angry branches reached toward the pathway trying to ensnare the pedestrians walking by.

One person, walking ahead of her, nearly was caught by the white, finger-like twigs of a birch. He turned back towards Katrina, as if to warn her, but his hair was already transforming into rustling leaves. His toes had sprouted long and rope-y from his shoes and began snaking their way down into the earth, rooting him in place. His face twisted in pain and he tried to reach for her, tried to call out, but his voice was choked up by a squirrel that crawled out of his mouth. Beneath the tree, she could still see the man, walking away as if nothing had happened.

Reality was breaking down all around her. She could no longer tell what was real and what was an illusion.

Katrina had woken with a start. All week she'd been having these dreams where she became trapped in her own illusions and hadn't been able to escape them. She wasn't sure what had triggered it, but for the whole week she had been avoiding practicing her illusions at all. She didn't want anything to happen like it did in the dream, where the illusions had taken over reality.

Now that she was awake, there was no going back to sleep. It was almost time to get up anyway, at least for normal people. She would have liked to have slept until ten or eleven today, since she hadn't been sleeping well. Maybe a nap later in the afternoon sunshine would serve her better. Katrina opened the door to her bedroom and wandered out into the hallway in her silky pajamas: a matching t-shirt and shorts set she used when the weather was at its hottest. She checked her mothers' room first to find that her mom was still safely asleep. Then she headed downstairs, following the twists and turns of the halls at random until she saw someone else moving around, too.

It was a girl with short white hair, but it wasn't Ghost. It was a person Katrina had never seen before. She assumed that the girl must be a new resident or student.

“Hello,” she called softly and waved.

Walking down the halls, twiddling with her own mind made her unaware of her surroundings. The only thing she heard where her own footsteps while wandering around the hallways. "If i where a plane, where would i hide." She thought to herself as she took another turn. It was a big mansion and you could get lost very easily here, but then again hiding a plane wasn't easy at all.

Maybe there was a secret elevator, or a button to open a door somewhere. Al she wasnted at this moment was to find it, or atleast attempt to find it. She turned into another hall again and passed the kitched. Checkpoint made, kitchen found now just remembering where it was. While she walked she looked down at the floor. It was made of wood and very slippery, maybe she should have put on some socks before she slipped up.

“Hello,”

The hello starled her. She kind of jumped up with a little eep before she knew where it came from. It was a girl who happened to be up really early , just like her. The girl also had her mind wrapped around something else it seemed. "Hello." She said back and waved also. The girl waved, so she waved. It was called being nice she guessed. "Good morning." She added with a smile. A good detective always where nice at the beginning. They might get some information out of people by being nice. It was probably in the detective handbook.

Katrina was not trying to startle anybody, so she was a bit surprised when the girl jumped. She jumped a little, too. At least the girl was most definitely and solidly real. She even said “good morning”.

“Good morning. What's your name? Are you new here?” Katrina smiled, welcomingly. Maybe the girl was looking for some breakfast or something. Katrina's own mother was in charge of the kitchen here at the mansion, and she was still asleep upstairs in her bed. At this time of day there wasn't going to be any fancy breakfasts unless someone made it for themselves.

“I'm Katrina, by the way,” she walked up to the girl and held out her hand if the girl wanted to shake it. She figured if the girl ad some sort of mutation that made it dangerous to touch her skin or anything like that, she would wear gloves or refuse to touch anyone. Katrina would be understandingly unoffended if her handshake were refused.

“Good morning. What's your name? Are you new here?”

Questions, Questions everyone always had their questions. It was early for lots of question. Atleast to her standard. "I am Cailyn." She said with a smile. The girl seemed very nice and very joyfull. It kind of was rubbing off on her. It was even funny to see her being starled by someone she starled because she was starled. Not many people had that happen to them before. Cailyn wasn't one of those.

“I'm Katrina, by the way,”

The girl walked up to her and extended her hand. Cailyn looked at the hand for a bit and remembered that shaking it was polite when you introduced yourself. She never gotten around the concept but it seemed the correct thing to do. She took her hand and softly shook it. "Nice to meet you." She said a bit shyly. Not a very good conversation started however. "Ow, yes i'm new." She added. That was one of not telling the complete truth that your kind of lost and not supposed to be here. That and not saying that your looking for a big secret plane in a big secret basement.

Pleasantries, pleasantries. It was always the same polite script when meeting someone new. First names, then nice to meet yous, then mutations, etcetera.

“Nice to meet you.” See? The same. It was a good thing they didn't have new people everyday, or the days would get boring indeed. Katrina decided to change things up for once. Rather than have her answer the same questions she had probably answered several dozen times, each time she met someone new in the school, Katrina would rather ask questions that would help her find out about Cailyn as a person.

“So, if you could have any one wish come true, what would you wish for?”

“So, if you could have any one wish come true, what would you wish for?”

A very good question. What would she wish for? Would it be noble, world peace for example. Or would it be for her own ends at stop her father from ever putting her into the asylum. This was one of those questions that nobody could answer straight away. She pulled a pondering face over the question. She placed her right hand on the inside of her left elbow and the other hand touched her forehead. Just like Winnie the pooh did as he thought up something. "Think, think" She thought to herself.

Then she had a answer. "A room with all the puzzles in the word and all the chocolate in the world." She answered with a big smile. If that wish came true, she would spend the rest of her life there. Indeed a very good answer for the little puzzler. To bad she didn't find any decent puzzles around this mansion yet. But then again, the basement and plane searching would be a puzzle on its own. To solve this puzzle she would need information instead of puzzle pieces. Maybe some luck too. "Watch yours? " She asked next, trying to figure out where she wanted to go with the question.

“Puzzles are cool. I tried to do one once that was called 'Hay in a Needle Stack'. It was the hardest puzzle ever, so it would take an hour just to find two or three pieces that matched. I never got to see what it looked like when it was all finished.”

She wondered if it was still set up on the card table in the basement back at her house in Virginia. It was only her dad that lived there, now that she and her mother were up here at the school. He had never been very into puzzles, since he was so busy at work being a senator. Was he lonely without them, or was he glad to be on his own? Katrina wasn't sure which answer she preferred, and wasn't sure that she wanted to know the answer at all.

What would her one wish be? Eternal happiness for all her friends and world peace were pretty standard ones. Whenever the digital clocks had all the numbers of the time matching up, she had called it 'wish time' ever since she was a little girl. She would race to the clock, press her finger against its face and wish for the first thing that came to her head. Peace and happiness was usually her first response these days. Sometimes it was good grades, or that I can see my horse, Galahad, again, or even that my daddy still loves me. She also wished for her friends' safety, wherever they were, be it at the mansion, back in Virginia, or wherever they may be. She could only pick one answer, though.

“I wish that when I grow up I can have a really big house. It will be so big that I can invite over all of my friends at the same time and there will be enough rooms for everyone.” And while they were at her house, they would all have to get along, too.

Since Cailyn was new, it would probably be polite to offer a tour in case she hadn't had one yet. Some of the normal pleasantries were still necessary, even if they were boring. They could still talk (quietly) while they were walking around the mansion she figured.

“If you haven't already been on a tour, I could show you around,” Katrina offered. “Is there anything you haven't gotten the chance to see yet?”

“If you haven't already been on a tour, I could show you around,” Katrina offered. “Is there anything you haven't gotten the chance to see yet?”

That was indeed a very good wish. If you had many friends that is. Cailyn was always very unaware of how many friends she had. She just had people around her that where nice. They could be friends, they fit in the entire concept of them.

Nevertheless, she was asked if she wanted a tour. A tour could lead to clues that could lead to the secret of the basement. Detective Cailyn was on to something soon. "I always get lost." She answered with a faint smile and a bit of a shy one. She didn't lie there, she merely held something back. Lieing was bad and she always uphold that thought. She was really tempted to just boldly ask about the plane and basement but she didn't. She was merely dropping a hint. "I like planes by the way." She said. "They go really fast." She added. This might have sound silly to a normal person but it sounded perfectly normal to her.

“You get lost, huh? It sounds like you need a mental map more than a tour. Here, come with me and I'll show you how to avoid getting lost in the mansion.”

Katrina led her back out of the kitchen and back to the main entrance that housed the grand staircase. “The mansion is shaped kind of like an x. This is the center. As long as you can find your way back here, you can find anything. There are four wings. That one,” Katrina pointed to the hall that began just to the left of the front door, “is where all the offices are. The infirmary is down there, the headmistress' office, the greeters' office, and some of the smaller classrooms. Above all that is the girls' hallway. Below it, in the basement, is the big meeting room which is called the war room for some reason.”

Katrina turned clockwise and pointed to where they had just come from, to the right of the front door. “That's where the living room, dining room, and kitchen is. Upstairs is the adult hallway. Downstairs is the laundry room, the boiler room, and all that boring stuff.”

She rotated again clockwise. “That door leads to the library. Upstairs is the boys' hall. Downstairs is the Danger Room.”

She turned toward the final hall. “That's where all the classrooms are. Upstairs is a bunch of extra rooms, including the computer lab. Below that is a mysteriously locked door. I think you have to be an X-man to go in it.” Or you had to be able to slide through the crack under to door with a friend who could very helpfully turn herself and others into air that could fit through tight places. Not that Katrina would know anything about that.

Then there was the fact that Cailyn liked planes. Katrina knew there was a plane behind that mysterious door she had mentioned. She had seen it, but she'd had to be very sneaky in order to do so, which meant that it probably was supposed to be a secret. So, as much as she wished that she could show off the most excellently sleek and awesome looking X-wing (which she had decided was a better name for it than 'Blackbird') she knew that she shouldn't. Perhaps she couldn't, either. She didn't know any way of getting in other than under the door and she didn't have the ability to fit through right now.

“Planes are cool,” she admitted with just a hint of guilt in her voice for not revealing her knowledge of the mansion's plane. “My favorite way to go fast, though, is in a really fast car. It feels faster when you're in a car than when you're in a plane, even if it isn't really as fast. It must be because you are so much closer to the things you are driving by.” Katrina bit her lip and tried to think of someone who would have access to see the hanger where the plane was kept. Sam came to mind first. For some reason she could clearly picture him sitting in the cockpit ready to fly her anywhere she wanted to go, though she had never actually seen him anywhere near the plane.

Cailyn got the grand tour again and this time she tried her best to remember as much of it as possible. They passed everything including the kitchen, library and such things. Katrina even gave the hint that the mansion is x-shaped, meaning that it had a centre. She will try her best to remember the center seeing as that would be like a point from where you could go to anything. She would probably get lost again once she found the grand entrance.

“That door leads to the library. Upstairs is the boys' hall. Downstairs is the Danger Room.”

The danger room. Would that be one of the secret rooms that she heard about, or better yet knew about without anyone telling. It sounded dangerous obviously. "What does a danger room do?" She asked a bit excited. It was a clue that could not be left forgoten.

“That's where all the classrooms are. Upstairs is a bunch of extra rooms, including the computer lab. Below that is a mysteriously locked door. I think you have to be an X-man to go in it.”

The clues kept coming. First it was the secret danger room, now it ws the mysteriously locked door where you had to be a "x-man" to get in. What was a x-man indeed. Full of questions now she started to volley of a few. "Where does the door go?" She first asked. "And what is a x-man?" she then asked a bit shamefully. Seemingly everyone here knew what that was but she didn't

And 'lo the new girl revealed exactly how new she was. She was still at the stage where she had never ever heard of the X-men and didn't know what a danger room was. Katrina remembered that back when she had first heard about the X-men she had thought they were an evil group of murderous mutants. She had been terrified of the mysterious team the entire time she had lived at Mondragon Labs during registration. Now that she lived at the X-men's base (and had sat in at one or two of their meetings) she understood them a little better. She now knew that most of the individuals on the team were good people. Some were a little ruthless and scary, but mostly they were friendly and nice and only wanted to stand up for what they thought was right. Katrina still thought the fighting-for-what's-right part was kind of silly, since violence only caused more violence, but for many it seemed like the most straight forward answer.

Katrina decided to answer the girl's questions in the order she had asked them. First, “the Danger Room is a training room that is equipped with various robots and holograms. People use it to practice using their powers or to train for combat or self defense or even just to work out. If you've ever seen Star Trek, its an awful lot like a real life holodeck.”

Katrina's current nighttime hobby of watching Next Generation episodes checked out from the school library revealed itself once again. If she wasn't careful, she'd be wearing fake pointed ears and greeting all her friends with Vulcan hand signs and well wishes soon enough. Though, her friends had all been rather busy lately gallivanting around in other countries and catting around town, and the ensuing boredom on the end of the young illusionist was one of the reasons for the nightly doses of klingons, androids, vulcans, and awesomely bald headed captains.

“The door leads to all the secrets that the X-men don't want to share with normal students and mansion visitors,” Katrina made a face at that. She obviously didn't think it was necessary to keep silly things like a jet and a round silver room locked up behind heavy metal doors, stern holographic programs, and electrical pit traps. “We can go look at the mysterious door, but we won't be able to get in... unless your mutation is the ability to unlock doors. Mine isn't.”

“The X-men are the crime fighting team of mutants that live here. I think their official goals are to protect humans and to give young mutants a place to be safe and to learn. Something like that. I'm not sure exactly how they go about protecting humans or who they are protecting them from, but that's the basic idea. I hadn't heard of them until I moved here, either.”

All of her questions where answered in one big story. Some terms that katrina tossed around where strange, like star trek. What was a star trek. It was used as a similair, so if she would see the danger room with her own eyes it might clear things up about the star trek issue. Somehow she pictured a bald man with the word star trek. Could it be that a bald man runs this danger room. And if so, where does he live. It all raised so many question better left unanswered for the moment. First the secret door that held the big secret that nobody should know of. That door could hold to answer to the plane and basement she knew about somehow.

“We can go look at the mysterious door, but we won't be able to get in... unless your mutation is the ability to unlock doors. Mine isn't.”

Well it couldn't hurt to go look at the door atleast. Maybe she could find a way in. "I want to see the door." She said to Katrina with excitement in her voice. Detective Cailyn was on a good way of solving the case of the plane. She really wanted to prove that she wasn't "crazy". "To the library." She said as she walked to the hallway that she was pointed out to be not the way to the library. "Ow wait." She said and walked back into the correct hallway. "Almost got lost again." She said with a smile.

Cailyn looked confused by her Star Trek reference. At least, that's how Katrina interpreted the look on her face. Maybe the older girl just didn't like the old television show or something. Katrina hadn't been all that interested in it herself until after she had seen a couple of episodes.

The white haired girl did want to go see the door. Katrina couldn't blame her. She was pretty curious herself. It had taken her nearly six months to finally get through that mystery door for the first time. Cailyn hadn't said she wasn't a lockmancer, but she hadn't said she was either. They would see soon enough.

>>>“Almost got lost again.”

Cailyn was kind of a funny girl, like a child, but Katrina liked her. She was nice so far, and her curiosity matched Katrina's own.

“Down the stairs first.” Katrina pointed dramatically, as if she were leading an entire army rather than one girl. “This-a-way.” In the basement, Katrina turned toward the mysterious doorway that hid the mansion's very own airplane, among other things.

The young blonde gestured as dramatically as if she was Vanna White, “Here is-,” she stopped short. There were sounds coming from the other side of the door. She waved for Hymn to come closer and pointed to the door. “Someone's inside,” she whispered.

The mission was good, he now had a jet full of three new potential residents and had given Streak a call back at the mansion to help him with the paper work, both Shin and Ari would be there to help out and make sure these three mutants would be comfortable as possible. A light manipulator, a mutant that could make his burps break the sound barrier and last but not least a mutant that could curl up into a ball and bounce about like a giant super ball. All of which were from England and had gotten together and had given the mansion a call. More than happy to help Sam took off as soon as the phone was placed.

The ride was a quiet one for the most part, on occasion Sam would break the silence with a conversation start up, which didn’t really help much seeing as they almost seemed nervous about flying over the ocean as faster than normal planes. Once they landed however there personality changed ever so slightly and were more egger to figure out what will happen to them. As he started out of the jet and up to the main exit of the hanger Sam motioned for them to follow him, as he continued to talk about where they will be going.

As the door opened with a woosh Sam was surprised to see Katrina and a woman with her. Sam stopped shortly causing the English mutants stop short wondering what was going on, “Can I help you with something Katrina?” he asked motioning for the mutants behind him to keep going, as they passed him he called out, “Up the stairs and on your right down the hall till you see the front doors then before them take a left till you see an office with my name on it, there should be a few people to help you out in there, I’ll be there shortly.” He paused, “Riley try to hold off on the burping till later when more of the students are up, they need their sleep!”

Turning his attention back to Katrina and the woman he waited for a good reason they were standing by the door of some place they shouldn’t be.