Kaitlyn had a lot of spare time on her hands, now that she neither had a school to attend nor a father to work for. While the latter was something that she would never want to see more of in her life, there were good things to be said about the former. Yes, school was hard work, but it was satisfying. Especially since she was widely accepted by her peers and teachers as "a smart kid". While at home she was "stupid," or "useless," the teachers considered her to be "brilliant," or "gifted."

That isn't to say that she didn't enjoy her new-found free time, however. In fact, she loved it. She could spend all day lounging around or pestering the other Sanctuary residents and employees, should she want to. Pestering and lounging gets old fast, though.

One of the dining hall staff, an old guy called Leeroy, had taken to showing her how to play pool in the rec room during his breaks. Leeroy didn't have a very good memory and often called her "Kim" or "Grace" instead of "Kaitlyn," but he was nice. He would often say things like "Great shot, Kim! I didn't know that you were a pro."

Today, however, Leeroy didn't show up to work. Some other people on the kitchen staff told her that he lived somewhere outside of the sanctuary, and today he was taking a vacation.

"But he said he would play 8-ball with me today..." she had said to one of them

"Well," the man suggested, "There should be a library in here somewhere. Why don'tcha read a book?"

What a novel idea.

The library was right next to the rec room, and it was full of towering bookshelves, sleek computers, long, wooden tables, and comfortable leathery chairs. It reminded her of her old school's library, except that this one was much bigger and fancier. Books packed with information about everything from science to history lined many of the shelves, representing a vast wealth of knowledge just waiting to be tapped. Unfortunately, it was hard for her to find a book that looked even remotely interesting.

'The DaVinci Code'? A book about art? Sounds boring. 'The Bean Trees'? Why would I want to read a book about trees? Boring.

Kaitlyn was now sitting cross-legged in the fiction section, pulling books out from the bottom two shelves, judging them by their covers, then putting them back one by one. So far, they all looked incredibly dull.

One of the things on Lori's to-do list was to find a tutor for her little boom girl, Kaitlyn. The girl was useful in her current state, but with some proper molding she could make a wicked tool for the Order. Lori liked having useful tools in her arsenal.

It had taken a long time, perhaps too long, to find just the right mutant for the job.

Dallas Lee Cook stood about 5 foot 7, boasted gray downy skin that faded to a coppery red at her hands and feet, and the voice of a song bird when she wanted it to sound that way. She did not have a beak, but her schnozz was making up for that fact beautifully. The woman was sufficiently intelligent with a proper teacher look that could melt delinquent students down into their socks.

When Lori came across her file (with the help of a placement agency) she was amazed the public schools had let her go. Yeah she'd started turning colors and sprouting feathers, but her resume was astonishing. The woman looked an adequate teacher on paper and her mutation should only aid her in this case. Lori hoped the openly soothing voice could talk their little boomer down. It would be best if they could avoid blowing up their own things, for now. It was also good to have an openly mutated teacher as long as she wasn't openly bitter.

Dallas and Lori had to stop at the front desk to see where Kaitlyn was. It wasn't like Lori could schedule a appointment with a ten year old. Though the girl would have some routine now that Ms. Cook was her tutor.

Lisa directed the pair of women to the library, a perfect setting for pupil and tutor to meet.

"Kaitlyn?" Dallas' sing-songy voice echoed through the stacks.

"Kait, I have someone I want you to meet. Are you in here?"

Kaitlyn was going to answer, but she hesitated. She looked at the book that she was holding. The Andromeda Strain. It was a large hard-cover with pictures of DNA all over it. You'd have to be pretty smart to read this kind of thing.

"Yes Ms. Lori." the girl finally called out.

A few moments later, she strutted out of the maze of bookshelves, holding the large, heavy copy of The Andromeda Strain against her chest in such a way that anyone facing her could see the title in all its sciencey glory. That's right, people; Kaitlyn McCarthy is smart, and she reads big books about science all the time. Or, at least, she wanted to make that impression. Her teachers used to get a kick out of it when they saw her with a big book like this, and so should Lori and... a feathered lady?

This must be the person Lori wanted her to meet. The feathers weren't horribly surprising to the girl; she had seen much stranger things in the Sanctuary on a regular basis. The woman's nose, however, was a black hole that sucked in all of her attention.

"Hi," she said, waving at the two while distracted by the bird lady's giant nose.

Boom Boom showed up with a honking big book. Lori's eyes and grin widened appreciatively. Pride for her little concussion maker? Nawww.

"That's a big book, you've got there. You must be really smart." The birdwoman offered the girl her feathery hand. "I'm Ms. Cook. How old are you Kaitlyn?"

Lori ushered the three women toward one of the library tables. Ms. Cook thought that for their first meeting it would be best to have Lori along since Kaitlyn seemed to have latched on to her a bit. She wasn't trying to pass off the girl's attachment. She just wanted to ease her into the idea of another authority figure.

"Ms. Cook is going to be your tutor. She's really smart and I like her. Is that cool with you?" Lori pulled out a chair for Kait and then flopped into one of her own. That is until she got the teacher look from Ms. Cook. Then Lori scooted her bottom square onto the chair. She must be a good role model.

Bird-lady's compliment earned the smile that it so richly deserved. Taking Ms. Cook's hand, Kaitlyn answered with "It's a good book," though she had not even read the first page, and "I'm nine." Deciding that it would be best to throw in a compliment of her own, she added, "I like your, ah... feathers. They're pretty." She regretted saying anything; it sounded much better in her head.

Being sure to keep the book on her person, she plopped herself right down on the chair that Lori offerred.

"Ms. Cook is going to be your tutor. She's really smart and I like her. Is that cool with you?"

So, she was going to go back to being schooled, and doing schoolwork. Earlier today, she had just been thinking about the good parts about school. Now, she regretted ever letting that cross her mind. What was the phrase for this kind of situation? Ah – be careful what you wish for.

"Sure," she finally replied. She liked Ms. Cook, but she no longer liked the idea of schooling, now that she actually had to go back to it.

Birdlady sat in a rather curious manner in her seat: legs first. It was like she just couldn't help the bird-like qualities that were showing even if they were habitual more than physical. Dallas roosted nicely in a Sanctuary seat.

"I like my feathers too. I will never get lost in a crowd, never need to dye my hair or get a tattoo... I have naturally what a lot of people wish they had: color." And she was very comfortable with this fact. At least, it looked and sounded like she was.

Lori shrugged with her eyebrows to Kaitlyn. Not even she was that comfortable with herself.

"When was the last time you went to school?"

When Lori looked at Kait, Dallas cleared her throat and feathered a finger at her.

"Me? Uhh..." How old was she again? "College so a couple years now."

"You could do with a refresher, I'm sure. Maybe Kait will teach you."

They did say that teaching a thing was the best way to learn it. Lori, in turn, looked to Kaitlyn. "Would you? Help tutor me, I mean. Since I can't be here every day?" The girl clearly had a large book in her hands. That was qualification enough. Also, this was a good way for Lori to know exactly what Dallas had been teaching her. The blonde gave a small nod to the feathered friend. Good move, bird lady.

Ms Cook had an interesting way of sitting down, to say the least. Lori's glance told Kaitlyn that she was of the same opinion. The woman was crouched like a bird, or something like that. Weird. Kaitlyn tried to hide her own confusion behind a smile

>>"When was the last time you went to school?"

"Ah..." That was a good question. Kaitlyn knew that she'd gone to school before. But where? When? Who were her teachers? This isn't something that people normally forget. Why couldn't she remem--

Ms. Cook cleared her throat and pointed at Ms. Lori. The teacher wasn't asking her new student about school, but her adult employer. What.

Now the adult who had taken her to the Sanctuary and had already gone to college was asking the nine-year old for tutoring. The child tried not to giggle. She failed. "Sure." Kaitlyn wasn't sure how much she could teach a college graduate, but if Ms. Lori needed tutoring... the girl giggled again. This was silly.

"What grade are you in?" Ms. Cook didn't seem to care about the giggling one way or another. Or maybe her smile for Kaitlyn was lost beneath her nose.

"You can see my mutation, but it's not so easy for me to see either of yours. What abilities do you possess?" That question seemed to be aimed at both of them so Lori started.

"My abilities are electric and magnetic. I am a living battery." That was the definite cliff notes version.

"And what is the best and worst part about electric and magnetic control?"

"I like having ample power, but the more I have, the more it gets away from me. I dislike my level of control. External factors have too much effect for my liking." She was working on it, but... there was so much to do every day just to maintain what little control she had.

Ms. Cook 'hmmmm'ed and went on to question Kaitlyn in a similar manner.

>>"What grade are you in?"

"Fourth," answered the girl.

>>"What abilities do you possess?"

The child was surprised to hear that Lori would ever have trouble with her own power. It gave Kaitlyn a sense of kinship with the woman, though; the kid couldn't even use her power intentionally yet.

"Sometimes," the girl began her answer,"I blow up. I mean, this explosion knocks everything over, but I stay together. But if I'm holding on to something, it'll blow up instead. It makes a smaller explosion if I'm holding on to stuff, but I break the thing I'm holding when I do."

Hm. Lori didn't know she exploded things too. She'd only picked up the girl after evidence pointed to a massive shockwave being her... well, fault sounded like it was a bad thing. Chaos unkempt wasn't bad. Just a waste of resources.

"Can you name for me what is the best part of exploding things is? And what about the worst?"

Kaitlyn had to think about this one. She spent the better half of a minute considering the question in silence.

"The worst thing is that I don't have any control over it. After I got here, this fire-headed-guy scared me, and I accidentally..." She paused. Uh... 'blew up the whole dining hall' sounds pretty bad. How about... "Knocked over some tables during breakfast with it."

That was a good way of putting it.

"But because I can do this, Lori let me stay here in the Sanctuary. That's really the only good thing. And I like it here." Kaitlyn was sure to direct this at Lori, sounding as thankful and cute as she could. The child had a creeping fear that somebody would kick her out if she destroyed too much.

She had already learned the value of self-editing. Lori had no doubt that they would have this child spinning fine lies as intricate as lace in no time. The blond was so proud.

"Do you have a favorite subject? I would like to be prepared when I come back tomorrow."

This hadn't been as bad as Lori thought it would have been. Tomorrow, the bird woman would be on her own.

"Science."

Science was a good choice because it usually involved experiments, like that volcano thing with the baking soda and vinegar. Those were kinda fun.

The nose nodded along with the rest of Dallas' face. Or maybe it nodded first and the head followed it's lead? Either way Lori was fascinated. She tried not to be but... really. That was a beak.

Dallas cleared her throat and Lori had one of those Quick! Look away! moments.

"Well, I'll be sure to remember that when I come back tomorrow. I'll be here right after breakfast at 8: 30 am. Can you remember that? 8:30. Right here."

Lori nodded along even though the lessons were not for her.

"Walk me out?"

Lori just kept right on nodding. She would help Kait along with Lisa until she could get into the routine of getting up for herself, no doubt. The blond stood and waved to Kaitlyn before following out the bird woman. Dalls was telling her how she thought lessons between Lori and Kaitlyn should go.