The night was young and the party was in full swing. The hustle and bustle would continue for a while, so the peak would probably not be reached for a few more hours. For a Friday with nothing happening on Saturday, it couldn't be better. So sleeping late was no problem.

A small celebration for the start of the new school year at Professor Charles Xavier's 'Institute for Gifted Young People'. Which was funny, because the school year had already started a month ago. Nevertheless, three new students had joined the school in these four weeks.

The main goal was to give a home to young people with special abilities. Some of them didn't have one. Or no longer did. For many reasons. In general, mutants, as people with abilities were called, were often ostracized, hunted, tortured and experimented on. Why? Fear of being different, or simply not being inferior. Here, at Charles' school, mutants are given a safe haven. Emphasis on safe.

Devon had been here for five weeks. Her high school year had turned into a disaster since the incident, and her parents had finally pulled her out of school. But neither of them had thought about what would happen next. There had once been a brochure about a boarding school on the kitchen table, but it had been quickly taken off the table. You can go where you want, but you have to take yourself with you. Yes, that was the problem. Not the place, but Devon. No matter where she was or where she would go, it could happen again. And it would happen again. Objects would change.

Before a reasonable solution had been found, two men, Charles Xavier and Scott Summers, had appeared and talked about a school where children and teenagers like Devon would live and learn. A place where she could learn to use her abilities and be with people her own age who were like her. A place without ostracism or the fear of feeling alone or ashamed of her abilities. A home or a refuge. No matter what Devon ended up calling it.

Armed with a mug, Devon wandered through the crowd, looking for a quiet place to sit down. Too many people at once, for her taste anyway.

It took her a moment to get her bearings and find her way out of the forest where the party was being held. Normally, people fled to the woods to get some peace and quiet, but here it was the other way around.

As Devon trudged through the undergrowth towards the school building, a familiar figure approached her, taking her face in his hands as soon as they met and feeling his lips on hers the next.

At the same moment, Devon reached up and put her arm in front of her face, squinting her eyes to avoid being blinded by the sun.

What had that been?

"What happened to you?" Kitty wanted to know when Devon came in for breakfast and saw her, "You couldn't have slept that badly."

"Which one of these idiots here can manipulate thoughts, play with our dreams, or influence them?" Devon retorted caustically, looking from Kitty to Rogue as if to demand an answer because it wasn't funny, "Now, please. You've been here longer than me, so who's capable of what?"

"It can't have been that bad..." Rogue tried to reassure, but the look Devon gave her said it all, "I don't know. Some people don't even know the full extent of their abilities. Jean, for example, and she's been here longer than most of us. She was one of the Professor's first students. Maybe it was just an ordinary dream."

"Whoever believes it." Devon certainly didn't want to believe it, especially since the place was swarming with people of all abilities.

"Wow, somebody looks in a good mood. Hopefully he'll be gone by tonight," Bobby was heard to say as he sat down next to his girlfriend Rogue with a tray in his hands, and a moment later Devon looked questioningly at the door where his roommate John had appeared, "So where did you come from now? You weren't here when I got up."

"Since when do I owe you an account of what I do or don't do?" John replied impassively, looking from his friend to the others before settling down next to Devon, "Good mood. What do we owe you..."

"Really? Just leave me alone, everyone," the firebug was interrupted in a cool tone by Devon, who was packing her things and getting all the accumulated bad vibes, "and screw that stupid event in the woods. I hope there's a serial killer on the loose and you two split up. At least then it would be fun here".

Hopefully this oh-so-great party would fail.