Lost in thought, Devon sat on the narrow bed in her rather small room, leaning back so that the back of her head and her shoulder blades touched the wallpapered wall, and stared up at the ceiling.

If nothing changed in the future, she might not be much different from Rogue, and Devon would be more than happy to do without the gloves. While Rogue could not touch a living being without draining its life force, Devon had to assume that she could turn any object into whatever she wanted with a single touch.

The only difference with Rogue was that with Devon, there was some kind of trigger for an object to change with a touch. No one would get hurt or even die. It was impossible to tell if that was the better choice.

After half an hour, as the pain in her neck began to set in, she crawled forward to the edge of the bed, opened the bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out a book.

Alice in Wonderland.

One of the books on the school book club's reading list. It had been decided to focus on the great classics for the year. New works come and go, but it takes something to become a classic, to stand the test of time. Stand the test of time.

The first book was Charles Dickens' A Christmas Story. In the summer, mind you. The lottery had decided. Second was 'Anna Karenina' by Leo Tolstoy, followed by Lewis Carroll. Devon had come very far. Only to the second book. Or rather, to read and discuss the second, followed by the drawing for the next.

"Devon....?" asked John, who opened the door after knocking several times without answer and checking to see if anyone was there, "I wanted to ask if you were coming to the mall?"

"No," Devon replied, deeply engrossed in her book and turning the page without answering John because that was the end of the matter for her.

"Okay," the firebug nodded at Devon's short answer and was about to close the door again before deciding to join her in the room and close the door behind him, "What's the problem, really?"

"I'm not much for shopping," she followed without taking his eyes off the pages, "Besides, what am I supposed to do?"

"Distraction and just getting out of here," John shrugged; he took the chair that was in front of the desk and turned it upside down in front of the bed, then sat down, "What are you doing? You're in a bad mood from one day to the next; you're easily irritated by everything and everyone, and then came the kiss. All right, you're not the biggest fan of socializing, but right now it looks to me like you're deliberately making sure you end up alone."

"I don't want to be here. I don't want any of this. None of this. I've got to deal with things that are running my life now, and we're not talking about subjects that are important for my future or deciding which university to apply to. This something is running my life from the ground up and it can't be controlled," Devon snorted angrily, putting down the book and looking at John, "How am I supposed to be in a good mood or pretend it's no big deal? Besides, I'm not the only one who has problems with their garbage, and the others who have problems drag me into it sometimes. I'm trying .... somehow to deal with it, but I can't because someone here also has no control and makes my life harder than it already is. So explain it to me..."

"Let go," Devon was interrupted by John before she got any more upset, "Just let go. What was isn't completely gone. You are still you. Your life is neither gone nor over. You just have to let go of the idea that everything will be the same. Your abilities allow you to live a completely normal life if you wish. Once you have accepted that you have an ability and learned how to control it, you can live as you wish."

Accept who you are and you will be free, they say.