Logan woke up the next morning and headed downstairs. He ran into Charles on the way down. "Hey, Chuck," he said.

"Hello, Logan," Charles replied. They walked into the kitchen and Logan grabbed the eggs and bacon. He didn't see Storm, and figured that she'd already eaten and was in her greenhouse tending to her plants. "Did you catch the intruder last night?"

"No," Logan said, shaking his head. "She went into 'Ro's office and then vanished. We're not sure about what happened after that."

"If you're thinking I could find her, I've already tried. Her mind, I think, is similar to Storm's. I can't seem to locate her contact her telepathically. Try searching her office again, it could be that she found a hiding spot that you didn't think of."

"Did someone call my name?" Storm asked coming in.

"Yes," Logan said. "Charles and I were discussing the intruder. He suggested we go through the office again."

If it means putting an end to Crystal's lies, I'm all for it."

XXXXX

Flicka woke up in the cubicle when she heard a door open. It was the office door. Great, she thought bitterly. How am I supposed to get out now?

XXXXX

Storm stepped into her office slowly. "I don't know where she would hide, there's not exactly many places to hide in here."

Logan stepped in after her and sniffed the air. "I got a scent," he said, "and it's fresh too."

"For you to get a scent that quickly, she must've slept in here." Storm followed him to the bookcase.

"Oh, yeah, she's in here alright."

"Of course," Storm said, pressing her hand against one of the diamond designs just below the lowest shelves. "The secret cubicle. It was built to hide kids, should there be some kind of emergency."

A side door slid up to reveal the intruder curled up inside. "Look, I'm sorry," she said. "Please don't hurt me."

"What?" Logan asked. "No kicks at your attackers?" Storm elbowed him.

"In case you haven't noticed, it's kind of a tight fit in here," Flicka shot back. "I can barely move as it is." She maneuvered herself to slide out and stiffly got up. "Okay," she gasped as she moved her joints. "I'm never doin' this again."

"We would assume not," Storm said. "Now what were you doing, Crystal?"

"Don't you get it?" Flicka said. "I'm not Crystal."

"Then who are you?"

"I'm," Hawk replied a little tartly. "My real name's Ashley; but, I go by Hawk."

Storm looked at Logan briefly then back at Hawk. "What are you doing here, Hawk?"

"I heard this was a safe place," Hawk said. "I'm a human, but I don't fit in well anywhere. I thought I could come here in sanctuary, but I guess-" she paused as if realizing something. "Wait a minute, you're Storm, aren't you? Real name, Ororo Munroe?"

"How do you know that?" Storm asked, shocked that this girl would know her real name.

"Let's just say I do my research."

"How do you know Crystal?" Logan asked.

"I imagine you looked at my iPod. Crystal probably told you about her friend singing up on stage at Camp Orlando. That was me. I forgot the scientific term for it, but we realized we looked exactly alike and became friends. It's extremely rare to find someone that looks exactly like you, 'ya know. Oh, and just to let you confirm that I'm not a shape-shifter, the songs on the iPod are: 'Hero', 'Awake and Alive', 'Monster'; 'Whispers in the Dark', 'Comatose,' and 'Falling in the Black', from the 'Awake', 'Comatose', and 'Comatose comes Alive' albums; all by Skillet.

"'Some Hearts', and 'The Night Before (Life Goes On)' from the 'Some Hearts' album by Carrie Underwood.

"'Love Story', 'You belong with me', 'Fearless'; 'Picture to Burn', and 'Our Song' from the 'Fearless' and 'Taylor Swift' albums by Taylor Swift. Do I need to go on?"

"No," Logan said, handing her the iPod.

"Thank you," Hawk said, taking the iPod. "Would it be alright if I had a tour?"

"Sure," Storm said, leading the teenager out. "I'll be there in a moment." She closed the door.

"Do you think we should trust her?" Logan asked.

"Most of what she's saying is true," Storm replied. "There's still something about her being friends with Crystal that bugs me; but, we mustn't forget the fact that she did get the songs correct on the iPod."

"What about the years?"

"Hey!" They heard Hawk cry. "I don't know half of the years of those songs. I do know that 'Comatose' was '06; Comatose comes Alive was '08; and Awake '09. But that's it."

"And you're eavesdropping," Storm pointed out.

"Sorry."

Storm turned back to Logan. "I guess we trust her."

XXXXX

After touring the school grounds, Storm and Hawk went to the stable. "I think you might feel comfortable in here," Storm said. Hawk looked around and nodded, a gleeful expression on her face. As she passed one of the stalls, she placed her hands on her hips, as if scolding a small child.

"How did you find this place before I did?" she mock-demanded, stepping into it.

Storm walked around to see a black mare with a grayish-white mark under her forelock. The black horse nickered and Hawk giggled. Then she turned to something else in the stall. "Isis, come. Sit. Paw. Shake."

Storm didn't see who she was talking to- since Hawk blocked her view- until Hawk came out with a pure white wolf. The wolf trotted toward Storm, and nearly jumped on her, until Hawk called her back. "Isis, down. Sit. Paw. Shake."

The wolf obeyed all of these commands, except 'shake'. "Go on," Hawk said encouragingly. Isis is extremely friendly." Storm knelt down and took the wolf's paw; which Isis shook. Then she tried to jump on Storm again, but a verbal warning from Hawk stopped her. "I think she likes you," Hawk said. Then she looked up at something and gasped happily. "Sky!" she called, holding up her right arm out like a branch. A hawk flew down and landed on her arm.

"Is he the reason why you're called, Hawk?" Storm asked.

"She," Hawk corrected. "And she's only part of the reason."

The sounds of claws unsheathing caught their attention. Hawk spun around, saw that Logan was about to lunge at Isis, and gasped. "No, Logan!" She cried. "Don't!" She bowled Logan over, and nicked herself on one of his claws.

"What the heck was that all about?" Logan demanded. "That's a wild wolf."

"That's my wolf, Logan!" Hawk shot back. Isis started to growl and bare her teeth into a snarl. Storm could tell that Hawk wanted to let Isis attack him, but was caught up in the fact that she probably would get hurt. "Isis, heel," Hawk ordered.

Isis obeyed, but still kept a wary eye on Logan. Storm went up behind Hawk, and gently put her hands on her shoulders. "What do you say we say we go out into the garden?"

"Sure," Hawk said, as she stalked off.

"What's gotten into her?" Logan asked.

"You shouldn't have done that," Storm replied. "Had you paid attention or waited a little bit longer, you would've seen that she was harmless." She spun on her heel and walked out after Hawk; leaving a puzzled Logan behind.

XXXXX

Hawk walked with Storm through the gardens, pausing every so often to look or sniff at a flower. "Is he always like that?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Logan?" Storm asked, then shook her head. "No, he's just not used to having another wolf around, if you catch my meaning." Hawk giggled at Storm's reference. They walked in silence for a few minutes until Storm broke it again. "Hawk, I have to ask this. Why did you break into the mansion?"

Hawk had expected this to come up. "I thought I could fit in here."

"Is it because you and Crystal are twins?" Storm pressed, obviously not believing Crystal one bit.

Great, Hawk thought bitterly. She's on to me. Then she turned to Storm. "No we're not-" She cut herself off as she saw someone up ahead. "twins," she finished slowly. Still staring up ahead, she whispered something. "Crystal."

XXXXX

Crystal and Rogue were walking in the gardens with one of the new teachers, Emma Frost. "Did you see the look on Bobby's face?" Crystal asked Rogue laughing.

"I know," Rogue replied, also laughing. "It was priceless."

"I thought you two were going to be working on your project?" Emma asked.

"We were," Crystal replied. "But we got bored and decided to play volleyball."

"Right," Emma said, unconvinced.

Great, a bitter thought came to her head. She's on to me.

Crystal stopped and looked out towards the stables. Three familiar shapes, one slightly shorter than the other and one that was on four legs, were approaching their destination. Crystal knew automatically that one of them was Storm. Her white hair could be seen a mile away. The other was a brunette. Crystal couldn't tell from this distance, but the brunette seemed familiar. Then Crystal saw something white tailing them. It didn't take long for her to realize who it was. Then the brunette turned toward her. Crystal instantly knew who it was and dashed forward, stopping a few feet away. "Crystal," Hawk whispered.

"Hawk." The two girls rushed forward to embrace each other.

XXXXX

Storm watched as the sisters embraced. "Those two must be close," Logan said, coming up behind her. Charles was with him.

"Not identical twins, huh?" Storm asked, after giving the girls a moment. Both girls turned to face the three adults.

"Okay, okay," Crystal- or Hawk said. Storm couldn't tell because their faces looked exactly alike."I should've told you, but I didn't know how."

"Okay," Logan said, raising his hands, before we get into this, who's who?"

"I'm getting to that," Crystal said, then looked at her sister. "When I joined, someone wasn't at the campsite-"

"You've got that backwards, sis," Hawk interrupted. "You mean you weren't at the campsite."

"You weren't there when I came to get you."

"Wait a minute," Hawk said, holding up her hands. "Are you talkin' about before or after you sent Storm to keep me company?"

"After. You made me think the worst and-" she looked at Hawk's unscathed skin. "Where's your bandage?"

"My bandage?" she asked, looking at her puzzled. "What-what are you talking about?"

"There was blood at the camp!"

"Oh," Hawk said, realizing what she was talking about. "You mean Storm's blood. She got injured when Pyro sent a fireball at us. I had to treat it and keep her movin' so that she wouldn't get cold and keep warm."

"But your mind blocks-"

"Were only there to keep you out. Look, I knew you were going to go with them. It was too good an opportunity. I was going to come here anyway. Although, I didn't expect my grand entrance to come like this."

"You were supposed to wait for me at the campsite," Crystal grumbled.

"And have I ever listened?" Hawk asked teasingly.

"Okay," Logan said. "Let me get this straight. You're both sisters and not friends, right?"

Hawk shrugged. "Depends on the point of view."

"Ugh!" Crystal exclaimed putting a hand to her forehead. "Don't go all Star Wars on me again!"

"Sorry."

"Yes, Logan," Crystal said, answering the un-answered question.

"And Hawk's telepathic?"

Hawk laughed. "I wish. Actually, Crystal and I have identical brainwaves. I can communicate with her telepathically and vice versa. Unfortunately, this also means we can feel each others pain. On the bright side of things, we can block it off if need be. This is due to the fact that we're identical twins."

Crystal tensed when she heard the word 'twins'. This seemed odd to Storm, and, apparently, Hawk noticed.

XXXXX

Hawk turned to Crystal. What's wrong?

Crystal straightened up, and made her face impassive. Nothing.

Hawk frowned. It was rare that Crystal would lie to her. In fact, the two were so close that they had few if any secrets from each other. Don't lie to me. I can always tell when you're lying. This was true. Hawk was the more sneaky one, and a way better liar out of the two. In the card game, Lie, Crystal was so easy to read, Hawk wouldn't need their telepathic bond to know she lied.

Look, it's nothing. Really.

Hawk knew that wasn't true. "Fine," she said aloud. "Keep your dirty secrets."

"Hawk," Crystal tried as her sister walked off toward the stables.

Hawk held up her hand, not turning around. "Leave me alone."

XXXXX

Hawk's little outburst confused Storm. She looked at the Professor, but he shook his head. "It looks as if they had a small argument, but I can't be certain."

"They had a small argument just my lookin' at each other in the eye?" Logan asked.

"Telepathically, Logan," Storm answered. "Although, it is believed that girls can do it, even though they're not related."

"Should we go after her?"

"It's better if you don't," Crystal said, her face downcast. "When Hawk gets like that, it's best if you leave her alone to cool off. If you don't, someone's gonna get hurt. Don't worry about the animals though, she usually rides Storm and comes back perfectly calm. Music also helps." She turned to go back, then paused and turned back around. "I uh... hope you gave her iPod back to her. My sister without her music is not a pretty sight."

"Is that a threat," Logan asked menacingly. Crystal either didn't notice, or didn't care.

"No," Crystal said casually. "Just giving you a fair warning. I ain't gonna be around when she blows a fuse."





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