The Book of Chimera

      “No, I didn’t kill him.” Gambit waved his hand carelessly while chewing a sandwich. “Sabretooth is hard to kill anyway, moreover in such circumstances. On the run, hurry-scurry, in passing, when the most important thing is to get away faster and further… I simply dropped him from the car. He surely has already had a thorough rest and managed to piss off. The storm is no obstacle for his kind. He’s a regenerant, actually.”       Rica made a sip of coffee from a thermos flask. The plane was humming cozily. The Beast was whistling some cheerful tune in the pilot’s cockpit. Everyone managed to clean themselves with wet wipes in some way. And Remy remembered that there was lunchtime and that “children had to be fed”. Luckily, there were some C-rations on the plane, and Rica realized that her stomach was not only capable of accepting food, but it was also craving it greedily.       “A regenerant?” she asked after having chewed a piece of sausage. “You mean, like me? Is it that Logan you were speaking about?”       “Of course not!” Remy snorted. “Logan is on our side. Well, in general. He’s always on his own side, really… But he and Sabretooth are stepbrothers, and as such, no wonder they have the same mutation. But you… You’re a different story.”       “Aren’t there any mutants with the same gift?” asked Rica wiggling under her belts to make herself comfortable. “And where is Logan now? In your school?”       “No, unfortunately, he’s not there,” Remy sighed and gave her an apple. “Wolverine is a free animal, he often hangs around God knows where and never stays in one place for too long. He’s missing right now. The Professor doesn't even look for him. They had a deal… Charles stays out of Logan’s brain unless he has to.” Remy frowned his suspicion at the girl. “You’re well aware that Xavier is a telepath, aren’t you? It doesn’t scare you, or…?”       “I am aware, sure,” Rica assured him. “Of course, I’m a wild thing out of the wild woods, but I watch TV from time to time. But what about the same gift?”       “Well…” Having eaten his fill, Gambit sighed with satisfaction, stretched out his long legs, and locked his fingers on his stomach. “It depends. Resembling gifts exist, for sure. Charles is a telepath, but not the only one in the world. For instance, there is Jean Grey, but she can do telekinesis aside from telepathy. Or else, one can be blue like our, already common, friend. Blue is his fur only, but there are also two mutants of similar color. One of them is Mystique, you surely know about her; she has blue skin but no signs of increased hairiness. And the second one is Kurt Wagner. He has both blue skin and short fluff on it. You’d get to know him yet, he’s in Charles’ teaching staff.”       “And what does he teach?” Rica asked as she was crunching away on the apple core. There was a rule in the Clayton family: the more nutrients are somewhere— And she simply loved apple seeds.       “Literature and acting. And he gives German classes if someone needs them.”       Rica sighed and shriveled. Adrenalin was gone, the cruel reality rolled up, and thoughts were back in her head. How horrible… How many subjects did she have to learn? Something anew even, much less to wind up. Literature, for instance…       “Don’t you have any major for dummies?” the girl asked in a mournful voice. “I’m asking because I’m just like Mowgli…”       “Haven’t you been preparing for college for three months?” Remy teased her but then, he comforted her instantly. “No, we don’t. Don’t worry; if anything, someone would wind you up. And no one would expel you for some lack of knowledge. You join us in the middle of the year, you know. Your wish to learn and ability to swallow up the educational material, that’s what counts. And I didn’t notice any lack of intelligence in you. Here, cheer up with some chocolate.”       Rica was nibbling her chocolate and thinking of Uncle Mbeki. If the storm passed, if the stand was found… But then her thoughts went the unwanted way, and the girl quickly distracted herself with a new question, “And how did it happen that Hank became blue? Was he born this way, or was it just like me, at sixteen?”       “I hear you, just so you know!” Beast responded from behind the wheel. “And it would be polite to ask me first. But I can’t catch a break, so come on, fire it up, you fool in Christ. Recite my humble history per aspera ad astra.”       During the conversation, time flew like an arrow. Gambit told her about Hank’s mutation, how they met, how their friendship began, and how he was sent in search of Hank during such a vacation for the first time. Then he went back chronologically and explained how he met Professor Xavier, and Logan before that. He told about his card tricks and his adventures in New Orleans (they were so colorful that Rica seriously suspected at least a quarter of them to be made out or, at least, exaggerated), and about his gift to transform the potential energy to the momentum…       Hand interrupted them after a while, “Ok, you, fountain of eloquence, haven’t you worn your tongue? Get ready; soon we’re going to descend and leave the upper atmosphere.”       What, already..!? Rica blinked incredulously and looked at her phone.       “But—”       “Our flight lasted 3.5 hours, yep,” Gambit grinned. He obviously enjoyed her incomprehension. “But our speed wasn’t that of a passenger liner.”       “This beauty develops almost 3 Mach,” Beast hummed with satisfaction and began to click on his machines. “But we were flying on 2 Mach. Twice the sound speed, just so you know.”       Rica did the math, gave a whistle, and clenched the armrests with both hands, just in case.       “Too late for that!” Remy laughed while checking whether her belt was secured. “And you’re lucky not to have any air sickness. You just wait, we’re going down now — you’ll have an eyeful view through that window.”       And it happened just so. That is, first, there was a white and grey cloud mist, and then… Rica didn’t realize at what moment their plane dropped its supersonic speed. Its design seemed to be so brilliantly thought through that its passengers and crew didn’t feel any consequences from such changes.       Gambit encouraged her with a nod, and Rica pressed her nose against the window forgetting about the candies. And out there…       It was England out there. The narrow strait of the English Channel, sparse chains of little islands, and Albion itself. Strangely enough, but now, there wasn’t any fog and even rainy clouds over Great Britain. It was a fine day although the afternoon was well along. And the first thing that shook the girl to the core was clearly the green.       Green, green everywhere… After the dry savannah, this place looked like an earthly paradise. Tidy ploughlands were divided on regular polygons; forests and lakes like Rica had never seen first-hand; and fields of wind turbines that looked like pinwheels because of that altitude. The girl could swear that she had seen a couple of ancient castles like those on pictures on the Internet: with their mighty walls, high towers, and moats. And those bright colorful carpets, what were those? Could they be flower meadows!?       And cities. Cities and towns, large and small, metropolitan and not so much, so different and so unlike her native Town that seemed to be so tiny now…       Rica sighed and tore herself from the window. She shut her eyes and tossed her head, to wrap her mind around such diversity of colors.       “Unusual, huh?” Gambit asked with empathy as he touched her shoulder. “Have some patience. One more trouble is ahead, and its name is acclimatization. You’re clearly not used to such cold and humidity, girl. Your winter starts in June, as against the winter of normal people, doesn’t it? There you are, our spring is as good as your winter. And June is warm, on the contrary. And if my knowledge of young mutants isn’t failing me, your regeneration can’t save you now in any case. Your entire cycle of seasons would shift for half a year! But only when we land.”       Rica gave another miserable sigh. Once again, she thought that it was incredibly stupid of her to have agreed on such a venture, and she’d better have stayed at home where everything was so familiar, safe, warm, and… lonely. Oh hell no! There was no falling back, only the fuselage behind! Or how do they call the tailplane again…       “I’m coming in for a landing!” the Beast announced loudly. Gambit slightly pushed Rica with his elbow and said, “Look! We’re above the school now.”       And Rica got stuck again. Because, once more, it was the green, and a lake, and tidy park alleys, and not so tidy forest park alleys, and among all that, being all cozy, there was a very beautiful mansion. It looked like a small castle, really.       Hank grumbled something about the basketball court like no one could make the youngsters get away from there this time of day. But Rica didn’t understand his words and didn’t have time to ask again. Remy, once more, gripped her attention. Being really off-hand, he began now to smooth now to tumble her hair while he was muttering under his breath, “Well, on one hand, you should look decent. After all, it’s Xavier’s school, and not just anything. And going there with a dirty nose!? Here’s another spot on your cheek, where is my tissue? And on the other hand, you’re a victim! The victim of my outrage and some barbarian flight from hot Africa to soggy Britain! You must look accordingly so that everyone can see it!”       Rica was laughing, wrinkling her nose, and being patient. Her trust for that charismatic jester who had drunk her beer only this morning was somehow primal, on the level of instincts, and practically unlimited.       When she was finally confirmed fit for the meeting with the big brass, the plane had already landed. This landing was so soft that Rica didn’t feel any stir. She unbuckled her belts, and Gambit wrapped her up in his coat right away. He absolutely didn’t care that it was trailing behind her on the floor.       The door opened with quiet hissing. The gangway came forward and let the cabin be filled with a wave of air that was so cool and fresh that Rica almost choked. An African winter, you say!? But even during the rainy season, there was no such moisture-laden wind in Rica’s homeland…       Remy hugged her shoulders tight so that she wouldn’t stagger and fall. And then, he gave her a slight push to the back: come on, now.       And down there, on the other end of the gangway, on a large green clearing, there already was an old bald man in the wheelchair, waiting for them. And when Rica hobbled up to him on stiff legs, he smiled softly. And starry crow’s feet around his eyes stretched up and aside.       “Hello to you, Federica Clayton,” Professor Charles Xavier said as he extended his hand to his new student. And his voice sounded in Rica’s head while she was shaking this hand, but Professor’s lips weren’t moving already. “Welcome to the school for gifted youngsters. Welcome to the X-Mansion.”