The stick crashed against the drum kit, splattering droplets of neon colours through the air like cotton-candy confetti. Kismet watched Nyx play as one would stare at a galaxy twisting through the sky. Each note pulsed a vibrant wave.

There was no seating in this room yet. Just drums. Kismet scrunched up, her back to the wall. A woub woub woub sensation throbbed into her bones.

After a quick shower, Nyx had loaned Kismet some pajamas - a graphic t-shirt and flannel pants. Nyx was a much taller and more voluptuous woman than herself, and Kismet disappeared inside her clothing.

Kismet did her best to keep out of Nyx's head, but her thoughts were so loud. At least the drums were louder. The song was all heartbreak and rage, splashing crimson into the air. The pain was too much like her own, like a double dose of bitter anguish. It didn't sit well on the stomach.

She closed her eyes and slid to the floor, lying on her back like a lizard in the sun. It was all so surreal, how she could be one person one day, and then live a completely different life the next. Despite herself, she missed Kevin. Movies told her she shouldn't. If they were to be believed, she should be ripping up photographs about now.

Maybe leaving like this is worse. Maybe I'll show up a year from now like a ghost just to haunt him - or apologize. One or the other.

The weight of the drumbeats lifted, even though the song itself hardly changed. There was something in the sensation like ice on a burn. There was still pain, but it was blunted. Nyx stopped playing and stood up.

"You alright down there?" she asked Kismet, extending her hand.

Kismet took it and Nyx helped her up. Her touch was like dark cherries.

"You play very well."

"Not really, but thank you," said Nyx.

"You don't need to be modest," said Kismet. "Do you play in a band?"

The two girls went down stairs to the living-room, going single file to watch the narrow steps.

"No," said Nyx. "Just with Angel." She plopped onto the couch and Kismet sat in the armchair. Nyx had also changed into her pajamas and tied her hair into a little pony-tail. "If you can read minds, why do you bother with questions?"

"I like getting to know people the normal way," said Kismet. "It's rude to invade someone's mind."

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Nyx with a slight nod. "It's nice of you to be so considerate."

"It's partially selfish," she confessed. "There's a lot of things people don't say out loud that a person is better off not knowing."

"I wish I could read Angel's mind," Nyx grumbled. She perked, looking to Kismet. "Did you happen to get anything? Even on accident?"

Kismet shook her head. "My ability doesn't seem to work on him, or, well, not in the way it does with other people. Most of the time, my abilities are kinda all over the place, coming and going in intensity. With him, I have to actually think about what I'm doing, or he has to make physical contact before I can even get a hint of his emotions."

"Are you sure your abilities don't work on him?" Nyx asked.

"Pretty sure," Kismet said, and waited for Nyx to elaborate, but was met with an interested sigh and nothing more.

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Nyx made the couch into a bed for Kismet with a throw blanket and a cushion. She clicked out the light on her way through.

"I'm really sorry I don't have anywhere more comfortable for you to sleep," said Nyx as she brought in a glass of water.

"Well, I'm sorry to be sprung on you like this," said Kismet. She laid on the couch, curling onto her side under the blanket. "I didn't intend to... I didn't think things through. I've been on my own before, and I figured I could do it again if I had to. I just... I'm so stupid."

"I don't think you're stupid at all," said Nyx. She sat down in the arm chair across from Kismet. Her eyes seemed to glow in the soft stream of street lamp cutting between the curtains. "I think you're brave. I can't imagine leaving everything behind like that. You must have a damn good reason."

"I like to think I do," said Kismet quietly. "Sometimes I'm not so sure. I can be sensitive. Maybe I overreacted." She recalled Kevin's memories of Jane and wanted to cry, laugh or scream - maybe all of it at once. "I found out he cheated on me when I accidentally read his mind."

It was strange to say it out loud.

"Fuck, that's rough," Nyx sighed. "I don't blame you one bit. I'm sorry about earlier by the way. Angel and I have some differences of opinion to work through."

"You don't need to apologize to me about it," said Kismet. "I'm the one imposing."

"It's fine, really. Don't worry about it."

Nyx excused herself to bed, and Kismet stared at the blank wall. For a window in time she had been happy. There was a sweet spot only visible in hindsight. It was a time before Kevin. When she thought she was lonely. Before she knew what loneliness was.

Kismet had been working in the bookstore for a few months. It was quiet. She lived alone, surrounded and swallowed by her books and CDs. Each night she went to bed with stories of princes and knights in her head and she'd dream of a time some young nobleman would come to sweep her away.

That's when Kevin found her.

Do the princesses ever miss their towers? They never speak about what happens once the prince takes her home. What does a coveted treasure become when it's possessed? Never spoken of again. That's what.

Sleep came far faster than she expected. This dream was not her own. At first, she thought it was a remnant of Blossom's memories.

It was the same place, but the perspective was different. A barn in darkness, lit only by multicoloured strobe lights. She wasn't on stage, but on the edge of the crowd instead. Fuming and utterly furious. It was difficult to see over top of everyone, but she tried.

Bones broke, snapping like dry branches. There was so much blood... when Angel hit the ground her heart stopped... They were in the car, and she pressed into his chest as hard as she could... An unfulfilled lifetime of dashed dreams and wishes flashed before her eyes... Then the blue light came and Angel sat up with horrified eyes.

A scream woke Kismet with a start. It was Nyx.

Maybe I should see if she's alright? We hardly know each other, but what does it matter at this point? It wouldn't hurt to knock at least.

The stairs creaked as she made her way to the second floor. Nyx peeked her head out of the bedroom door before she got all the way up.

"It's ok, I'm alright," Nyx assured her. "It's my first night here and I guess I'm a little homesick."

Still groggy from the dream, Kismet blinked. "What happened to Angel?"

"Pardon?"

"Your dream. I'm sorry. It just sorta happens sometimes when I sleep near people."

"Oh," Nyx chuckled, but the sound was hollow. "My dreams get a little much sometimes. I'm ok now."

Deep plumb ripples of deceit pulsed through Nyx's aura, but Kismet didn't challenge her on it. Even if Nyx was hiding something, it wasn't her place to question it. Still, she wondered.

Everyone had been so convinced Angel was dead. In the vision, he was dead. The man she had met earlier looked like he didn't have so much as a black eye. Granted, not that unusual for a mutant, but the reactions of those around him didn't make her believe they had expected a full recovery. So this power, whatever that blue light was, must be new.

Kismet waved good-night to Nyx. That flash of light lingered in her mind. It was familiar, but she couldn't place it - Not until she laid down on the couch with her headphones over her ears.

That light was like Ivy's.

Kismet had seen the pale woman heal people on television often enough. She'd fill whole stadiums with people - mutant and human alike - They'd come with chronic, debilitating or even terminal illnesses, and she'd heal as many as she could in pulsating blue waves. In the beginning, these healing conventions had caused riots as people clamoured for the headmaster's favor, but Ivy would depart, healing no one. They were now a much more organized, systemic affair.

She rolled over on her side, shutting her eyes and focused on the music.

Yep, that light really is none of my business.