Chapter 1
“Have you seen my heels?”
Kitty looked up from her screen, minimizing the window. “What, Ray?”
Rachel Summers rolled her eyes and gestured vaguely around. “My shoes, kiddo. Have you seen them?”
Kitty didn’t stand up. “Wouldn’t they be with the rest of your costume? It’s tight enough that I’m pretty sure you couldn’t take them off.”
“Not the costume heels – besides, telekinesis making clothing a lot easier – my normal person shoes.”
“I’m pretty sure that label doesn’t apply to either of us, Ray.” Kitty turned off the laptop and turned around in her chair. “Why do you need it anyway? We’re in a lighthouse. It’s not like the nightlife is great out here.”
Rachel shrugged. “I like to know where my stuff is? I don’t have a lot, kiddo. I try not to lose them.”
“Um, I might have kind of sort of borrowed them?” Kitty shrugged awkwardly. “Maybe?”
“What?”
“I took them?”
Rachel was clearly annoyed. Shrugging off the red leather coat, she sat down on Kitty’s bed. “Okay, you have to tell me this story.”
“Don’t mock, okay?
“I am by no means going to make that promise.”
“Rachel!”
“Tell me. C’mon!”
Kitty buried her head in her hands for a moment. “Okay, okay.” She looked up, still slouched. “So, um, Courtney Ross, Cap’s friend, she invited me out to London. And I realized that I didn’t have any clothes fit for the occasion, so I borrowed your shoes.”
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Okay! Okay. So, I took some of your clothes—”
Rachel laughed, “Kiddo, I’m like you and a half. There isn’t a way for that ever to work.”
Kitty was flushed red. “I know! I know that now! It was loose in all of the wrong places, but it’s not like I have lots of other options, okay? I bought most of my stuff when the only person I was hanging out with was Storm, and Ororo has some very different clothing choices.”
“Okay, okay, I get it. Come on.”
“I know . . .” Kitty shook her head. “So, I put on the shoes, and I tried to walk down the stairs. And, um, I kindafellthroughthestairs? And through the floor?”
“Kitty?”
“Rachel?”
“Are my shoes currently stuck underground?”
She looked up, and put her hands down. “Yeah.”
Rachel sighed. “You stuck my shoes. Underground.”
“And maybe lost them?”
“Kitty, how do you even do that?”
She somehow flushed an even deeper red. Dark phoenix costume red. “Underground is big, okay? I sorta panicked?”
“Come on, Kitty, this is like the one thing I asked you to not to do. Don’t take my stuff.”
“I know! I know, okay. It was a dumb mistake, but it’s not that big a deal. I’ll get Kurt to take me into town and buy you new shoes.”
Rachel stood up in a huff. “It shouldn’t be that hard for you to not destroy my stuff. Come on! How hard is it to not lose my stuff underground? This isn’t even a thing I should have to ask you.”
“It’s not that big a deal, Ray!” Kitty walked over to the bed, and sat down next to Rachel. “They’re shoes, not the Death Star plans. Relax.”
“The what? It doesn’t matter. I told you, I don’t own a lot of things. You shouldn’t take them!”
Kitty shook her head. “I don’t get it, Ray. I’m sorry, okay! I told you I’m sorry. But they’re shoes. It’s not a big deal. People borrow other people’s shoes! That’s something that happens. I should have asked, but I’ll fix it.”
“You don’t understand.” Rachel didn’t meet Kitty’s eyes. “It’s not just the shoes, kiddo.”
“Tell me, then!”
Rachel shook her head, and stood up. She grabbed her coat, and started to make her way to the door, till Kitty grabbed her arm. “Ray, tell me! I don’t understand.”
Rachel spun and meandered slowly around the room. “Kitty, I don’t . . .”
“Please.”
“I grew up in a concentration camp in the future, Kitty. It’s . . . listen, do you know why I don’t talk to Angel? I Because I knew him, back, back where I’m from. He helped me in the first harsh couple years, before they . . .” She sat down again. “I watched him die. And I didn’t have anything, there, Kitty. Nothing. Not in the mansion, either. I just took mom’s old stuff . . . I’m sorry.”
Kitty scooted back over next to her. “Rachel, I didn’t know. I won’t – I’ll fix it, I promise. I want you to be happy. We all do.”
“No, I shouldn’t have freaked out.” Rachel moved closer to her. “I am happy, I love being here, with Cap and Meggan and Kurt, and, and with you. I just, its, how things are now doesn’t change how things were. And how things were, I mean, I . . .” She trailed off.
Kitty grabbed her hand. “It’s okay, Rachel. It’s okay.”
Psychic flame fared from Rachel’s hands. “Kittycat . . .” She leaned a little closer, brushing her ponytail backwards.
“I . . .” Kitty leaned close as well, then quickly stood up. “I’m going to find Kurt, get you new shoes. Okay. I’ll make this better. I promise.”
Rachel sat there as Kitty left, wringing her hands together. “Right. Yeah.”