Jean entered Jubilee's room. She found the kind old nurse sitting at the girl's bedside, an open book in her lap. Her soft voice with its soothing British accent resounded throughout the room.

"Bilbo 'ad escaped the goblins, but 'e did not know where 'e was. 'E 'ad lost 'ood, cloak, food, pony, 'is buttons and 'is friends. 'E wandered on an' on, till the sun began to sink westward. . . ."

Jean found herself smiling at the passage from Tolkein's novel, The Hobbit.

The nurse stopped reading and turned to look at Jean and smiled warmly.

"Oh, please don't stop."

"That's all right, luv," the nurse said, getting up. "Oi've got other patients Oi need t' check on. 'Tis just . . . this one, she seems a li'l lost, is all."

"Yes," Jean agreed, walking to the bedside and taking the nurse's place in the chair. "I just want her to find her way back home, to all of us."

She felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. "Oi can see by the way you look at 'er 'ow much you care about 'er. Is she your child?"

"No." Jean was silent a moment, a smile slowly creeping across her lips. "Sometimes, it feels like it, though. We've gotten so close, and I care about her a great deal."

"Aye. That even a blind man could see. You just keep projectin' that love to 'er, an' she'll be back before you know it. Just 'ave faith."

As the nurse silently took her leave, she saw Sean heading for the room. Recognizing her as the kind woman who awoke him earlier that week, he smiled at her, and she did the same.

"I see someone's been readin' about the adventures of Mr. Bilbo Biggins," he said, indicating the book she held in her hand.

"Oi've found that reading t' the patients, 'specially the younger ones, 'elps them t' wake up that much sooner. An' this li'l 'obbit just 'appens t' be a favorite of mine."

"Thank ye for bein' there for Jubilee."

"My pleasure, Mr. Cassidy."

"Is Jean in with her now?"

The nurse nodded. "That woman is somethin' else. She's 'ardly left that girl's side. She's more devoted than most of me patients' parents 'ave been."

"Aye, that she is. Jean's got a heart bigger'n most. Thanks again."

"You take care of yerself, Mr. Cassidy. An' don't worry . . . she'll pull through this. With the support of so many people who care about 'er, 'ow can she do any less?"

As the nurse left, Sean could not help but smile. Entering Jubilee's room, he found Jean sitting at the bedside, the girl's hand grasped firmly in her own. Approaching them, he placed a tender hand on her shoulder. Jean looked up at him and managed a weary smile.

"Ye look exhausted," he said, taking the seat next to hers.

"I'm fine. How'd it go with Everett?"

Sean sighed. "Not good. He was upset. He called his parents, tried to tell them how much he wanted to stay, how much he felt like he belonged."

"They didn't go for it, huh?"

Sadly, Sean shook his head. "He managed to convince them to let him stay 'till there's word on Jubilee's condition. They're planning to come next week, once they can get a few days off work, to take him home. I feel as if I've let him down, Jean. He and Jubilee both."

"Sean, don't be absurd. I've told you once, and I'll tell you again-- this was in no way your fault. You're their teacher, their friend. That does not make you responsible for their injuries. I know you feel that you should have been there to somehow prevent this from happening, but you can't be with them all twenty-four, seven. There comes a time when we've got to start to let go and allow them to grow up."

"Seems to me they're being forced to do that a little too quickly."

"I know that feeling. But, with the way the world is, I see little alternative." She looked at Jubilee lovingly. "Sean, I've decided to enter her mind. I'm just going to observe, and to try to assess the damage."

"All right. I'll go with ye."

"No. My presence will be dangerous enough. We can't risk it."

"Are ye sure ye can handle this alone?"

Jean sighed. "I'll admit, I'm not up to speed. The past couple of days have been hell. But this is Jubilee's life we're talking about. I have to try."

Slowly, Sean nodded. "What can I do to help?"

"Just be here with us," she said, placing her hand on his.

"I will. Good luck, lass."

"Thanks." Once again taking Jubilee's hand, Jean breathed deeply. She calmed herself, focusing her mind to the task at hand. The headache she had had since before she and Logan left for Massachusetts had not ceased. She could not let that bother her now, though. She pushed past the pain, and reached out with her mind, contacting Jubilee's.

She immediately felt disoriented. Jubilee's mindscape had indeed been affected by Tessa's machinations. The surroundings felt as though they had been tossed topsy-turvy. Jean's astral form was negotiating a ground that seemed to be at a forty-five degree angle-- upside-down and inside-out, with the sky as the wall and the ground as the sky. It took her a few moments to acclimate herself. Once she had, she took note of her location. Judging by the palm trees and the license plates on the parked cars, it appeared to be a suburb in California. Seeing the huge houses lining the block, she guessed Beverly Hills. The place where Jubilee grew up.

As she looked on, a fifteen-year-old Jubilation Lee roller bladed down the block. Already Jean could see the inconsistencies. The cars present were the latest models, Jubilee was far older than she was when she lived here.

Even the roller blades she was wearing had not been manufactured at the time this should have occurred. She followed the girl as she carefully made her way up the front stairs and onto the porch. Jubilee took off the blades and stepped into the house.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" she called, walking into the foyer. She stopped suddenly. Something did not feel right. Even Jean could sense the . . . wrongness. Jubilee slowly, carefully, made her way to the living room.

"Mom? Dad? Are you here?" Not finding them, she looked around the room. She walked into the dining room. Still no one. Scanning the room, her eyes stopped at the doorway across from her, more specifically at the carpeting. There were some crimson spots. Blood.

"Mom? Dad?" Jubilee followed the trail of blood down the corridor until she came to the closed door that led to the study. She reached for the doorknob and found her hand trembling.

Jean looked on, helpless, wishing she could do something besides watch. This was something Jubilee had to do on her own.

Opening the door, Jubilee cautiously stepped inside. The blood stains were a little heavier, and seemed to be leading to behind the huge mahogany desk her father used so often. Gathering her courage, she approached it. Peering behind it, she gasped in horror.

Laying sprawled on the floor in pools of blood were the bodies of her parents. Pieces of their intestines and the remains of various organs lay beside them.

Her hands flew to her mouth as she turned away in horror. Who or what could do such a thing?

This was not right, Jean realized. Jubilee's parents were killed-- murdered-- in a car accident. She looked on, feeling completely powerless, wanting more than anything to take Jubilee in her arms. She had a dreadful feeling she knew who was behind this savage attack.

"Hey there, chickie," came a hoarse voice from across the room. Jubilee spun around, and saw him perched on top of a bookcase. He held a half-eaten human heart in his hand, its blood dripping down his clawed hand and his sharp canines, onto his chin. He licked it from his lips and smacked them.

"Mmm mmm. Mommy and Daddy sure do hit the spot."

"Monster!" Jubilee spat. "How could you?"

"Simple: they was there, and I was hungry. And you, sweetums, are dessert!" In an instant, he pounced. He was flying through the air, claws extended, fangs bared, reaching for her throat.

"Eat this!" Jubilee shouted, raising her own arms and blasting him with the colorful plasmoids that she produced from her fingertips.

Yelping in pain and momentarily blinded, Sabretooth fell to the floor, his hands covering his eyes. Not wasting the opportunity she had created for herself, Jubilee scrambled out the door, running down the hallway.

Suddenly, the location changed. She was no longer in her own home, but in the school in Massachusetts. She hurried to the stairs and took them two at a time, heading upstairs. Turning the corner, she collided with another figure and fell to the floor, the wind knocked out of her. She screamed.

"Easy, Jubes, it's just me."

She looked up to see Everett staring down at her, a warm smile on his face, and sighed.

"Ev? Buddy, am I glad to see you! Sabretooth's loose in the house!"

"Sabretooth? C'mon, we'd better get the others to help." He held out a hand to help her up.

Grateful, she reached up to him but stopped suddenly, drawing her hand back before she could touch him, shuddering in terror.

"Jubilee? What is it? We don't have much time."

In response, all she could do was stare at his hand. On his palm was a small mouth, lined with dozens of sharp fangs-- the mark of Emplate's possession, which he bore several months earlier when he had tried to kill his teammates. Jubilee had no doubt he would do the same now. And with his mutant power to synch himself to her own powers, she would be no match for him. She scampered backwards, hand over foot, trying to get away from him.

Then she made a break for it, sprinting toward a bedroom. She ran inside, and slammed the door shut behind her, locking it. Then she shoved a dresser in front of it, hoping to keep Everett and Sabretooth out; unfortunately, it also meant trapping herself inside.

"Priveat, Jubilee."

At the sound of the voice, Jubilee jumped. She turned around, and saw a little blonde-haired girl in a nightgown sitting in the bed, grasping a stuffed doll that greatly resembled Nightcrawler.

"Illyana?"

"Da. Kock de la?"

"I've been better," Jubilee said, walking over to her. The little Russian threw her arms around Jubilee's neck, hugging her. "C'mon, kiddo, we've gotta get out of here." Taking her hand, Jubilee led her to the balcony.

"Bamf!" Illyana cried suddenly. Letting go of Jubilee's hand, she ran back to the bed and picked up the doll.

"C'mon, Yana, hurry! C'mere!"

Illyana turned to face Jubilee and, smiling widely, was about to run into her arms. Then, suddenly, the room erupted into crimson chaos, with everything happening so quickly. The girl screamed as something grabbed her ankle, its sharp talons digging into her skin and drawing blood. She cried out as she slammed face-down on the floor. Even as Jubilee lunged forward and tried to reach her, Illyana was dragged under the bed, kicking and screaming. Just as Jubilee landed on the spot where the girl had been standing, now occupied only by the stuffed animal, there was a sound of claws rending flesh and bone along with a scream that made Jubilee's blood turn ice cold. The girl's agonizing cries stopped abruptly as she was ripped open and her still-beating heart was torn from her chest and consumed hungrily. Blood spattered onto Jubilee's face.

Realizing she was about to meet a similar fate, Jubilee bolted for the balcony. She cried out as claws raked into the flesh of her back. She staggered forward, grasping onto the wrought-iron railing of the balcony. Without a moment's hesitation, she straddled the railing, preferring to take her chances with the leap to the ground than to remain and be mauled and eaten alive by the ferocious psychopathic killer.

"Not so fast, kid. We got a dinner date!" Sabretooth growled, reaching a clawed hand for her leg. His nails bit into the soft flesh of her calf even as she had cast herself backwards over the railing. She bit her lip in pain as he held her there, her head pointing toward the ground, arms flailing wildly. "You ain't gettin' away that easy, meat!" He began to haul her up.

She realized she had only one chance. Summoning her courage and her last reserve of strength, she pulled her torso half-up and raised her arms. She poured on the fireworks in a display of pyrotechnics brighter than she ever had before.

Sabretooth laughed. "Nice try, kid, but I ain't fallin' for that same trick twice. I closed my eyes this time."

"Who said I was aiming for you, Creed?" she retorted.

There was a creaking from above them. Sabretooth looked up just as the gutter and the section of the roof it had been attached to came crashing down on his head. Unfortunately, as it toppled him, crushing him beneath metal and concrete, his hold on her leg was lost. Jubilation Lee screamed as she plummeted to meet the cold, hard embrace of the ground below, realizing hers was a Pyhrric victory. As the blackness overwhelmed her, she took comfort in the thought that at least there would no longer be any pain. . . .

Jean cried out as her mind abruptly returned to her own body. She was breathing heavily, her body drenched in perspiration. It took a moment for her mind to register where she was. As she regained her bearings, she suddenly realized that something was terribly wrong. The room resounded with a loud ringing. It was Jubilee's heart monitor.

Jean got to her feet and Sean pulled her out of the way as nurses and a doctor entered along with a crash cart. "She's flatlined!" the doctor shouted as a nurse threw back the blanket. "Clear!" she shouted as she primed the paddles. She placed them on Jubilee's chest and her body jerked upward.

"Nothing," the nurse replied.

"Oh, God, no!" Jean cried, hands clasped over her mouth. "She can't die!"

Sean said nothing, but placed a firm arm around Jean's shoulders and held her close against him.

"Clear!" the doctor shouted, trying once again to make Jubilee's heart start beating.

Still there was the loud ringing.

"Again!" yelled the doctor, and her body jerked once more.

Suddenly, there was a faint beep, and they looked to see a small peak representing her heartbeat on the monitor's screen.

"Her pulse is thready, but there," the nurse told the doctor.

She began to prescribe several drugs for the nurse to administer by injection.

"Oh, thank goodness," Jean sighed.

"Saints preserve us!" Sean said with a smile, embracing Jean. "Come, let's got wait in the hall for the doctor to finish," he said, placing a guiding hand on her waist.

"I was so frightened," Jean said softly.

"Aye. Me, too, lass, me, too. But Jubilee's a fighter. She'll beat this, I'm sure." Sean paused a moment, trying to find the best way to broach the subject. "D'ye want to talk about what ye saw?" he whispered.

Jean closed her eyes, remembering, and involuntarily shuddered. It was so horrible, she told him via a psi-link as she wrapped her arms around herself. Her mindscape was greatly distorted. It wasn't limited to the physical landscape. She was reliving some memories, moments from her past, but they were all jumbled together, along with events which I could only guess are some of her worst nightmares. The psychic damage was greater than I feared.

Can ye do anythin' t' repair it?

When I entered her mind, it was as an observer. Next time, it will have to be as a participant. I'm going to have to help her face her demons, to fight them, and to beat them if she is to have any hope of recovering. But with this close call, I'm not so sure she's strong enough to--

"Mr. Cassidy, Mrs. Summers," Dr. Knight called, walking over to them. "Dr. Doan just paged me."

"That was great work she did," Sean told him. "She saved her life."

"We're not out of the woods yet, I'm afraid."

Sean and Jean looked at him fearfully.

"Her condition has become very serious. She has cerebral edema-- swelling in her cranium. Because of this, there is a great deal of pressure being exerted on her brain. This is a very dangerous state. We're going to have to operate in order to relieve the pressure."

"Is she strong enough for surgery?" Jean asked. "Shouldn't we give her some time to build up her strength?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have that time. We've got her stabilized; she should be all right. But if we don't alleviate the pressure soon, she'll die."

Slowly, Sean nodded. "We understand. Do whatever ye have to to save her life, Doctor."

"I'm going to go scrub for surgery now. If you could go to the nurse's station, there will be some papers to sign," Dr. Knight told him.

"I'll be right there," Sean said. He looked at Jean, who was extremely pale. Her bottom lip quivered and she had tears in her eyes. "It's not your fault, Jean. Dr. Knight already told us this was a possible complication. You were only trying to help."

Jean nodded but could not stop the tears that streamed down her cheeks. Sean quickly drew her into his warm embrace. "It's all right, Jean," he whispered, gently stroking her head.

"I can't lose her, Sean. I can't! She means too much to me. . . ."

"I know ye're worried. I know. But she's going to make it. She will."

"I wish Logan were here. . . ."

"Aye, me, too. Hearing his voice would help Jubilee, I'm sure. But, until he returns, we'll just have to be enough. Now, come, dry your eyes and walk with me to the nurse's station. Chin up, now. We must be strong for her."

Together, they walked to the station and the nurse got the forms for Sean to sign. While he was filling them out, the phone rang.

"Mr. Cassidy?" a nurse asked him.

"Yes?"

"There's a young woman-- Paige-- calling for you," she said, handing him the phone.

"Thank ye," Sean said, picking up the receiver. He looked at Jean, who nodded ever-so-slightly, indicting that she would mask his conversation from the ears of the nurses and other people in the hospital. "Paige? Is everything all right, lass?"

"Fine, Mr. Cassidy. I'm calling to let you know that a man just phoned the school asking for you. A Mr. Tyson."

"That'd be me ole Interpol buddy, the one who's lookin' f'r Emma. What'd he say?"

"Not good news, I'm afraid. He said that Ms. Frost's chateau had been blown to kingdom come. They found the remains of several bodies-- her servants. But there wasn't any sign of her."

"Lord have mercy!" Sean exclaimed.

"He said that he'd keep looking for her, but not to get your hopes up. Do you think we should go check it out, sir?"

"Normally, I'd say yes, but under the circumstances, I don't think a trip to France is an option. They're about to bring Jubilee in for more surgery, and I can't leave her now."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. "We could go without you, sir," she said finally.

"No! That is out of the question! We have reason to believe that Shaw and Tessa may be involved in Emma's disappearance. After what they did to Everett and Jubilee, I'm not putting anyone else at risk, especially not without me there."

"But Ms. Frost may need hel--"

"Emma's a big girl. She can take care of herself. None of you are to get involved in this. Do I make myself clear, Paige?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Good."

There was another pause, then, "When is her surgery?"

"They should be bringing her in in the next half hour or so."

"Would it be all right if Monet and I came down and waited with you there?"

Sean smiled. "That would be nice, Paige. Jean and I would appreciate the company."

"Can we bring anything?"

"Some decent coffee would be great."

"No problem, sir. We'll see you shortly."

"Good-bye." Sean handed the phone back to the nurse, thanking her.

Bad news? Jean asked him.

Emma has disappeared without a trace, and her house was blown up.

Shaw seems out for blood.

Aye. That's what worries me. I just hope Emma can handle him by herself.

She's a formidable telepath, and much more powerful than Tessa. She should be all right.

I hope so. I won't rest easy until she's home, safe and sound. Now, come, lass, let's go sit down. I think we've got another long night ahead of us.

End of Chapter 5
Jennifer Sorowitz '98