I Am Polaris

I unlocked my flat door with my key and went inside. Alex pushed past me and disappeared into the flat in front of me.

“Seriously? Do you think I wouldn’t notice if someone had been in here?”

“He’s just being cautious.” Hank said from behind me, pushing me gently through the door and closing it behind us. Sean had hung back outside in the car as per Xavier’s instructions.

“He’s just being rude more like.” Hank grinned.

“Yeah, you’ll get used to that.”

“It’s clear.” Alex called through from my bedroom. “You’re a bit of a fan nerd, huh?” I sighed. He was referring to the large amount of Doctor Who memorabilia sat on my bookshelves. Hank grinned again.

“Leave out Alex.” Hank called back. Alex appeared in the doorway of my bedroom.

“Make yourselves at home.” I said to the two of them, slightly sarcastically. Although I did actually mean it. Neither of them noticed the sarcasm and both crossed to sit on the sofa.

“You’ve got five minutes. No more.” Alex said as he sat down. I sighed, grabbed my suitcase and headed into my room to start packing.

After a few minutes I had filled my bags with my clothes and bits and pieces I thought I might need. I started to head out into the sitting room to fetch boxes to get stuff at least packed up so people wouldn’t go through it. I stopped at the doorway when I heard Alex’s dulcet tones talking about me.

“Don’t you think you ought to tell her?” I frowned and leant against the wall next to my door.

“She doesn’t want to know Alex.”

“Yeah, but he’s her Dad. She might want to go with him.” I licked my lips and swallowed. Damn it. This was something I wished I hadn’t heard.

“She doesn’t want to know. We have to respect that Alex.”

“Come on Beast. Are you saying you wouldn’t want to know? I would. At least she still has a Dad.” I was right then, Alex was an orphan. I wondered faintly whether Xavier had fetched him from care. I had luckily been saved from the horror of care when my Aunty took me in.

“Alex. If she doesn’t want to know, we don’t tell her. She specifically said she didn’t care. She has parents. Can you imagine what that would do to her? It would just ram it further in that they aren’t her family.” I heard Alex sigh deeply.

“Fine. We don’t tell her then. But I’m just saying. I would want to know. Even if he was that scumbag.” Hank laughed. “Magneto’s bad stuff. I’m surprised that it wasn’t genetic. She seems relatively normal.” I frowned. Relatively?

“She seems nice. Great even.”

“Oh good. Another girl you’ve fallen for.”

“I haven’t fallen for her Alex. But she was nice. Even when she didn’t know me. I’m blue. Not many people react that way to mutants.”

“Yeah, but she is a mutant Hank.”

“True.” I sighed. Magneto, or maybe I should think of him as Eric. Or Dad. Shiver I think Magneto’ll be fine. Oh, Mum and Dad. Damn, I had to call them. I should’ve called them yesterday. I emerged from my bedroom into the sitting room and went over to the phone.

“I have to call my parents. I hadn’t even thought about it.”

“Be quick. Magneto probably has someone watching your phone.” Alex said, not looking up at me from a magazine he had found on my table.

“Hate to be pedantic but wouldn’t he have his telepath watching my flat, it would be a lot less effort than tapping my phone.” Beast grinned.

“He probably has both. Which is why you need to be quick.” I nodded and picked up my phone. I pointed to a cupboard.

“There’s boxes and stuff in there, can you dump everything in there that I haven’t packed into bags?” Hank nodded and got the boxes from my cupboard and disappeared into my bedroom. “And be careful! Some of that stuff is worth a fortune.” I called after him while dialling the number. Alex snorted from behind his magazine.
My mum picked up. “Hey Lizzie,”

“Hello Charlotte. Had a nice day?”

“Sort of. I’ve moved in with some new people. And quit my job.” I heard the silence on the other side of the phone translated in my brain as a big What? I rubbed my eyes. “Well, it’s a sort of school. Not set up yet, but the wage is way bigger than what I was getting at Dr Steve’s.”

“What about your uni work dearest?” I shrugged, then realised she couldn’t see that.

“I dunno, they’ve got a lab so I can carry on with my practical there. The theory stuff is less important ‘cause I’ve done most of it.” I heard the kettle whistle on the other end of the phone.

“Well as long as you’re still working Lott.”

“I am Mum.” I tended to use her name and Mum interchangeably. She had never said anything about it and neither did Dad.

“Good.” She obviously put her hand over the phone as they next thing she said was muffled. “Sorry, I’m just talking to my daughter. I’ll be right with you.” I frowned.

“Is that the gas company? It better be. That leak needs fixing.”

“No darling it’s a man taking a survey about family history.” Muffled voice again. “Sorry what was your name again?”

“Lensherr Maam. Mr Lensherr.” Mum repeated it down the line after he said it. I frowned.

“Lensherr? That’s a weird name.” Alex’s head shot up across the room, looking alarmed. I frowned at him. He half-fell half-ran across the flat to my bedroom and fetched Hank. Mum was talking about Dad being at work on the other end when Hank emerged with Alex behind.

“Lensherr?” Hank asked quietly. I nodded, frowning in question at him.

“That’s Eric’s second name.” My eyes went wide. I turned away from Hank.

“Mum. Get him out of the house.”

“What? Your father?” I rolled my eyes.

“No. That man. Get him out, he’s dangerous.”

“He’s just a travelling surveyor darling. Asking about your mother. About our parents.”

“Mum. Get. Him. Out. His name is Eric Lensherr.” I swallowed. “He’s my father. My real father. He’s going to hurt you.” I heard Lizzie thinking it thorugh. “Look at his eyes Mum. They’re pale green. Just like you used to tell me when I was little. About my father. Please. If you ever listen to me about anything. Make it this. Either get him out or run.” More silence.

“Okay sweetie. Hold on a moment.” She said sweetly. The phone muffled again. “Excuse me sir. I’m just going to go into the kitchen a moment, the reception is better.” There was a few seconds silence again, then the phone was clear again. She was whispering now though. “What about your father?”

“Get him from work. Go to Florida. To the beach house. It’s under Beth’s name still isn’t it?” Beth was a friend of theirs. They shared the holiday house in Florida with Beth’s family. Lizzie replied in the affirmative. “Don’t tell him what’s going on Mum. Dad I mean. Just say you wanted an impromptu break or something. You have to go. I love you.”

“I love you too. Stay safe Charlotte.”

“You too and I’ll deal.”

“Deal.” She put the phone down. I sighed, swallowed then put it down on my end too.

I looked up at Hank. “Are they going to be okay?” he nodded slowly.

“I think they should be alright. As long as they stay away for a while. He may not have been there to hurt them.”

“Yeah, but he also could have been there to hurt them. I’m not taking the chance.”

“Touché.” Alex provided from behind Hank. “Come on. We have to leave.”

I shook my head. “No. I have to pack this stuff Alex. Anyway, he’s in Kansas.”

“His friends aren’t though.” I shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter. I have to Alex. My stuff is important. I might want it someday.”

“Yeah a bunch of Doctor Who crap is really important.”

“Not just my Doctor Who stuff, Alex. I have important research here. It needs to be safe.”

He clenched his teeth together. “Fine. Then let’s pack it away.” It took us about half an hour to pack all my stuff into boxes, then we headed back to Xavier’s mansion.