Janista looked at her watch once again and began to speak.
"Maybe she changed her mind and decided not to come," she said.
"No way, no how would Sasha miss a trip like this to the galleria. She likes to shop almost as much as I do." said Glittergirl.
"I know," said Shockwave. "and that's what worries me. Where could she be. I was expecting her back almost an hour ago."
Just then Blink's cell phone began to ring. She reached into her simple leather handbag and answered it.
"Hello......Yes....I understand.....Yes.....I'll be there.....I won't......Yes sir," Blink said as her face became a little troubled. "I'm sorry girls, it looks like Gregor's called an emergency meeting of the Black Council and I have to be there, and Tangerine, as the new headmistress, has to be there as well. We'll have to take a raincheck on the shopping."
Shae Marquette, A.K.A. Glittergirl was the first to speak up.
"Awwww man, this bites!" she said. "If Sasha would have gotten her furry butt in gear we would have already had time for me to get that new dress. She'll be sorry when I get my hands on her."
Blink spoke up suddenly and forcefully.
"Don't speak like that of your friends, Shae. You never know when you will see them again to take it back."
And with that cryptic message Tangerine and Blink left a stunned Glittergirl, Janista and Shockwave.
As the headmistress and princess turned the corner Shockwave whispered to the other girls.
"Something's going on with Puma, and we are gonna get to the bottom of it."
Meanwhile, at the White Hellfire Academy. Alex Dierling, A.K.A. Wildchild was in no kind of good mood. Who did that uppity witch think she was to deny him the right to leave the school along with Janista? Nytshade, his White Queen had placed him under what boiled down to house arrest ever since he had jokingly turned off his image inducer to scare some kids who were lurking around the school. Wildchild, although not completely animal, held many animalistic features and thus was required by Nytshade to wear his image inducer when out in public. His mind tumbled over the events of the previous day. As he had sat on the bench in front of the White Hellfire Academy a group of young men his age walked by and started speaking loudly enough where he could hear about the "rich kids school" and the "sissy boys" that attended there. "Nice ponytail" one of them had said as they walked by and looked at his jet black hair sliding down his back. As part joke, and part revenge, Wild Child had deactivated his image inducer and leaped to the fence towards the boys. His feral howl, claws and fangs were enough to send them screaming, but apparently his little display had lacked "tact and decorum", and he was thus punished for it.
Alex scrubbed his hair as he showered in the shower room of the work out facility, and then began to wash his face. As he rinsed his hair he watched the water slide down over his features in the mirror on the back of the shower. Why was he cursed with this face. I mean a lot of mutants could control their metamorphosis and pass for normal all the time. He on the other hand was cursed to look like this permanently. He had been handsome once, but it had only been a cruel twist of fate, because he now once more suffered the jibes of others for the way he looked. Although, he hid his depression under a steady stream of jokes, this young man constantly felt the stares of others as a reminder of his hideousness. Alex was well liked by all his classmates, and none of them even noticed his slightly altered appearance, but he couldnt' seem to let it go.
Suddenly his animal acute senses registered a presence in the room with him. He stared across the steamy room and saw nothing. His blue piercing eyes scanned the mist enshrouded shadows and registered no movement. His nose twitched and he sniffed for anyone near.
"Hello," he called out. "Is anyone there? Archangel....Maddog..is that you?......C'mon guys, stop fooling around. Can't a guy shower in peace?"
A silent dart flew from the steam and hit Alex in the shoulder. He immediately felt it's numbing effect. His healing factor began to work overtime to counteract the poison as he stumbled out of the shower and reached for his comm badge. Another dart hit him in the thigh. As he faded into unconcsiousness, the last thing he saw was a cloaked figure step from the darkness, and on its finger a White Hellfire Club ring.
"Why," he thought. "Why would my own people attack me?"
And as these thoughts rolled through the drugged mind of Wildchild, the figure touched a button on its gauntleted arm and they both faded into a teleportation field.
Suddenly the door to the shower facility in the gym flew open and a classmate of Wildchild's came bursting in.
"YO DUDE, Alex! We are ordering pizza....you in dude?....Dude?......WOAH..that's weird, I was almost sure I heard his howling and screachin voice singin that new Creed song."