“Oi freak, pass the butter?”

I clenched my teeth and pushed the pot of butter across the table, trying not to think about how much I wanted to punch that jack-ass Craig's face in. Instead, I thought about the fact that no matter how much butter we put on these jacket potatoes, they'd still be as dry as the Sahara. God this one was a dump. I'd been in thirteen different care homes, and this was close to the worst. Unlucky number thirteen. I didn't ever seem to have much luck on my side.

“What the fuck are you staring at?”

I blinked at the face of Sapphire Evans, resident bully of Franthem House. The unspoken words were there too, for my eyes only. 'Fucking freak.' My face turned red with anger, and I looked down at my Sahara on a plate, not wanting to read her other poisonous thoughts about me.

“Are you actually going to cry now? Seriously Rainbow.”

The way she said my name with such disgust made my skin itch. I wasn't going to let her get to me, I couldn't let it happen again.

“I thought you would have had enough to cry about, growing up with a name like that.”

A few hangers on sniggered. I curled my fist.

“Not to mention your druggie mum, topped herself didn't she? Probably couldn't put up with a freaky brat like you.”

That was it. As Sapphire laughed, I stood up and slapped the smile right off her smug little face. The sound rang around the kitchen, glossed with the stunned silence of the other kids.

“You fucking bitch!”

She stood up, but before she could get her long nails up to my face I used all my weight and got her to the ground, ripping out one of her ridiculous hoop earrings on the way. Then she retaliated, grabbing a fistfull of my hair and pulling it so hard I slammed my head on the table leg, nearly knocking out my lip ring. That bitch. I heard all the kids jeering, egging her on, all on her side.

I lashed out with my leg, hitting her in the stomach and stunning her long enough to flip round and push myself up. She grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back down, but instead I threw her off, scraping my nails across her face in the process, and she stumbled to her feet. I saw her lip bleeding, and as our eyes locked I read her thoughts – 'She's a dead girl.' Then she came at me with all guns blazing, grabbing my wrists and slamming me against the kitchen side.

The others cheered as she twisted my wrists, glaring at me with her thin black eyes. The thoughts stung more than the pain – not that she knew. Suddenly there was a shout, and Sapphire was pushed away from me. Someone grabbed my forearm, and I looked up to see one of the social workers dragging me out of the kitchen.

She pulled me into the office and shut the door. Her name was Ashley, and she was one of the nicer ones. They do appear every now and then, even in a hole like this.

“What do you think you're playing at Rainbow?! You've only been here a few weeks, you can't afford to be making trouble for yourself.”

I let it all out.

“What's the fucking point they all hate me anyway! They called me freak from the moment I got here – I don't fit in what's the point in pretending that I do!”

Another worker, Dave, came in too.

“Sapphire says you attacked her for no reason Rainbow, care to explain yourself?”

“No reason! NO FRICKING REASON!”

I threw a folder from the desk onto the floor, imagining it was Sapphires smug little face.

“Rainbow just calm down.” That was Ashley. I felt myself losing control of my anger, worse than before, and as I looked at her, it happened again. I knew things.

“You lost your baby, and then your husband left you because you couldn't cope, and the pills don't work, and now you're trying to take it out on me!”

I reeled at what I'd just said. Where had it come from? Ashley and Dave stared at me in stunned silence. Then she totally freaked.

“What the hell! Are you a freakin stalker or something! How could you even...I'm calling the police.” and as she made a start towards me, Dave held her back and opened his mouth to say something, but I never heard what he said, because I ran. I always ran.

In thirty seconds I was out the office door, down the hall and out the front door, running running running. I didn't stop for anything, not looking as I streaked across roads with my hair whipping around in the cold November wind. I barely heard cars beep at me as I ran to my spot. My safe place. I'd been in six different homes in the city, and knew the alleyways like the back of my hand.

There are places that kids like me go. You know them. Street corners, outside superstores, the alley behind McDonalds, all the places that parents warn you about when you're little - except I was never warned. There was no one to warn me.

So you can imagine my surprise when she was standing in my favourite alley, tall and thin, and at least forty, with the expression that most people get when they smell something bad permenantly etched on her face. It wasn't this that I noticed though - it was her bright yellow eyes.

Suddenly she turned directly to me, and, to my surprise, looked relieved.

"Oh Rainbow, thank goodness it's you, I can't bear to be here much longer." She took a handkerchief out of the pocket of her fur trimmed coat (fur, round these parts? She was lucky not to have been mugged already!) and sneezed delicately into it.

"Who the hell are you?" I quickly wiped my eyes, embarassed at the tears that had streamed from them.

She winced at my cursing, poor dear. It's one of the conditions that posh people seem to have, but right now I really didn't care.

"Uuh, Avis...Jean Avis, and I've been looking for you everywhere."

This was weird. No one had ever, and I mean ever come looking for me. I had no grandparents I knew of, and no family other than my Mum. I don't even remember her clearly, just the vague outline of the scarred arms that used to hold me, and a pair of bright green eyes, exactly the same shade as mine.

"Why? Who are you? Did the social send you?” I knew they couldn't have sent someone so fast, but my mind was still doing somesaults after what had happened with Ashley.

"Oh, um, no. I'm not from the social...surely you knew I was coming? Your sixteenth birthday is only four months away."

Now I was really confused. Jean looked at the puzzled expression on my face and sighed.

"I should have anticipated this. You've been in care your whole life and don't know your parentage, I should have guessed you wouldn't know."

"Know what? Seriously what the hell is going on?"

"You must have...Rainbow, do...peculiar things happen sometimes, things you can't explain."

"I...well, yeah."

"You do know about us though, I mean you must have learnt about the anomalies in school?"

"I, don't really go to be honest." I eyed her suspiciously, but she wasn't meeting my gaze - it was like she knew.

"I'm talking about mutants, Rainbow, the genetic anomalies. Surely you must know they exist?"

"Well yeah obviously everyone does!"

She finally met my gaze, and I read her like a book.

"I'm a mutant?"

There was silence for a moment, as I realised what I'd just said.

"You possess the rare mutation in your brain that allows telepathic powers - you can read minds, can't you Rainbow."

She was staring me full in the face, her thoughts racing through her head and into mine, filling it up and giving me the uncomfortable feeling of being...crowded. I dropped my gaze and let her thoughts melt away, leaving me to my own confused ones.

"How do you know all this?" I said quietly in the vague direction of her hideous grey skirt.

"I'm a Professor, a teacher at the finishing school you're required to attend from now on, The Academy."

Everyone had heard of The Academy. I had been in the area for four years, and never met anyone with the balls to go within fifty foot of the place. There were lots of rumours about the school and about the mutant kids who attended, and none of them were good ones.

"This is crazy - I know I can read minds but I'd never really thought...mutant." I trailed off pathetically. Jean patted my shoulder in what she probably thought was a reassuring way. I shrugged her off quickly.

"I know you'll have a lot of questions Rainbow, but do you think it could wait until we get to the car? I can't endure the smell of this place any longer!" She started off in front of me.

"Wait!" I suddenly shouted. She stopped. "Why the bloody hell should I trust some crazy woman that comes up to me and tells me I'm some sort of freakazoid and then asks me to get into her car so she can cart me off to some asylum?"

I knew what she said explained so much about my life, but I'd lived on the street a lot when I ran away, sometimes for weeks at a time. A girl learns to trust no one. Jean turned around and made a big deal of sighing, with the over the top shoulder movement that all adults use to say 'You're really trying my patience Miss Arcus!'

And then she promptly turned into an Owl.

I stood in silence, blinking repeatedly at the eagle owl perched on the concrete in front of me, staring up at me with its bright yellow eyes.

"No way!" I shouted, unable to contain my shock. I blinked and Jean was standing there again, brushing herself off and looking disgusted at having touched the grimy ground beneath us.

"Is that a good enough answer for you Miss Arcus?"

I nodded in dumb silence, and followed her towards her car, towards The Academy - towards my future.