"Until you let down your mental block, you'll be at the mercy of your emotions when it comes to controlling your ability."

Trevor's voice floated over Elli in his best teacher tone. She frowned, keeping her eyes closed as she tried, for what seemed like the thousandth time, to reach into her subconscious to find the 'flow' of her telekinesis. It had been almost another week of rigorous training, and Elli felt more in control of herself and at ease with the other N.N.s. She and Star had become fast friends, and Elli was slowly warming up to Magenta but found herself gravitating more towards hanging out with Star, Domina or Hailey in her spare time.

Her training wasn't perfect; however, she'd caused another disaster in group practice when anxiety had gotten the best of her, and Sam seemed to be growing frustrated with her lack of progress in physical training. He'd ambushed her more times than she could count, and she'd only blocked one sneak attack by accident. She was getting better at self-defense with Wolf, at least.

"Clear your mind." Trevor gently admonished.

"Sorry," Eli mumbled. "It's getting harder to focus."

"I know we've been at this a little while, and you've had a long day, but I promise it'll be worth it." he encouraged.

With a frustrated sigh, Elli stretched her back and settled back into her mantra Trevor had taught her. Whenever she would be allowed to stand up again, it was going to suck. The mantra sounded like a cheesy line from an old Kung Fu movie, but it did seem to help her relax. Trevor had doubled her meta-training schedule, but it had mostly revolved around meditation techniques to help her gain access to her gift. She trusted Trevor's judgment, even if she'd rather be exercising her gift than meditating.

She followed the mental image of a river for the umpteenth time, trying to locate some tiny spot in her brain that needed to be brought down to increase her ability. It was a confusing concept that had only actually made sense when Trevor explained it at the beginning of the lesson, but Elli was still hunting for the 'mental block.' She wished Trevor could just dive into her mind and do it for her. She was so sore from the beating she'd taken earlier in the day and tired from two full days of training.

"Concentrate, Elli. Are you following the river?" Trevor's voice sounded far away.

'Yea, yea. I see the stupid river.'

Frustrated and bored, Elli dipped a metaphorical finger into the flowing river and was surprised to feel a twinge run up her arm. She attempted it a second time with the same effect and grew aware of something below the surface of the figurative river. It was a low hum, a unique vibration that filled her hands with pins and needles as she reached for it. She instinctively knew this was the part of her she'd been looking for. Something slid across her brain, like the sensation of removing a veil, and her eyes snapped open with panic.

Small dots danced across her vision as her pupils refocused after being shielded from light for so long, and she caught Trevor's concerned gaze. She glanced down at her fingers. Everything looked the same, but something felt different. The low hum rang in her ears, a strange yet welcome sound. Then, she glanced up around the room and her jaw unhinged at the sight of everything but her and Trevor lazily spinning in the air.

"I think I did it." Elli gasped.

Trevor smiled so wide it highlighted the laugh crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"Yes, you did, Elli." He checked his watch. "In less than two hours."

She smiled, pride bubbling in her chest. She did it.

"Okay... now, how do I turn it off?" Elli frowned.

"It's not like flipping a switch." Trevor laughed. "Without the mental block, your ability will flow all the time freely, so now comes the tricky part. Like any new skill, you just need to practice using it and more importantly, non-use."

Elli blinked in surprise. "So now, I'm just going to be a walking poltergeist until I learn not to be?"

Trevor cupped Elli's chin. "To control your gift, so you don't have mini-explosions of power, you need to get used to its consistency. So, yes... first you have to live with it."

She gazed into his eyes, like a boat lost in the ocean with only his voice to guide her back to shore. Before she thought about it too much, she leaned forward to kiss him again. He opened up to her demand and wrapped her in his arms. So far they hadn't pushed beyond a few moments alone to nurture whatever had started in the roses; they were both so busy, but Elli needed him to know she wanted more.

He broke off the kiss but held onto her.

"What was that for?" he chuckled.

She grinned, her cheeks warm. "Just a quick reminder about what you promised."

"Elli--"

"Am I interrupting?" the harsh barking voice made her blood run cold. The floating objects in the room all crashed to the floor. Elli winced at the ruckus.

"Sam." the warmth of Trevor's arms left her shoulders, and Elli felt oddly exposed under Samuel's dagger glare from the doorway.

She mustered the courage to look at him, feeling like a schoolgirl caught making out in the hallway or something. Her heart sped up at the sight of him. He stood rigidly, his arms crossed and face blank. When Elli met his eyes, they were as hard and cold as steel, and as guarded as they day they'd met. Elli suppressed a shudder. He was livid.

His hard gaze turned towards Trevor, his voice strained and clipped. "Armon is back from the assignment, I thought you'd want in on the debriefing if the meta-training was over."

Trevor's smile dropped, his expression darkening at the news, and what Elli could only assume he peeked into Sam's mind to learn. She let out a quick sigh of relief and felt foolish for thinking Sam's dark mood had anything to do with her or being in Trevor's arms. He was just upset over whatever was going on with the mission that Armon had embarked on four days prior. Then, Elli felt more foolish for being so self-centered.

While everyone seemed open about themselves, Elli had begun to realize a lot was going on, outside of the primary mission of rescuing Reach, which the group kept pretty hush-hush. At first, it hadn't bothered her, as overwhelmed as she was with coming to grips with this new life, but now the secrecy was starting to annoy her. It felt like a barrier between her and the others that no one would let drop. She bit her lip to keep from blurting out something stupid, like begging Trevor to let her in on the meeting.

"I'm sorry Elli," Trevor gave her a small smile. "We'll probably need Hailey too, can you go to bed with some painkillers for tonight?"

"No problem." She nodded. "Go do the secret-save-the-world-stuff. I'll live."

Trevor nodded and stood. All of Elli's joints groaned in protest as she followed suit, and with the movement, she became painfully aware of just how many bruises would form overnight from training. No pain, no gain.

She grit her teeth and watched Trevor lay a gentle hand on Sam's shoulder, pulling them through the doorway.

She managed to inject some cheer in her voice. "Have a good night!"

Trevor turned and smiled, but Sam didn't glance back at her as they disappeared into the hallway. Elli frowned, growing worried for Armon. If they needed Hailey, what had happened? Would the pale N.N. be okay? Elli had missed them while they'd been away. Armon's sense of grace and humor always lightened Domina's mood when they were around, and Wolf was very fond of them too.

Elli chewed on her cheek unhappily as she made her way back to her room.