Ferris
******

Elli picked at her peas. The hour of truth was just on the other side of dinner, and most of the group had already polished their plates.

"You done eating?" Star's sharp gaze hadn't missed that she'd been playing with her food for a few minutes.

"Yeah, not too hungry." Elli sighed.

"You're nervous about meta-training, huh?" Star gently patted her back. "Don't' be... it's just like riding a bike... if it was invisible."

Elli cracked a smile. "That doesn't make sense."

Star shrugged. "It's not something easy to explain, but once you start acknowledging your gift, it's like... you can't imagine how you were before using it."

A small ball of fire leaped up from her hand and danced across her fingertips as she spoke. Elli watched the bouncing flame in awe.

"When did you find out you could do that?"

Star shrugged. "I've had an affinity for fire for as long as I can remember."

The ball dropped to her palm, and she clenched her fist, extinguishing it. "It wasn't a problem until I hit puberty and my abilities overwhelmed my control."

Elli could sense a story behind the statement, but she didn't want to push her roommate to reveal something painful if she didn't want to. Elli frowned, trying to pick something to divert the conversation.

"0700," Sam grumbled from her other side. "C'mon String Bean, it's time to get started."

Elli swallowed the lump caught in her throat and threw a panicked glance to Trevor, who smiled encouragingly as he stood. Domina, Ferris, and Sam followed suit. As they exited the cafeteria, Elli took a moment to even out her breathing before joining them in the hallway. The group made their way down to the same room that Elli usually met up with Wolf and Sam for defense training in.

"Don't be nervous." Ferris leaned in and whispered as the other three grabbed some equipment off the walls. "You'll do great."

She nodded, her brain buzzing with her nerves.

"Oh, did you get the results from the other night? I keep forgetting to ask when I get to see you." His goofy grin that usually cheered her up wasn't having its usual effect.

She stared at him blankly. He scratched his ear, glancing away. "Oh.... uh, I thought Trevor or Sam would've passed along the info."

"They know?" Elli's heart stepped up its rhythm.

"Eh? Well, yeah, we went over it in yesterday's debrief—"

"Ferris." Samuel barked, startling the teen.

"Y-Yeah?" he snapped to attention.

"Will you set up the monitoring system so we can get started already instead of distracting her." Samuel playfully cuffed the boy's hat, knocking it into his eyes.

Ferris adjusted his hat and mumbled an apology as he skirted off, leaving Elli to confront the dark-haired wall of muscle.

"You ready, String Bean?" his voice held his amusement, but some other emotion drifted in the pools of his irises.

She cleared her throat, intent to not let what Ferris was about to say go. The fact that they knew how strong or weak her gift was and nobody had said anything was downright wrong. She deserved to know what was going on--

"Are you ready, Elli?" Trevor joined them.

".... Not really." She deflated.

"Listen, we're going to take it slow, okay. We've lined up some objects for you to concentrate on moving, just try to pull them across the floor toward you."

He indicated a range of different objects, from a pillow to a kettlebell, organized by weight from lightest to heaviest. "If you feel like you can't do it on your own, Sam and I will guide you."

Great, so she hadn't scored well after all. She felt her cheeks warm as she frowned with disappointment. All eyes in the room were on her, waiting, expecting. Her blush deepened under the scrutiny, and she tried to distract herself from it by staring intently at the pillow. She had no clue how or what she was supposed to do to get the thing to move. As the moments ticked by in awkward silence, she grew increasingly frustrated.

"C-Could you guys not watch?" she moaned, rubbing her eyes to give them a break from glaring holes into the stubbornly in-place pillow.

"Maybe you're trying too hard to concentrate on the object?" Domina softly suggested.

Elli swung her arms with an exasperated sigh. "I have no idea what I'm even trying to do!"

Samuel snorted. "Do you have to stare holes in your fingers to get them to get them to move? Just move the pillow like you would any other body part."

"Sam—" Trevor warned.

"She's overthinking it. It's not a magic spell, String Bean, just will it to move."

A bubble of fury burst in Elli's chest, and she spun to glare at Sam. "Don't tell me what to do like you're talking to a child! I don't have any clue how or what to do with my gift. I've never used it! I didn't even know I could do something like what you're asking! You can't just expect me to wave my hand and be a damn—"

As she gestured wildly at the offending pillow to prove her point, all of the objects in the line obediently launched themselves at Samuel's infuriating stoic face. Elli gasped in horror and shut her eyes as everything crashed in a crescendo. Her heart leaped into her throat. Oh God, what if he was--

"Well, way to go from 0 to 100," Samuel growled.

Elli trembled as she cracked one eye open to see Samuel's partially buried form on the floor. He glared up at her from the pile of objects, holding his left wrist. Trevor and Domina rushed over to pull the heavier objects aside as Ferris cackled mercilessly from across the room.

"Couldn't dodge everything, hmm?" a light, feminine voice called from the entrance of the room.

"Hailey." Trevor smiled at the petite brunette as she sauntered over to Samuel to check him.

He turned his attention back to Samuel. "Nothing was broken?"

Samuel's gaze didn't shift from Elli's. "No, but I'll remember to wear some armor next time she randomly decides to try to kill me."

"I-I'm so sorry!" Elli burst into tears, startling everyone.

"No—don't cry," Trevor pulled her into his arms. "We were over-ambitious."

Samuel grunted from the floor. "Let her cry. She hurled a kettlebell at my head!"

"Sam." Domina admonished. "We knew her power may be unstable. You can't blame her."

"Accountability is important, or would you prefer next time to be serious? What if Hailey's not available?"

The words felt like daggers in her bruised heart, and Elli trembled in Trevor's arms, trying to gain composure again. She peeked around him to see Hailey's warm glow encasing Sam's wrist.

"Don't worry the girl, she thinks she really hurt you." The healer clucked.

"She hurled a kettlebell at my head," Samuel repeated, a little less harshly.

"I'm sorry." Elli forced herself to look into his face, pulling away from Trevor. "I really didn't mean to, I didn't even realize--"

His eyes held that same look from earlier, and Elli realized it was something like regret swimming in the depths of the storm.

"It's okay." Samuel chewed on the words. "I was pushing too hard, I guess. I dodged the worst of it. Don't feel bad."

He waved with his uninjured hand, indicating the offending heaviest objects, embedded in the plaster of the wall behind him.

Elli stared at the weights and kettlebell with a mix of awe and horror. She felt Trevor's gaze on her back. She couldn't turn to look at him, the reality of what she could've done to Samuel, what she might be capable of doing without thinking, was sinking in.

"It's the hardest lesson," Domina gently touched her shoulder, her expression solemn. "We've all had to learn just how dangerous lack of control can be. It's a shame it's your first experience, but you need to push past it and learn to use and control your gift."

"This is real." Elli glanced down at her hands. "I can really do this."

"Yes, you can." Trevor's soft voice pulled her attention, and she stared into his gentle face, searching for more reassurance. 

"Ready to go again?"

"After what just happened?" Elli gaped.

"Especially after what just happened." Trevor nodded, a hard edge in his gaze.

"Only pillows, this time," Samuel called from the floor.

Elli shook her head. "I can't—"

"You will." Samuel stood up, dusting himself off. "I'll be your punching bag if I have to, but you need to do this, Elli."

"You need to." Trevor gently insisted as Ferris threw some pillows along the same line in front of her. "You can get over this hurdle, just keep trying."

"You're so sure I can do this." Elli felt her lip begin to tremble again and more hot tears prick at the corners of her eyes. She hated it, but she couldn't stop it. "Why?"

Trevor smiled, laying his hands on her cheeks to make her look at him. "I've seen what you can do, remember? You may not remember it, but it's still there. You just need to pull it to the top and let go. That's all you need to do, Elli. Let go."

He spun her to face the line of pillows. "Move one or as many as you can. However you want, just think and make them move."

She shot a glance to Samuel, who was regarding her with something like cautious optimism.

Samuel cleared his throat. "Just so you know, when you upgrade from pillows, I rescind my offer to be your target practice."

She smiled timidly. She didn't think he'd really forgiven her already, but she was grateful no permanent damage was done. She found solace that Hailey was also sticking around, out of the way of her target area, but present. Elli took a deep breath and shut her eyes.

She could still sense everyone watching her, but she wasn't freaked out anymore. In truth, her nerves were pretty shot, leaving a quiet numbness where anxiety had been tearing at her mind earlier. She opened her eyes and concentrated on the first pillow of the line. She couldn't rely on her gift to be random or react to an emotional response. She understood that, now. 

Everyone had tried their best to explain, to warn her, but it took seeing it to make it click. She mentally apologized toward Samuel again. She needed to be able to tap into her at will and keep it under control. First, she had to figure out how to use it consciously... to turn it on when she wanted to.

"Looks like you're finally figuring out." Samuel's light tone was way too close to her ear, and it broke her concentration. Elli glanced over, startled to find him almost leaning over her shoulder, close enough for her to catch the scent of cinnamon on his breath.

She was even more startled when her vision was overtaken by white cotton as a fluffy pillow collided with the side of her head, causing the room to erupt in laughter. She pulled the offending pillow from her face and fought the blush at Samuel's sardonic grin.

"Payback is so sweet." His smile widened, this time reaching his eyes. Elli's heart did a strange kind of somersault in her chest.

Through his chuckles, Trevor commanded. "Try again."