She hadn't been trying to mask her thoughts. She didn't seem at all affected by the fact that there was another person who knew exactly what was going on in her mind.
Not that very much was going through her mind. All her attentions were focused on budging Stella now. She had long ago given up the hopes of pushing her out. Stella sighed as she closed her eyes. This was going to take a lot of effort.
She withdrew herself from Penelope's mind. "Hey!!" Penelope started to complain, but Stella lifted one finger to silence her and continued to concentrate with all her mind.
Penelope's interest was piqued, what was this girl doing? What could possibly take a mind such as hers so much concentration?
As she watched with interest, Penelope slowly found herself entering Stella's mind. She was surprised. How was this happening? It was like someone had just opened a heavily chained and barred door.
Not only Penelope, even Simon went into Stella's mind. Both of them saw how Stella had slowly discovered her powers, how scared she had been wondering what it all meant, and how ardently she wished she knew where these powers came from. She started to show something else, but both Penelope and Simon were suddenly thrown out of Stella's mind with such force that it knocked Simon out of breath and off his feet.
Penelope blinked and shook her head as Simon rubbed his bottom. They both looked at Stella, and were really surprised to see her all drenched in sweat and panting.
"You seem . . . . . tired . . . . . " Penelope said, and Stella almost jumped in joy upon the lack of hostility in her voice. She smiled, "Yeah. Letting someone in, it takes a lot of effort." Penelope nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose it would. Especially for you. I've never tried it though." she replied.
"Okay, I'm guessing you showed me your mind to make me trust you. What do you want from me?" Penelope spoke, when Stella didn't say anything and continued to stare at her. Stella took a deep breathe and opened her mouth.
A few minutes later . . . .
Simon sat deep in thought, his back resting against a wall, staring at Stella and Penelope who were a few feet away from him, holding hands. Both of them had their eyes closed and looked to be in some kind of a trance.
Both of their movements were completely in sync as they moved. It was hard to tell who was moving first, even if Simon tried to use whatever manipulation he could do.
He had been thinking about all Stella had shown them today. And he realized that he actually had no idea that Stella felt that way. He and the others always knew what Stella was doing, but they had no idea what she was really thinking or feeling. She was just too good at hiding it behind a childish exterior.
Simon snapped out of his thoughts as Penelope and Stella both suddenly straightened up. They dropped each other's hands and opened their eyes, turning to look towards the entrance to the attic. Their movements were still so much in sync that it creeped Simon out a little.
He also turned to look, wondering what was happening. And he heard it the next second, smelled it the second after that, and saw June's head pop in at the third second.