Day Two - Monday

I grinned at Olaf. He grinned back, holding his mop at the ready. I didn't know how we had ended up doing the cleaning, but we were making more of a mess than cleaning up.

It was all Olaf's fault, and I was going to stick to that story like glue, never mind the fact that I was supposed to be the responsible adult. I'd been cleaning when he had challenged me to a mop duel. "En garde," I had replied. After explaining what that meant, I'd charged at him with the mop.

"Ready?" he asked.

"To win, yes," I answered, putting my phone back in my pocket. He whooped and ran at me, waving the mop. I ducked and backed away, the infectious joy from Olaf making my grin even wider. I waved my own mop at him and lunged forwards. He yelped and ran back. "You'll never win!" he shouted. I grinned, stepped forwards, and...

Oh hell, I thought, as my foot slid out from underneath me. I hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out of me. I lay there for a minute, blinking at the ceiling. Olaf leant over me, worried. "Are you okay?" he whispered. I nodded, grabbing my phone.

"Okay? When am I ever not okay?" He grinned.

"Good!" He laughed and tapped me on the chest with his mop. "I win!" he exclaimed in delight. I raised my eyebrows.

"Help me up, then."

I grinned at him again, helpless to stop. It could be really hard sometimes, feeling what everyone else feels. I couldn't go to a hospital or an old people's home and sometimes just walking down the street could really take it out of me, especially if it was a dreary day or something terrible had happened on the news. Grief is one of the worst feelings, next to betrayal, fear and guilt. I think the worst part was that I couldn't do anything. Of course, I could ease a child's fear or lessen hatred, and it wouldn't affect me all that much, but again there's that issue of privacy.

And it means less if you tamper with emotions. Like grief. You can't just erase someone's grief, because then it's as though they don't care that that person has died, and they do. I can't just stop someone from feeling guilty, because we feel guilt for a reason. If we didn't feel guilty then there wouldn't be anything to stop us from hurting others. So I just have to bear it.

Love is the worst. How someone cares so deeply for another, it makes my heart ache for them. Mostly it's because the other person doesn't love them back or the other person's love isn't as strong, but if it is true love, and if they do care so much, then...well no one lives forever...

That's why I liked Olaf so much. To him everything was just wonderful and I couldn't help grinning at the feelings pouring out of him. Add to that Anna's bubbly personality, and you'd need a heart of ice to feel unhappy around there.

"Come on," I 'said' to Olaf. "We'd better actually get some cleaning done." He nodded.

"Yeah. Kristoff will be pretty upset if we leave it like this." I glanced around. Only a few chairs were knocked over. I started to straighten them, leaving Olaf in charge of the mops. He started humming to himself. "Ice has a magic, can't be controlled, stronger than one! Stronger than ten! Stronger than a hundred – Elsa!"

I jumped. Elsa? Then I saw her standing in the doorway and smiled sheepishly. She glanced around the room, trying to stop the uneasiness she felt. The corners of her lips twitched up when she saw the mess, amusement sparking in her mind. She looked at me, eyebrow raised. Olaf grinned. "We had a mop fight, Elsa!" he announced. I pulled out my phone.

"It was totally his fault." Olaf nodded proudly.

"It was my idea," he agreed. That time she smiled properly.

"I wouldn't be so sure," another voice said. "He manages to get into enough trouble on his own." I looked up and saw Jon standing behind Elsa. "Thought I'd give you a lift," he explained. I nodded.

I'll just be a minute, I told him, belatedly adding a few hand actions in sign language. He nodded.

"That's cool. I'll wait."

Olaf stared at him. "How did you know what Taelor meant?" he asked. Jon grinned and bent down.

"Ah, you see, Taelor has a secret power," he said seriously. I paused in my cleaning and looked at Jon. He is not going to make a joke of my powers, is he? "He can read minds," Jon continued in a spooky voice. I sighed. Yeah, he is. Olaf gasped, awe-struck, believing every word. Elsa, however was more sceptical.

"You know sign language?" she asked. I nodded.

"Learnt it a long time ago." I could tell that she was interested, even though she was maintaining a look of distant politeness. "Of course, it's just a cover," I added, thinking that if Jon could joke about my powers then so could I.

"A cover?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah." I grinned. "A cover for my super-secret telepathic powers." She smiled, distracted by Olaf and Jon.

I took the opportunity to study her more closely, scrubbing industriously at the floor. She was amused, yes, and fond of Olaf, glad that Jon got on with him, and interested by me (I tried to ignore how glad I felt that she was noticing me), but under it all, she was uncomfortable.

Uneasy.

Almost...scared.

Not scared of me or Jon or anything tangible, but scared of people? No, scared of being with people. Of talking to them, of being in the same room as them. Scared that she'll...hurt us?

I was jolted back into reality by Jon calling out to me. "Isn't that right?" I raised my eyebrow.

Huh?

"I said, isn't it true that I made that app on your phone?" I waved the item in question.

"'Course it's true." Olaf jumped up and down.

"Can you make an app about snow?" Next to me Elsa froze.

"Snow?" Jon sounded puzzled.

"Yeah, an app to make it snow. I love snow!" Elsa was still barely breathing, fear screaming from her mind. I didn't understand, but I didn't dare ask her or look deeper into her mind.

"Sorry," Jon said. "But I can't do that. I do have an app to predict when snow will fall, though."

I glanced surreptitiously at Elsa as I cleaned. Her fear had gone down, but she was still panicking, and I knew that she wanted us out. She didn't want to be in the same room as us any longer, and before she could take action, I did.

"Okay, Jon that's about it," I 'said', yawning theatrically. He nodded. Olaf groaned.

"Do you have to go already?" he complained. Jon glanced at me.

Yes, I answered, glancing at Elsa, who was practically hyperventilating at the thought of us staying.

"Sorry," Jon said. "Tell you what, I'll come and pick Taelor up tomorrow too, okay? But right now we need to get home." Elsa snapped out of her trance.

"We need to get back as well," she said to Olaf.

"Okay..." he sighed, dragging out the word.

With Olaf pacified I said goodbye to Elsa – who was so focused on something else that she barely even noticed me – and followed Jon to the car. I waved to Olaf as we drove off, smiling as he ran beside the car for a few moments.

"Sweet kid," he said. I waited. "And that Elsa's a real beauty too, isn't she?" I sighed.

Spit it out, I told him. He glanced at me, eyebrows raised. Something has been bothering you. He sighed.

"Elsa," he said finally. "That's what's been bothering me. What exactly happened back there?" I ran a hand through my hair.

I don't know, I admitted. We were talking fine – I even made a joke – but then she just froze. She just wanted us out of there, just gone. She was suddenly panicking and I couldn't tell what about.

"Why not?" Jon asked. I sighed in frustration.

Her head was screaming, Jon. I could barely listen to it, let alone dig deeper to find the cause.

Jon drove silently for a minute. "I want you to stay away from her," he said abruptly.

What? I stared at him. He glanced at me briefly, trying to give me a stern look while driving.

"I'm serious," he said. "I don't know what it is, but she's bad news, Tae. I know you like her – "

I do not! I protested.

"But please just stay away," Jon continued, like I hadn't even spoken. "Something scared her back there, and I don't know what it was. I don't want to know what could terrify her like that. If just being around us scares her, then something is very wrong, either with her, or with us. I don't want to risk her finding out about you." I stared at him.

You think that's what it was? I asked finally.

"You don't?" I was silent for a moment.

No, I don't. Jon tried to interrupt, but I just carried on. No, listen to me! When you were talking about mindreading she thought it was a load of rubbish. She can't know.

"She could be hiding it from you," Jon argued.

She couldn't. You can't fake what you think. She is hiding something – I agree with you there – something that affects her every day, but something so integral to who she is that she doesn't even think about it –

"You seem to be spending a lot of time in her thoughts," Jon said, glancing at me sideways. I scowled, trying not to break something in frustration.

She's hurt, Jon! I can't just not do anything! It's part of who I am, it's the whole reason that I don't hate this flipping 'gift' of mine – that I can help people, that I can fix what goes wrong in their minds! She's hurt and she's scared and it's affecting everyone she knows, and you can't just ask me to not do anything about it! Jon winced, but said nothing. I glared at him and then turned and stared out of the window for the rest of the journey.

When we parked, I got out quickly and slammed the door. "Taelor!" Jon called. I waited, not turning around. He ran up behind me. "Please, Taelor, I just don't want you getting hurt," he begged. I didn't move. "Is it so hard to just leave her alone? Please, just forget about her. We can find you another job." I turned to look at him then.

His mind was screaming at me, telling me he just wanted to keep me safe, and to please just forget about this Elsa, to just stay safe and not get hurt. Jon had always known how to use my talent against me. "Just don't interfere, for once."

I help, not interfere, and I can't not do it. Not ever. Not even for you.

I turned and opened the door, climbing the stairs to my apartment. Jon didn't move. He just stood there in the gathering darkness, watching me silently.