So yeah, thanks to Natty for being so nice about my short chapter that needed fleshed out a little more. Wouldn't be surprised if the reaction was really something along the lines of, "WTF, that's it?"
And thank you to TallulahBelle for linking to this story on The Fictionator's Trending Topic a few weeks ago.
Oh, and I posted the one shot I did for Fics for Nashville, so if you're in the mood for a short, fluffy, hockey-themed story, check my profile for the link.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 9
"I think I'm ready to try to figure out how this whole blocking/shield thing works."
The roommates had come to an unspoken truce after their mass blowout. While things had been awkward for the first few days, the fight managed to tear down walls that had been built. For the first time since her arrival, Bella started to feel like an equal member of the group.
After days of everybody walking on eggshells, and weeks of falling into a routine, Bella finally felt comfortable saying exactly what she needed or expected without hesitation.
Jasper was caught off-guard by Bella's announcement, and admittedly Bella knew that her request did seem to come from nowhere. She had simply walked into the room, saw him sitting by himself, and took advantage of the opportunity to speak to him alone. This was one thing that she didn't want to attempt with an audience. No doubt it would take significantly more concentration than she'd ever had to use, and that wouldn't be possible in a room full people watching and waiting for something to happen.
"Are you sure you're ready for that?" he asked. His words were slow and wary, indicating that he doubted her confidence. She didn't blame him after her initial frustration over several failed attempts during a training session he had set up a few days prior.
Bella had been surprised to see the large pieces of wood and metal standing in the back yard. She had forgotten about them since that first visit to the workshop the day that she moved in. It was a simple enough concept, and initially it didn't bother her to have every roommate standing around as they tested her power against various materials and thicknesses.
The first few rounds had been a breeze. The wood was thin enough that Bella had been able to project enough force to split the sheets in half. Similarly, the metal wasn't so solid that it could hold up against her and it buckled with minimal effort. But her confidence quickly eroded as the pieces grew more impenetrable. Suddenly, the audience was no longer as welcome as they once were now that Bella was struggling with the task before her. She had grown accustomed to finding some amount of success in every test that they had presented her with, but this time she had both literally and figuratively hit a wall.
Once the wood and metal reached more than a couple of inches in depth, she found herself unable to move them. No matter how much concentration she put forth, no matter how much effort and exertion she used, nothing budged. Though she rarely needed to use her hands in combination with her ability, the physical action did tend to amplify her power. But even that hadn't provided any advantage this time.
The others had tried to help, offering suggestions such as attacking from a different angle or focusing closer to the edges rather than the center but nothing worked, and the ideas they threw at her had begun to feel more like critiques. She had never handled failure well, and failure in front of an audience was intolerable.
She had increased her efforts to the point of breaking a sweat even though her actual physical exertion was minimal. She growled from the struggle, and tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as her attempts became sloppy.
"Just relax then give one solid push in the middle," Emmett instructed. "Burst right through the damn thing."
"I'm not the fucking Kool-Aid Man, Emmett."
Silence surrounded her for a long, tense moment before Rosalie snorted a laugh. At first Bella felt slightly affronted. After all, she and Rosalie weren't exactly on the best of terms yet. Civil? Yes. Friendly? Eh, not quite. But as everyone else joined in and the laughter built to a roar, Bella thought over her words. She didn't know if it was the rare expletive or the pop culture reference—perhaps it was the combination of the two—but she couldn't deny the humor in her outburst.
The levity of the situation was welcome, and after a few more attempts they quickly took note of which pieces gave her trouble and which ones stalled her progress entirely. By the time they headed back to the house, Bella felt much better about the situation. She wasn't failing; she was simply finding her limits. They didn't expect her to succeed every time. It was that realization that gave her the confidence she needed to now stand in front of Jasper and ask him to help her find the boundaries on her shield.
"You're sure you want to do this?"
Jasper waited, giving Bella the chance to delay for a little while longer but she was adamant. "I want to try. I don't know if it'll work, but I want to give it a shot."
Her proud grin matched Jasper's as he turned off the television and set the remote to the side.
"Okay, let's see if we can figure this out. What does it feel like—really feel like—when someone tries to get through? I know you said you feel pressure, that it's uncomfortable."
Bella nodded. "Yeah, it feels like someone is pushing against me. Or maybe… not really against me but against some sort of barrier…" she trailed off as she waved a hand up and down a few inches in front of her body.
"So it's like a wall that gets pushed back against you? The person's power never really gets through?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, and watched Jasper turn contemplative. Suddenly nervous about sharing her theory, she stammered her way through what she'd been considering for a while. "I was thinking that… maybe if I, like, visualized an actual wall? Maybe I could also envision moving it or lowering it or… something."
The longer Jasper went without answering, the more anxious she grew. She fidgeted, wringing her hands, biting her lip, and crossing and uncrossing her legs until he finally nodded. "I think you might be on to something."
Bella breathed a sigh of relief and Jasper turned all of his attention to her. "Okay, I'm going to try something and when you feel it, try to visualize that wall. We'll know if it's working if you feel your emotions shift for no reason."
"Okay," Bella said with a distracted nod as she tried to clear her mind of everything but the task at hand.
Seconds later she felt a small amount of pressure, and closed her eyes to block everything else out but the feel of her shield being prodded by an invisible force. She tried to imagine the wall, and though her mind's eye had some degree of success, she was unable to get past the annoyance of the intrusion to visualize how to lower that wall.
She opened her eyes and huffed in irritation causing Jasper to laugh.
"Don't work yourself up over it. This is some really advanced stuff. It's going to take a while if it even works at all."
Feeling slightly placated by his words, Bella took a moment to shake off her frustration before motioning for Jasper to try again. "Okay, I'm ready."
"You sure?" he asked, chuckling at how serious Bella was as she prepared. Before she could respond, she felt another wave attack her shield.
They continued in this manner for the next hour until they heard a car pulling up outside. Bella tensed, not ready to stop, but also not wanting anybody else to know what she was doing.
"What do you want to do? We can keep trying even if the others are here. They don't have to know." Jasper thought for a moment then amended his statement. "Well, Alice probably already knows. But as far as everyone else is concerned, if you look like you're concentrating on something menial, they won't have a clue."
"Won't Edward know what you're trying to do?" Her tone was wary and disbelieving. After all, he was the one most curious about how she was able to block him at all times. He'd certainly be interested the moment he picked up what was happening in Jasper's thoughts.
"He's actually pretty good about giving us all some privacy," Jasper assured her. "Just because he can hear doesn't mean he always listens. If we're all just doing our own things, he tries to ignore the 'noise' we make. Plus, I'm pretty good at keeping him out. As long as I keep my thoughts trained on what I'm doing and not why I'm doing it, he shouldn't think anything of it. I'm sure he tries it all the time, right?"
Bella rolled her eyes and nodded thinking about how often Edward seemed to test her. Nearly every time she was in his presence, she'd feel the pressure from his random attempts. Jasper laughed loudly at her nonverbal confirmation. "Yeah, so he can't exactly say anything to me if he's doing the same damn thing."
For days Bella and Jasper found themselves managing to stay under everybody's radar—minus Alice, who had seen the decision but was still impatiently waiting on the outcome—whenever they had a free, quiet moment. The most difficult part for Bella was hiding her frustration in front of others when she was supposed to be studying or simply killing time watching TV.
It was during one of those stretches of time in front of the television that they had their first breakthrough. The entire group had gathered for a quiet evening to watch mindless comedies over pizza but Bella paid no attention to the images on screen, only laughing along with the others to disguise what she was really doing.
Her concentration had improved since she and Jasper had begun this experiment and she felt that she was close; she just didn't realize how close. The first hint that something had happened was a small sniffle she couldn't hold back, and initially nobody noticed. They were too distracted by a particularly funny scene, and their laughs easily drowned out the sound. But Bella and Jasper knew in an instant what had happened and stared at each other wide-eyed.
It worked? That was the only thought running through Bella's mind, repeating itself, and the new 'voice' in the room drew Edward's attention away from the movie at once. His head snapped up and Bella was flooded with self-consciousness. She struggled a little more to maintain her lowered shield and began to sob loudly, finally gaining the attention of the entire room.
"What the hell, Jasper? You made her cry?" Alice said, causing Bella to laugh through her tears.
"Fine, I'll try something else." Moments later Bella felt herself getting drowsy as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
Bella yawned and saw Edward holding his hand in the air to tell Jasper to stop. "Wait, not that. Don't make her fall asleep now. How is she doing this? How are you doing this?"
Through the fog she could hear the pleading, wonder, and curiosity in his voice. As before, without warning, her emotions shifted again and uncontrollable laughter took over. It was the oddest feeling; rather than the pressure she'd become somewhat accustomed to, her emotions were manipulated with ease but her logical mind knew that something was off. She almost felt manic and if she didn't know that Jasper was influencing her, she'd have been certain that she was.
"Somebody want to tell us what in the hell is going on?" Emmett asked in frustration.
Shaking his head slowly in disbelief and not taking his eyes from Bella, it was Edward who answered. "She isn't blocking. Jasper's doing this."
"Can you hear her?" Alice asked and he nodded.
Needing confirmation, Rosalie piped up. "So then what's she thinking?"
"Right now just how ridiculous she feels with everyone watching her."
Bella could tell when Jasper finally backed off because the hysterical edge to her laughter subsided until she was left with her own. The entire situation was so peculiar that she couldn't help but find the humor in it.
"Can you still hear?" Jasper asked, wanting to confirm that dropping her shield was something Bella could keep up for extended periods of time. He had no way of knowing unless he was trying to manipulate her emotions, whereas Edward didn't need to make an effort; he simply had to hear her to know.
A slow nod was the only answer Edward was willing to give, too afraid that any sound or disruption would end this new phenomenon. Emmett didn't have the same reservations, and let loose a celebratory whoop that startled Bella and put an immediate end to her concentration.
Though she was unable to accommodate a repeat performance that night, she found that in quieter moments she was able to find better control. Edward was even more relentless than usual, trying to catch snippets of her thoughts and though she'd never admit it to him, he was actually helping her learn to control her shield as if she was flipping a switch. When she'd feel the obnoxious prod of his mind trying to work past her block, she'd lower it long enough to admonish him with a quick "knock it off" before keeping him out again. Each time he'd throw his head back in laughter and keep right at it as if he was playing a game.
She tried to be annoyed, but admittedly even she found this new trick kind of fun.
Even more fun than that, though, was making Emmett join her in the library on campus while researching for class. In addition to always finding a way to make her laugh—usually over the strangest things—he was quite handy to have around when trying to track down obscure bits of information hiding in one of the thousands of books that surrounded them.
"Come on, just this last one," she pled.
Emmett ignored her, continuing to scribble notes and fill in details on a sketch as if he hadn't heard her. She craned her neck to see the paper better but the image didn't make any sense to her. "So what is that supposed to be?" she asked, abandoning her request for help.
He erased a small section and swept the debris from the page. "Not sure yet."
When he looked up at her, finally acknowledging her presence, she jumped right back into begging. "Please? Just one more source to prove my argument, that's all I need. You can either let me search through random books for the next two hours, or you can just point me in the right direction and we can head home in twenty minutes. It's your call."
"Fine." A dramatic, frustrated sigh escaped Emmett's lips as he wrote not only the title of the book she needed, but also its precise location in the library on a scrap of paper.
Bella reached for the note just as a 'tsk' of disapproval sounded from behind them.
"Are you cheating, Bella?" Edward asked with amusement as she stood to go find the book she needed. Though it still didn't take much to put either of them on the defensive, lighthearted moments such as this were much more prevalent since their tentative truce in the hall.
"Nope—just using the resources available to me. Some people rely in Internet searches, I rely on the whiz kid over there."
Emmett's brow furrowed in displeasure over the nickname but Edward laughed. "So Emmett's like your Google?"
"Something like that." Bella grinned and left to search the stacks. She found what she needed in no time and returned to the table where Edward and Emmett were in deep, though mostly silent, conversation. Emmett said nothing, and the little that Edward spoke was clearly in response to Emmett's thoughts as nothing would've made sense to anybody who overheard. Their discussion tapered off as she neared and she approached cautiously, eyeing both up and trying to assess the situation.
Emmett was the first to speak but his question was directed at Edward. "How close?"
"Not even on campus," Edward answered. "It's safe to talk here."
Bella sat, pulling her chair out slowly as if afraid to make any sound, and waited as the two silently debated over which of them would fill her in.
Emmett waved his hand in a motion for Edward to begin. "Hey, you know more about this than I do right now."
Edward leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. Though there was an entire table between them, the gesture was enough to allude to the need for some amount of privacy. His voice was quieter than it had been moments before, but Bella didn't miss a single word.
"Felix isn't the only one we need to watch out for. Demetri has come out of hiding and was hanging around earlier. I couldn't figure out his intentions, none of his thoughts were specific enough for me to hear what his plans are, but he's assessing the situation, trying to get a read on things."
Bella's breathing and heart rate sped up simultaneously and she slid her hands onto her lap under the table to hide the slight trembling. "What situation? What things?" she asked, and when Edward didn't answer, she did it for him. "Me?"
He only nodded but Emmett jumped in to assuage her. "Hey, we don't know what this means yet except that there's someone else to keep tabs on. Don't worry."
"They usually have a couple people hanging around anyway, so this isn't at all unusual." Bella watched Edward for any signs that he was saying whatever it took to ease her mind, but didn't find anything to show that he was lying to her.
In an effort to distract herself, Bella flipped through the book in her hand to find the excerpt she needed to finish her research paper. After a quick trip to the copy machine and a few notes about the source, the book was returned to its shelf and all three left the library together.
"I need to swing by my apartment to pay my rent. Is it safe to detour this afternoon?" Bella asked as they walked around campus.
"Sure it's safe, but not exactly necessary. Your rent is paid," Emmett answered.
"No, my rent is only paid through the end of the month. It's due on the first."
If she hadn't been looking at Emmett she would've missed the guilty look he shot over at Edward, but she didn't miss it and stopped walking. It took a few steps, but both Emmett and Edward stopped as well and turned around to face what Bella was sure was an irritated scowl.
"Yeah, about that… " Edward trailed off and scratched at the back of his head, a nervous habit that made Bella even more suspicious. "Your rent is paid through the remainder of your lease."
"What—who—how?" Bella spluttered, unable to settle on one question.
"Relax," Emmett said. "We covered it."
"But that's"—Bella paused to do the mental math—"thousands of dollars. How am I supposed to—"
Emmett held his hand up to stop her. "Not to sound like an arrogant asshole, but you've seen how we live. We have money, quite a bit of it, and covering your rent was nothing. Not even a day's earnings."
Bella was stunned into silence, unable to form any kind of a response, not even the incoherent ones she'd been stammering the past few minutes. She didn't even put up a fight when Emmett and Edward led her away from the main footpath so that they could speak in relative privacy. Emmett reached into his bag and pulled out the notebook he'd been scribbling in all afternoon and handed it to her.
She flipped through it and although little of its contents made any sense to her, there were diagrams on some pages and what looked like computer codes on others.
"This is how we make our money," Emmett said in a low voice. "We own a shit ton of patents. We don't work… at least not regular jobs."
"You don't work," she repeated in disbelief, absorbing Emmett's revelation as she continued to flip through the notebook.
"See, this shit pops into my head and Edward picks up on most, if not all of it, and helps me figure out the plans." At that, Bella noticed there were two distinct sets of handwriting on nearly every page where the two had collaborated.
"Then Alice lets us know which ideas are worth pursuing, which ones will be successful," Edward said. "Not to mention all of the investments she points us toward."
Bella looked up but didn't say anything, too overwhelmed by the casual tone of the conversation. While they were surrounded by people their age whose biggest hopes were to get an entry level job for a decent company, here she was in the middle of a group pulling in what she assumed to be millions from ideas gifted to them by their powers. Though she was growing more comfortable living in this new world, it was moments like this that reminded her just how far out of the norm they existed.
"So really, it's easy money. You shouldn't feel guilty about us paying your rent after the total upheaval of your life that we caused."
Perhaps she shouldn't have felt bad but she did, so as she started to walk away she mumbled, "I'm paying you back."
Emmett's laugh drew the attention of a few students causing Bella to blush. He sidled up next to her and threw his arm over her shoulder. "Forget about it. Just give me time and I'll have a few of these patents in your name, too."
Her head swung around so fast that she felt a crick in her neck and cringed at the sting. Emmett just shrugged. "We have to mix them up a bit. We use all of our names and a few company names that our attorney has set up… Speaking of which"— Emmett turned his head to look back at Edward —"I need to go sign a few things, so since you're here can she ride home with you and I'll just swing by and take care of it now?"
Bella paid no attention as Emmett and Edward discussed whatever the hell they were talking about. Instead, she was running numbers in her mind and the moment she was in Edward's car, she dug her checkbook out of her purse.
"What are you doing?" Edward asked before he had even closed the door.
She didn't look up at him, and instead focused on writing out the check as he started the car and pulled out onto the street. "I have enough in my account to pay for the rest of this year. When I get my financial aid check in January I'll pay back the rest of it."
"Damn it, Bella. Will you just give it a rest about the money?"
She ripped the check out and stuffed the book back into her purse. "No, I won't 'just give it a rest.' Congratulations for being so goddamned rich that you can drop thousands without blinking an eye, but I'm not comfortable being the recipient, okay?"
Edward sighed in frustration, fuming. "It isn't about showing off how much money we have. It's not like any of us can go out and find normal jobs right now, not when we constantly have to watch over our shoulder and live in a state of flux. We found a way around having to worry about supporting ourselves while dealing with all of this other shit, so will you please just get over it?"
"Get over it," Bella mumbled to nobody and shook her head in irritation. "You don't get it, do you? Finally, finally, I was starting to feel somewhat like an equal, and here comes yet another glaring reminder of just how unequal we are. Just another indication that I don't fit in."
Edward opened his mouth to speak when his phone started ringing. Bella wasn't ready for the argument to end and was disappointed when he reached into his pocket and yelled, "What?"
Bella watched his hardened eyes turn to panic and scanned the road ahead.
"Why didn't you call him? Why are you calling me?"
The alarm in his voice frightened Bella and she tried to follow his gaze.
"When, Alice? Which intersection?"
After a few seconds, Edward tossed his phone to Bella and instructed her to take over. With shaky hands, Bella brought the phone up to her ear just as Edward pressed on the gas and began to swerve from lane to lane in an attempt to maneuver through traffic.
"Bella? Are you there?"
Alice's terrified voice did little to abate Bella's own fear. "I'm here. What's going on?"
"There's going to be an accident. Something changed and I didn't see it until it was too late and he won't pick up his phone while he's driving."
Before Alice could say more, she saw Emmett's car up ahead of them. The moment of relief quickly washed away when she noticed an SUV travelling much too fast and nearing the intersection that Emmett was about to pass through. Curses flew from Edward's lips when he realized they were too late and without thinking Bella dropped the phone and threw her hands out in front of her, focusing all of her attention and testing the limits of her mental strength against the two thousand pound chunk of metal careening toward Emmett.
At the last possible second, the speeding SUV spun in reaction to her interference. Rather than a perpendicular hit crushing the driver's side door, the two cars slammed together side by side, distributing the impact over a much larger area. Bella watched in terror as both vehicles skidded sideways through the intersection and up onto a curb.
Every car in the vicinity came to a screeching halt as they watched the accident unfold. Bella scrambled to open the door, but found herself being pulled backwards by Edward's hand on her wrist.
"Stay in the car," he ordered.
She was taken aback by his tone of voice, and didn't move until he was already out and starting to jog toward the wreckage. He turned his head when she slammed the door behind her and ran to catch up. "Damn it, Bella. Do you ever listen?"
"I'm not going to sit there and do nothing."
He stopped running long enough for her to catch up before quietly demanding, "Do not go anywhere near the other car or the driver. I mean it, keep your distance. Stay on the other side of Emmett's car."
This time Bella did as she was told, and when Edward ran through the small space between the two vehicles to the driver's side to check on Emmett, Bella ran to the passenger side and opened the mostly undamaged door and peeked in to see how she could help.
"Hey, man. Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Edward asked as he tried to assess his friend's condition.
Emmett took a few seconds to consider how he felt before answering. "I—I think I'm all right. Just a little sore, a little shaken up."
Though it was hard to tell, it appeared to Bella that Emmett was more stunned than anything. It was no wonder considering how quickly everything had happened. He moved around in his seat, seeming confused and lacking coordination, so she reached over to unbuckle his seatbelt for him.
"Maybe you shouldn't move until the paramedics get here," she said.
"She's right," Edward added. "Why don't you stay put for now?"
Emmett shook his head and groaned. "I just want out. Let me get out."
Not caring that Edward was in his way, Emmett started to climb out of the car forcing Edward to back up. Bella mirrored him, and when she was out of the car she noticed all of the people standing in the street outside of their vehicles. Remembering Edward's warning, her curiosity drew her attention to the SUV.
She couldn't see anything through the darkened windows which only added to her fear over who was lurking inside. At the sound of the driver's side door opening, she began shaking. She could hear the shuffle of feet on pavement as the driver started to walk around the vehicle. His eyes found hers the moment he came into view, and his mouth turned up into a malevolent grin. He was bleeding from a small cut on his forehead, but for the most part seemed unaffected by the accident.
He took two more steps toward Bella before her line of sight was interrupted by Edward darting over and launching himself at the man. Emmett attempted to move as if he wanted to join the fight, but lost his balance and leaned against his car once more. Bella watched in horror as punches were traded until they were both knocked to the ground and she could no longer see what was happening. She was frozen in place, waging an inner battle over whether to stay away as she'd been instructed, or attempt put a stop to things. Before she could move, two men who had pulled their cars over ran and pulled Edward and the driver of the SUV apart.
The driver managed to shake off the man who had restrained him and before anybody could react, he was back in the SUV. At the sound of the engine roaring to life, people scrambled to stop him from driving away but it was too late. Bystanders jumped out of his path, dodging the erratic motion of the vehicle and within moments he was gone, leaving nothing behind but chunks of plastic, metal, and glass that had fallen off during the collision.
No longer tethered to the passenger side of the car, Bella rushed over. Edward was closer so she stopped in front of him, taking note of the bruises that were already starting to form. She reached out and ran her fingers lightly over the reddened skin above his left eye and he flinched. She cringed in sympathy and jerked her hand away but he caught her by the wrist in a gentle grasp, not releasing it as he brought their hands down to his side. The way he watched her made Bella feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. His eyes, soft and pensive, seemed to be studying every inch of her face and she ducked her head, feeling shy from the attention, before asking, "Are you okay?"
"Fine, how's Emmett doing?" His voice was quiet and subdued and she knew that he was trying to deflect attention from himself, so she didn't push. She shivered when he finally let go of her wrist and his hand feathered against hers.
They both looked over to see that an EMT was looking at Emmett, asking him a barrage of questions about the accident, where he was hurt, and if he had hit anything. He already seemed to be significantly more stable on his feet and tried to wave off any help, but promised to swing by the hospital to get checked out.
Bella spent the next hour listening to them recall the events to the police and wait for the tow truck to arrive. She had no idea what had just transpired, and the story they told the cops gave her no real answers about what happened. The others had all arrived shortly after the police, descending upon the three in total panic until they could see for themselves that the only real damage done was to the car.
Eventually, Bella sat on the curb by herself and observed everybody around her as if she was watching a movie. She had grown tired of cryptic conversation, though in this instance she understood the need for it since there were still a number of people hanging around who wouldn't understand this parallel universe she now existed in. But in that moment, she felt more disassociated than ever.
Alice was the first to join her. She didn't say anything, simply sat down next to her and laid her head on Bella's shoulder. Jasper came over moments later and, without a word, sat next Alice and propped his elbows on his knees. Bella watched as Emmett and Rosalie whispered quietly to each other on the opposite side of the street where his car had once been.
As soon as the last cop got into his car and drove off, Edward walked over and stopped in front of the three friends.
When he didn't offer any explanation, Bella spoke up. A single word was all that was necessary. "Who?"
His voice was so quiet that she almost didn't hear him. "Demetri."
She had assumed as much. There would've been no reason for the subtle changes to the story given to the police if it had truly been an accident. The entire time she had been sitting there, a single thought dominated her mind but she was still afraid to give voice to it. Instead she looked at Edward, lowered the wall, and thought, "I was supposed to be in that car."
His only response was a slight nod.
Bella closed her eyes as tight as she could, but a single tear still slipped out as an alternate possibility ran through her now guarded mind—one where she was the passenger with an incapacitated Emmett as Demetri had intended. She had been so shaken up, so paralyzed with fear as a witness to the accident; would she have been in any condition to fight Demetri if she had been in the car as he'd thought? All the training in the world wouldn't be sufficient if she wasn't in the right state of mind to act when the moment called for it.
Psychokinesis may have made her a commanding force, but something as common and ordinary as fear had the potential to wipe away every advantage her power gave her.
