I know I was late getting chapters up-that's why I'm putting up more than two chapters today. ^^

I wasn't sure what my "lessons" entailed. Liz just told me that Nathanael would be taking me to a park to practice. I didn't even see him before I was in the park; it looked like we'd gone ahead in time several hours to sometime after four o'clock. The sunlight was dimming already when we appeared on the grassy hill.

"Nathanael, you could've warned me," I said as I tried to keep my balance.

"You'll have to get used to disappointment, Lela," he said mischievously. "Alright, who's ready for lesson one?" he asked, cracking his knuckles.

I rolled my eyes. "What is lesson one?"

"How does your Endow work?"

"I asked you first," I grumbled.

"No, that's the title of the lesson, silly." Nathanael started pacing, like he was going to figure out my Endow before I did.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm wondering if your Endow is like mine. You see, I can travel through time, even stop it around me, because I see time as a pond. A long, thin pond, but a pond nonetheless. You see it as a river, raging around you, pushing you mercilessly. You can't get out, but I can see everything and hop around like a frog. You're a fish, and I'm a frog."

I looked at him like he was crazy.

"I know it's silly, but try to follow me on this one. I can pick up any one fish, and, with or without their knowing, take them with me to a different place or time in the pond."

"Frogs don't have opposable thumbs. And fish are slippery," I interrupted.

"For the purposes of my lesson, I am a frog with opposable thumbs, and the fish aren't slippery. Any other disrespectful comments?" he asked. I shrugged. "Good. Now back to the lesson. I, as a frog, being able to move through time, still move at a normal pace. I still have to walk if I want to get from point A to point B. But you, my fishy little friend, can move from point A to point B in an instant, no time-stopping involved. Tell me, what brings on these 'black-outs,' as you call them?"

I thought about it. "Um… maybe extreme emotion. I think that's what it is."

He put his chin in his hand. "That's usually what causes them early on, yes," he muttered to himself.

"Is this lesson going anywhere?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Are you going to stop being so disrespectful? I mean, whatever happened to respecting your elders?" He looked comically miffed.

"Sorry," I said, stifling a giggle. He sort of reminded me of a character from a manga I used to read.

"That's better. Now, I want you to look over at that bench over there." He pointed down the hill, probably about twenty yards away, at a metal bench by a lamp that had just switched on. "Concentrate on it. Try not to overshoot; we're looking for a small jump, here. Do you think you can do it?"

I chewed on my bottom lip and looked concernedly at my instructor. "I don't know."

"Lela, faith is the first step," he said, a finger in the air.

I almost laughed again at the chibi image in my head, but stopped myself. "Alright," I said, uncrossing my arms. "I'll try."

I looked closely at the bench before closing my eyes and concentrating on the spot right in front of it. I took a deep breath, concentrated, and felt the world rush by me. I opened my eyes and found myself twenty yards on the other side of the bench, standing in what I could only describe as crap.

"You overshot it!" Nathanael called from the top of the hill. Then he was right beside me. "You psyched yourself out!"

"Ow! That was my ear!" I said, clutching the side of my head.

He sighed. "I guess that's the end of lesson one," he said. After we washed the dog crap off my shoe, he took me home.

We were back at the bookstore in an instant. I saw Alex sitting on the couch, and Elizabeth in her chair. Before Nathanael could tell them what had happened, I gave a weak wave and ran up the stairs.

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