If Eli expected Shannon to be drawn in by his offhand nature, he had another thing coming. Shannon paused, brow furrowed and head tilted, before he pulled Eli in close around the waist and placed his chin on Eli's shoulder. His comment had been meant as a commiserating joke but that answer was no joke at all. "Was she okay?" he asked. This was something he needed to know, not for the sake of the girl but to better understand Eli and the aftermath of such an experience.

There was nothing he could do to change that past, but sometimes Shannon forgot that all of his friends with the amazing and impossible powers didn't start out with enough control to live normal lives. Most, if not all, needed to figure them out through dangerous trial and error, and that was an experience Shannon would never get to understand. That Eli had come to terms with it was good, but Shannon still needed to have more information to work through the new tidbit.