Penelope felt but gave no reaction to Stella entering her brain as she looked up from her meditation posture from beside Stella's bed.
Stella heard Sharp wonder if closing her eyes by Penelope was safe when she was supposed to be protecting McCarteney, but decided against saying anything since he knew she would take offence. Stella frowned as she wondered how could she hear what was going on in Sharp's mind when she was actively pushing herself out of it.
The realisation hit her like a bang as she surmised that it was Penelope who was reading Sharp's, and now her father's mind too! She really had no qualms about getting into other people's brains! Stella marvelled at the extent of her vampire powers as she heard what was now going on in the minds of all the three people in the room.
"You've gotten better Penelope! It took me almost two seconds to notice you're in my mind!" Mr. Cecil's voice was heard in the room. He was clearly talking aloud for only Sharp's benefit as Stella could sense him getting into Penelope's brain. Since both of them could read each other's minds, they could easily have had a conversation without talking.
Stella startled for a second thinking that Mr. Cecil would be able to sense another person inside Penelope's mind, but calmed down when Penelope saw in his mind that he could clearly not sense that.
Sharp, clearly feeling irritated being with two manipulators in a room, and such strong ones on top of that, spoke with gritted teeth, "Stay out of my head." "Both of you." he added, to Mr. Cecil, who put up his hands in defence. "It's quite difficult to stay out of other people's minds." he said, but nevertheless retreated out of Sharp's mind respecting his privacy.
Penelope, on the other hand, could not care less about anyone's privacy. She continued to read every mind she could, which was everyone except Stella's, in the room. "Specially fighters' mind. It's like entering a home with the front door open." Penelope said.
She either did not hear or chose to ignore the growl that rumbled low in Sharp's throat as she continued, "No wait. Weak manipulators are like open doors. Fighters don't even have a front door, just a gaping hole in the wall!"
Sharp actually let out a growl at this sentence and Stella saw in Penelope's mind that he was actually getting ready to attack her to push her out of his mind. Stella was even more suprised when Penelope was only amused and thought, "You really think you can hurt me? You must be stupider than your brain seems to be!"
She was about to voice out her thoughts, and Stella, thinking it was definitely pushing Sharp too far, was scared for Penelope. Apparently Mr. Cecil had the same thought as he stepped in between the two cousins saying, "Both of you, please! Stella is asleep, and we don't want to wake her. Darius, calm down. Penelope means no harm. And Penelope, get out of Darius's mind, he has made it plain that he does not like it."
Penelope huffed and pulled herself out of Sharp's mind with difficulty. Stella saw that she was not alone in experiencing difficulty and pain when pushing other people's minds away.