He averts his gaze and looks out toward the sea. "Eventually you will."
I sit up picking at a loose string on my towel, still unable to fully wrap my mind around this. Remembering a time in the notso-distant past when I thought just being psychic was a curse, and now look.
"It's not as bad as you think," he says, placing his hand over mine. "Look around, it doesn't get any better than this."
"But why? I mean, did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't want to be an immortal? That maybe you should've just let me go?"
I watch as he cringes, averting his gaze, looking all around, focusing on everything but me. Then he turns to me and says, "First of all, you're right. I was selfish. Because the truth is, I saved you more for myself than for you. I couldn't bear to lose you again, not after… " He stops and shakes his head. "But still, I wasn't sure if it worked.'
Obviously I knew I'd brought you back, but I wasn't sure for how long. I wasn't Sure I'd actually turned you until I saw you in the canyon just now-"
"You were watching me in the canyon?" I stare at him incredulously.
He nods.
"You mean you were there?"
"No, I was watching you remotely." He rubs his jaw. "It's a lot to explain."
"So let me get this straight. You were watching me, remotely, but still, you could see everything going on, and yet you didn't try to save mer" And when I say it out loud I'm so mad I can barely breathe.
He shakes his head. "Not until you wanted to be saved.
That's when I made the veil appear, and urged you to move toward it."
"You mean you were going to let me die?" I scoot away from him, not wanting to be anywhere near him.
He looks at me, his face completely serious when he says, "If that's what you wanted, then yes." He shakes his head. "Ever, the last time we spoke, in the parking lot, you said you hated me for what I had done, for being selfish, for separating you from your family; for bringing you back. And even though your words really stung, I knew you were right. I had no business interfering. But then, in the canyon, when you filled yourself with such love, well, that love is what saved you, restored you, and it's then that I knew;"
But what about the hospital? Why couldn't I restore myself then?
Why did I have to suffer through all of the casts, and cuts, and contusions? Why couldn't I just-regenerate, like I did in the canyon? I think, folding my arms across my chest, not fully buying it.
"Only love heals. Anger, guilt, and fear can only destroy and separate you from your true capabilities." He nods, his eyes grazing over me.
"And that's another thing." I glare at him. "Your ability to read my mind, when I can't read yours. It's not fair."
He laughs. "Do you really want to read my mind? I thought my air of mystery was one of the things you liked about me?"
I gaze down at my knees, my cheeks burning as I think of all the embarrassing thoughts he's been privy to.
"There are ways to shield yourself, you know Maybe you should go see Ava."
"You know Ava?" I gape, feeling suddenly ganged up on.
He shakes his head. "My only connection to Ava is through you, your thoughts about Ava."
I look away, watching a family of bunnies hop by, then back at him. "So the racetrack?"
"Premonition, you did it too."
"What about the race you lost?"
He laughs. "I have to lose a few; otherwise people tend to get suspicious. But I certainly made up for it, don't you think?"
"And the tulips?"
He smiles. "Manifesting. Same way you made the elephant, and this beach. It's simple quantum physics. Consciousness brings matter into being where there was once merely energy. Not nearly as difficult as people choose to think."