I nod, taking in her expensive shoes and designer handbag, and growing more annoyed by the second.
Here I take her to Summerland so she can help me save someone's life, and all she wants to do is go shopping.
"I know, " she says, responding to the thoughts in my head. "I got carried away, and I'm sorry. But I'm ready to help if you still need it. Or did you get all the answers you sought?"
I press my lips together and gaze down at the ground, shaking my head when I say, "I um —I ran into some trouble." A flood of shame washes right over me, especially when I remember how the trouble was pretty much of my making. "And I'm afraid I'm right back where I started," I add, feeling like the world's biggest loser.
"Maybe I can help?" She smiles, squeezing my arm so I'll know she's sincere.
But I just shrug, doubting she can do much of anything at this point.
"Don't give up so easily," she says. "After all, this is Summerland, anything is possible here!"
I glance at her, knowing it's true but also knowing I've got some serious work to do back home on the earth plane. Work that's going to require all of my attention and focus, no distractions allowed.
So as I lead her down the stairs, I look at her and say, "Well, there's one thing you can do."
CHAPTER 27
Even though Ava wanted to stay, I pretty much grabbed hold of her hand and forced her to leave, knowing we'd both wasted plenty of time in Summerland already and I had other places to be. "Damn!" She squints at her fingers just after we land on the floor cushions in her small purple room. "I was hoping they'd keep."
I nod, noticing how the jewel-encrusted gold rings she'd manifested have returned to her usual silver, while the designer shoes and handbag didn't survive the trip either.
"I was wondering about that," I say, rising to my feet. "But you know you can do that here, right? You can manifest anything you want, you just have to be patient." I smile, wishing to leave things on a positive note by repeating the exact same pep talk Damen gave me back when my lessons first began. Lessons I wished I'd paid a lot more attention to now, having assumed that being immortal meant we had nothing but time. Besides, I'm starting to feel guilty for being so hard on her. I mean, who wouldn't get a little carried away on their first visit to that place? "So what now?" she calls, following me to the front door. "When do we go back? I mean, you won't return without me —will you?"
I turn, my eyes meeting hers, seeing how consumed she is with her visit and wondering if I'd made a mistake by taking her there. Avoiding her eyes as I head for my car, calling over my shoulder to say, "I'll give you a call."
The next morning I pull into the parking lot and head for class. Merging into the usual swarm of students just like any other day, except this time I don't strive to keep my distance and maintain my personal space. Instead, I just go with the flow. Not reacting in the slightest when random people brush up against me, despite the fact that I left my iPod, hoodie, and sunglasses at home. But that's because I'm no longer reliant on those old accessories that never worked all that well anyway. Now I carry my quantum remote wherever I go. Yesterday, just as Ava and I were about to leave Summerland, I asked her to help me build a better shield. Knowing I could just go back into the hall while she waited outside and receive the answer on my own, but since she wanted to help, and figuring she might learn something too, we lingered at the bottom of the steps, both of us focusing our energy on desiring a shield that would allow us (well, me mostly, since Ava doesn't hear thoughts and get life stories by touch) to tune in and out at will. And the next thing you know, we both looked at each other and at the exact same second said, "A quantum remote!" So now, whenever I want to hear someone's thoughts I just surf over to their energy field and hit select. And if I don't want to be bothered, I hit mute . Just like the remote I have at home. Only this one is invisible so I can pretty much take it everywhere I go. I head into English, arriving early so I can observe all the action from start to finish. Not wanting to miss a single second of my planned surveillance. Because even though I have visual proof that Roman's responsible for what's happening to Damen —it gets me only so far. And now that the who part of the equation is solved, it's time to move on to the how and why.
I just hope it doesn't take too long. I mean, for one tiling, I miss Damen. And for another, I'm so low on immortal juice I'm already forced to ration it. And since Damen never got around to giving me the recipe, I've no idea how to replace it, much less what will happen without it. Though I'm sure it's not good. Originally, Damen thought he could just drink the elixir once and be cured of all ills. And while that worked for the first one hundred and fifty years, when he started to see subtle signs of aging he decided to drink it again. And then again. Until he ultimately became totally dependent.
He also didn't realize that an immortal could be killed until after I took down his ex-wife, Drina. And while both of us were sure that targeting the weakest chakra was the only method (the heart chakra in Drina's case), and while I'm still sure that we're the only ones who know that —according to what I saw yesterday in the akashic records, Roman's discovered another way. Which means if I have any hope of saving Damen, I need to learn what Roman knows, before it's too late. When the door finally opens, I lift my gaze as a horde of students burst in. And even though it's not the first time I've seen it, it's still hard to watch them all laughing and joking and getting along, when just last week they barely acknowledged each other. And even though it's pretty much the kind of scene anyone would dream of seeing in their school, under the circumstances, it's not giving me the thrill that it should.
And not just because I'm stuck on the outside looking in, but because it's creepy, unnatural, and weird. I mean, high schools don't operate like this. Heck, people don't operate like this. Like will always seek like and that's just the way it is. It's just one of those unspoken rules. Besides, this isn't something they've chosen to do. Because little do they realize that all of that hugging, laughing, and ridiculous high-fiving is not because of their newfound love for each other —it's because of Roman.
Like a master puppeteer controlling his subjects for his own amusement —Roman is responsible. And while I don't know how or why he's doing it, and while I can't prove that he actually is doing it, I just know in my heart that it's true. It's as clear as the ping in my gut or the chill that blankets my skin whenever he's near.
I watch as Damen slides onto his seat as Stacia leans on his desk, her heavily padded pushed-up chest looming close to his face as she swings her hair over her shoulder and laughs at her own stupid wit. And even though I can't hear the joke since I purposely tuned her out in order to better hear Damen, the fact that he thinks it's stupid, is good enough for me.
It also gives me a small burst of hope.
A burst of hope that soon ends the second his attention returns to her cleavage.
I mean, he's so banal, so juvenile, and to be honest —completely embarrassing. And if I thought my feelings were hurt yesterday, when I was forced to watch him make out with Drina, well, in retrospect, that was nothing compared to this.