chapter FORTY-SEVEN
I understood why I was so hungry, but it still surprised me. I ate bacon, eggs, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, and hash browns, and only barely felt full. Vittorio finished long before me, so took door duty when we heard a knock.
Julian had brought Vittorio’s laptop, and the copy of the map Ms. Carmen left at my office.
They spoke quietly while I mopped up the rest of the gravy with a piece of toast. Why they gave me biscuits and toast I don’t know.
“Julian and I are going to talk in the hotel bar for a while. Will you be alright?”
“Of course. I should spend some time with Kevin.”
I hugged him before he left, and whispered, “Can I tell Kevin about what Samuel did to you? I know he’s going to ask, and I don’t want to lie to him. I think he deserves to know.”
“Yes, mio amore. I understand you and Kevin have no secrets. If ever I tell you something I do not want you to share with him, I will say so.”
“Thank you.” I looked into his eyes and smiled. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
He returned the smile. “Perhaps a little.”
I went to Kevin’s room, sat on the bed next to him, and grabbed the remote. I flipped through the channels, waiting for Kevin to ask what I knew he surely would.
“I’m sorry I’m being such a jerk, Elena. I’m just having a hard time with this. I mean, I know it’s not your fault, or Vittorio’s, really, but I really got the short stick in all this. Elizabeth and Neal messed you up pretty bad, but you healed yourself already. Vittorio seems fine. Looks like they didn’t do anything to him. But me, I get the shit kicked out of me, my arm broken, my face looks like raw hamburger. You should have seen how people were staring at me when I was in the hot tub. Why didn’t Vittorio get messed up too?”
“He did. Samuel screwed with his mind.” I turned the TV off.
“You’d never know it.”
“You might not, because you don’t know him. Kevin, please believe me, he got messed up real bad.” I repeated what Vittorio told me about Samuel’s power. “That’s what I was doing with my power earlier. I was healing his mind.”
“I thought you didn’t know if you could do that?”
“I didn’t. We were making love, and I just knew what I had to do. And now that I know-”
“Are you kidding me? You heal him, but not me? What’s the deal with that?” He stood and paced the room.
“If you’d let me finish my sentence-”
“I’ve known you a lot longer than pretty boy has, and I think I deserve to be treated a little better than this. Jesus, Elena, you were a bitch when you were whacked out on drugs and everything, but I could understand that. This, I don’t get it. This is just cold.”
“If you’d shut the hell up for a minute, I’d tell you that now I know how to use my power for healing, I can heal you, too. But now, I’m not so sure I want to.”
We stared at each other and I felt my power prickle down my spine with my anger. I didn’t want to hurt Kevin. I wanted to heal him. But I was angry.
I gave in first. “Kevin, I’m sorry. Do you want me to try to heal you?”
“Try?”
“Well I haven’t done it on a physical wound on anyone else. You know this is all new to me, so please stop giving me such a rough time.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry, too, Elena. You’re right. We’re both really stressed out. But yeah, if you could heal me, that would be awesome. This battered face kind of sucks, and my arm hurts like hell.”
“Alright. When I healed myself, I didn’t feel anything. I don’t know what it will feel like for you. But I’ll do what I can. Just try to relax. Lie on the bed. I’m going to meditate for a few minutes to calm my mind. I’ll tell you before I do anything.” I sat on the floor, counting my breaths. As my mind calmed, I saw how to heal Kevin.
“I’m going to kneel next to you on the bed and hold my hands over your body. Just relax.” I called my power, held the thought ‘heal his body’ in my mind, and pictured Kevin whole and well. I moved my hands along his body, not quite touching him, and gently pushed my power into him. I moved slowly, waiting until I felt each area was completely healed before moving to the next. When I finally felt that he was healed, I called my power back to me and collapsed on the bed, exhausted.
“Elena? Elena? Are you okay?” Kevin sounded frantic.
“Yes, just tired. Need sleep, and food.”
“What do you want first?”
“Don’t care.” The world went black.