Select (Select #1)(49)

“All of you can do that?”

“Some of us.”

“But you all have better senses? And you seem to heal quickly.”

“Yes. To both.”

“What about the tennis balls? That’s not possible,” he said.

“Why not? Just because you’re told it’s not possible doesn’t mean that’s true.” I was getting frustrated, beginning to feel backed into a corner. “Look, have you ever had the feeling of being in ‘the zone’ when you were playing tennis?”

“A few times.”

“What did it feel like?”

“It’s hard to describe.”

“Try.”

He looked like he was struggling to find words to describe it. “I don’t know. It’s quiet. It’s like your mind gets out of the way and your body knows exactly what to do. It feels like total focus and tunnel vision.”

“And you feel like you and the ball are one and the same, right?”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Exactly. That’s what it’s like for me.”

“But I use a racket. How are you capable of moving matter…I don’t know…energetically?”

“Actually, I have no idea.” I made it sound like it was just a fact of life. Which for me it was.

“Okay, if you’re making it sound so natural, why are you all so secretive?” He sounded annoyed.

“Why do you think?” I asked sarcastically.

“Seriously, what would happen if people knew? What are you so afraid of?” he pressed.

“I am serious.” I turned it back on him. “Tell me what you think would happen.”

“I’m not sure,” he answered honestly.

“Exactly. No one wants to believe what seems impossible. People don’t like to question their reality. It scares them. And they definitely would not like knowing there’s someone better out there. We were discovered once and almost annihilated.”

“How is any of this possible?” he asked. The difference now was that he sounded like he was marveling at it, not like he didn’t believe it.

“I guess it just is.”

“So you’re…Chachapuri?” John tried out the name he somehow remembered from the article.

“That’s something that person got wrong. We’re the Puris tribe.” I’d now actually said our name out loud. That was never done. It felt powerful and horrifying to say it.

No one and nothing had prepared me for this conversation. It was like we assumed outsiders were just too stupid or afraid to ask.

“But how do you feel sticking only to your own people and hiding all this? Don’t you feel trapped?”

“No. That’s why we keep to ourselves, so we don’t have to hide it.”

“How’s that working out for you?”

“Great,” I said flippantly. Except for the fact that I’m not allowed to live up to my potential. And I can never be with you.

“Can you just turn all this on and off whenever you want?”

“I’m trying to work out how to be consistent.” I pulled my wet, tangled hair into a ponytail and then dropped it back on my neck. I found myself being more honest with him than I’d intended. It must have helped that he had started to seem so open to and relatively accepting of everything I was saying.

“By practicing on me? With tennis?” He looked horrified.

I put up a hand. “No! Well, it’s back to Barton Springs. I screwed things up for you, and I wanted to put them back together. And it helped me sort of…I don’t know. Figure things out.”

“You didn’t screw things up for me,” John said quietly. Then, “Are there more people out there like you?”

“You mean living other places?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Sometimes we play a game and try to guess if someone in the general population has also made the jump—famous athletes, geniuses, celebrities who have that irresistible quality, you know? But no, I don’t think so,” I said. “Are you almost done?” I asked, letting him know I was.

“Is there more you haven’t told me? About what you can do?”

“No.” I shook my head, hoping I sounded convincing. There was no way I would ever let him know I was able to read his mind. I just couldn’t.

“What about that guy? Was he your boyfriend?” John’s voice was suddenly cold. It made me want to laugh that of all the things we’d talked about, that was what got under his skin.

“Who? Angus? No. He’s my sister’s boyfriend.”

I shouldn’t have been surprised by his next question.

“Why do you look so different from the rest of them?”

I made a move to get up then.

“Hey! What did I say?” He gentled his voice and tried to put a hand on my arm to stop me. It was the first time he’d touched me since we began the conversation, and I was surprised he still wanted to.

I tried to stifle my reaction. “Nothing. I look different because I have a different mother than my sister. But I didn’t know her.”

“You didn’t know her, or you don’t know who she was?” John looked confused.

“Both.”