Page 13 of Kiss Across the Universe
There had been many such moments since then. More and more of them. She had learned to deal with them in a way that didn’t draw unwanted attention from anyone near her, but it was draining. Sometimes the, well,visions…sometimes they came so thick and fast that it was all she could do to pull away from whatever she was doing and sit down, while they played out in her mind.
“Marit?” David prompted softly.
“I’ve been seeing them for a while,” she admitted.
“They make you lose focus on what is happening around you.”
“Sometimes,” she admitted, although she hated that David, of all people, was the one who was easing this out of her.
“You need to live your own life first, not theirs.”
“I know that,” she rasped. Really, her head was pounding. “Can you…can we discuss this later?”
“You don’t want to get rid of the headache?” His tone was light. He knew damn well she wanted that.
“You’ve got something that will get rid of it? Because my father and Alex between them couldn’t budge it, and they know nostrums from the fifth century to now.” She paused, her breath coming fast, because it hurt to talk.
“Chemicals,” he said dismissively. “Your mind is more powerful than that.”
“Is this what it means to be a polytemporal?” she groused. “Because I’m not impressed so far.”
“You should be.” Harshness touched his voice. “Time is laid at your feet. You see the entire universe,alluniverses. You canshapeyour world by choosing among possibilities that only you can see. What Sydney has fought to achieve with her cataloguing and experiments, you can do from the bed you are lying on, right now.”
Marit groaned. “Not if it hurts like this.”
“You’re not used to it,” David replied. “You don’t know how to manage what you see. Your brain is exhausted from trying to process all of it.”
“There’s a way to switch it off?” She eased open one eye, as hope touched her.
He shook his head. In the dark, she could only see the outline of his head move. “You’re a polytemporal. There is no switching it off. But there is way to ignore all but your own timeline, untilyouare ready to listen in to the others.”
“Oh.” She closed her eye. “Ignoring it isn’t going to make it stop. If this headache is from trying to process it all, ignoring it won’t stop the headache, either.”
“You’d be surprised,” David said, his tone a touch warmer.
She pressed her thumb against her temple, as her head seemed to throb and beat, as if her brain had swollen and was pushing against her skull, demanding more room. “What’s this way, then?” she whispered.
“Meditation,” David said.
“Med…” She wanted to sit up and glare at him. She wanted to laugh derisively.
“Of a special kind,” David said. “I will teach it to you. Your mind, Marit, is stronger than you know. I will show you how to use that strength, so you can channel the input, shunt it aside. You’ll reach a point where it will be automatic, and you won’t know you’re doing it. Life will go back to normal for you, after that.”
“Thinking of nothing will just open me up to a flood!” she protested.
“Meditation isn’t thinking of nothing. Meditation is a tool to refine your focus.” She heard a soft thudding and realized he was drumming his foot upon the floor. “You must trust me in this. It will work. It works for me.”
There was a tightness about his voice that told her he was controlling his anger.
As that was the tone he generally used with her, especially in the last few years, Marit could feel herself relax. This was normal. This was nothing to worry about. He hadn’t hurried to the bedroom to tend to her with a gentle voice and warm concern because she was falling apart. That warmth had been the mask. This was the normal David.
She let out a slow breath, because sighing might hurt. “Can you teach me enough to make this headache go away in the next ten minutes?”
Another small silence. “It depends upon how disciplined you are.”
She read what hehadn’tsaid as easily as if he had spoken it. He didn’t think she had that discipline. “I haven’t been around for twenty-three centuries like you but I can manage this,” she shot back.
“Twenty-four and a half,” he replied.
