“I wasn’t in there that long.”
“It was long enough, love. I can have them come back if you’d like to see who brought it; all I have to do is call them.”
“You have a phone?”
“I do, but I don’t need one to call them.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You can get inside people’s heads. You’ve been inside mine, haven’t you?”
I slowly nodded. “I have, but only to speak to you. I can’t read your thoughts unless you send them to me.”
A confused look covered her face.
“I won’t speak to you that way again without your permission.”
She wiped her mouth with her napkin and squared her shoulders. “Sam, what were you trying to show me with that cut on your hand, if that really happened? That you heal quickly, miraculously on top of using whatever hallucinogen you used to bring me here? Or is there something else besides you breaking and entering into people’s minds?”
“Why don’t you finish eating and then—”
“No, tell me what you brought me here to tell me. Show me whatever else you need to show me. Now, Sam. No more stalling.”
I nodded. “Okay, love. Okay.”
7
Temple
I watched him sit across from me, seemingly battling with himself internally, or maybe he was trying to figure out how to tell me whatever it was he wanted to tell me.
As I awaited his response, I let my eyes peruse my surroundings again. The walls were draped in lush cream fabric, the floors were gold, metal, but warm, as if they were heated. The bed was gold and luxuriant. A humongous gold and crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling but was not needed as there were windows comprising two of the walls, allowing for a view of the trees and flowers and bushes. Wildlife could be seen, too. Another whole-ass lion, not Burhaan because I could suddenly distinguish between one damn lion and another, was sauntering down the path I’d seen when we were sitting outside earlier when he performed that freak show trick with his hand. Then I caught sight of a peacock, and I could swear he was looking right at me as he fanned his tail out in an awe-inspiring display. All of this felt utterly bizarre, like a majestic but weird dream. Yet, in my soul, I knew all of it was real, although I had no idea how I got from Mississippi to Africa in the blink of an eye.
Finally, his velvety voice broke our silence, lassoing my gaze back to him. “Originally, the Asili people were…superhuman. They were deities, powerful gods and goddesses who were not subject to the confines of time. Many still walk the earth today. Others chose to end their time on this plane of existence.” He paused to look at me. “Are you with me so far?”
I frowned. “I don’t know. Are you saying there are people on this earth who have lived for thousands of years?”
“No, my love. Millions of years.”
“Immortals?”
A slight smile played at his lips. “Yes. In the beginning, every soul born in this land was immortal. But as they became scattered, moving from this place and settling all over the continent, things changed. There were wars, colonization, disease, and all of that diluted the sacred bloodline. There were fewer and fewer born into immortality, but not to extinction. There are…still a few born here and there. But the number of immortals is fewer than ever right now.
“As I’ve learned, the immortals that are born now usually come from a purely African parentage, but there are exceptions. It’s almost like a mutated gene. It’s hard to know when it will show up, and even when it does, it isn’t like it was before. The traits do not expose themselves at birth. They appear gradually until that person reaches maturity, a time that is unique to every immortal, but the presence of the gene is known at birth. The potential is evident from the time a child takes his or her first breath whether the parents are aware of it or not. Most Africans are ignorant of this history.”
“How?” I asked. “How is it known from birth?”
“A mark. A specific birthmark. Babies born with it are born immortal. Depending on the purity of the child’s blood, the ancestors may decide to assign a guardian who will watch over them and teach the parents of the child’s lineage if it’s unknown to them so that they can prepare him or her. Others live for decades before reaching maturity and an understanding, before it clicks that what’s going on with them is deeper than their black not cracking, and that’s usually when the floodgates of awareness are opened and they are blessed with a visit from our ancestors.” He stopped speaking, taking a deep breath before adding, “I was born with the mark, love.”
“You’re saying…what are you saying, that you’re an immortal?” I ended the question on a laugh, because…the hell?
He nodded, his eyes never leaving my face, his own face awash in gravity. This man was serious.
All humor faded from my body. “So then…you’re saying you’re a got damn god?”
“They tell me I am.”
My eyes fell to the evidence of me having demolished my food. “But you’re thirty-eight.” I had no idea what that statement was even supposed to mean. I was just saying shit at that point.
Another nod. “I was born thirty-eight years ago, and I will live for as long as I choose. That can be forever.”
Frowning, I asked, “Why would you choose not to?”
“Many who have chosen to die did so because their mortal families all passed away, or they lost a mortal lover. It’s hard to lose the ones you love over and over again, or so I’ve been told. I can imagine that level of loss in repetition would be torturous.”
“Me, too. But…how does an immortal…die?”
“The only way is if they take their own life. They have to give up their mortality. It cannot be taken from them.”
A nod from me this time. “How many immortals are there now?”
“Hundreds that we know of, scattered all over the world.”
“Wow. So, my boss or a neighbor could be immortal, and I wouldn’t know it? They could look just as human as you do,” she mused.
“I’m human, love. Just a different kind of human.”
“No, you’re superhuman, a god. Didn’t you just say that?” I was kind of being a bitch, but shit, this was a lot.
“Temple—”
“Did you know this when we were together?”
“Yes and no. My parents told me I was. That was the pressure I felt from them. Pressure to behave like I was royalty, like I was more than who I thought I was, but all I knew of myself was that I was a regular kid. I wasn’t exceptional at anything. I wasn’t that much smarter than anyone else. It wasn’t like I even really stood out in a crowd, so I thought they were just saying things to make me feel special and make sure I went to law school or something.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.”
“I know, but this is…um, I came to realize what and who I am on prom night, after we…”
“Oh, so the sex…”
“Yeah, the sex…it unlocked everything. Evidently, that was the moment I reached my individual maturity. When we made love, I saw visions, heard voices, came into knowledge I didn’t understand, but I knew I needed to understand it. So, I left. After I told my parents I understood what they’d been trying to tell me, I left with my godfather, who wasn’t just my godfather, and came here. My parents left, too, but they didn’t come here with me.”