Intensity

actually spoken to him and wouldn't have thought that he could hear her above the crisp sputtering of eggs and onions, Vess said, "I suppose you're right."
        Later, when he put the plates on the table, she raised her head and moved her hands.
        "Rather than make you eat with your hands, I'm going to give you a fork," he said, "because I assume you see the pointlessness of throwing it and trying to stick me in the eye."
        She nodded.
        "Good girl."
        On her plate was a plump four-egg omelet oozing cheddar cheese and stippled with sautéed onions. On top were three slices of a firm tomato and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. Two pieces of buttered toast, each neatly sliced on the diagonal, were arranged to bracket the omelet.
        He refilled her water glass and added two more cubes of ice.
        Famished only a short while ago, Chyna now could hardly tolerate the sight of food. She knew that she must eat, so she picked at the eggs and nibbled the toast. But she would never be able to finish all that he had given her.
        Vess ate with gusto but not noisily or sloppily. His table manners were beyond reproach, and he used his napkin frequently to blot his lips.
        Chyna was deep in her private grayness, and the more Vess appeared to enjoy his breakfast, the more her own omelet began to taste like ashes.
        "You'd be quite attractive if you weren't so rumpled and sweaty, your face smudged with dirt, your hair straggly from the rain. Very attractive, I think. A real charmer under that grime. Maybe later I'll bathe you."
         Chyna Shepherd, untouched and alive.
        Uncannily, after a further silence, Edgler Vess said, "Untouched and alive."
        She knew that she had not spoken the prayer aloud.
        "Untouched and alive," he repeated. "Is that what you said… on the stairs earlier, on your way down to Ariel?"
        She stared at him, speechless.
        "Is it?"
        Finally: "Yes."
        "I've been wondering about it. You said your name and then those three words, though none of it made sense when I didn't know that Chyna Shepherd was your name."
        She looked away from him, at the window. A Doberman roamed the backyard.
        "Was it a prayer?" he asked.
        In her desolation, Chyna hadn't thought that he could scare her any more, but she had been wrong. His intuitiveness was frightening-and not entirely for reasons that she could understand.
        She looked away from the Doberman and met Vess's eyes. For one brief moment, she saw the dog within, a dark and merciless aspect.
        "Was it a prayer?" he asked again.
        "Yes."
        "In your heart, Chyna, deep in your heart, do you truly believe that God really exists? Be truthful now, not just with me but with yourself."
        At one time-not long ago-she had been just barely sure enough of what she believed to answer Yes . Now she was silent.
        "Even if God exists," Vess said, "does he know that you do?"
        She took another bite of the omelet. It seemed greasier than before. The eggs and butter and cheese, too rich, cloyed in her mouth, and she could hardly swallow.
        She put down her fork. She was finished. She'd eaten no more than a third of her meal.
        Vess finished the food on his plate, washing it down with coffee that he didn't offer her-no doubt because he thought that she would try to throw the hot brew in his eyes.
        "You look so glum," Vess said.
        She didn't reply.
        "You're feeling like such a failure, aren't you? You've failed poor Ariel, yourself, and God too, if He exists."
        "What do you want with me?" she asked. She meant, Why put me through this, why not kill me and get it over with?
        "I haven't figured that out yet," Vess said. "Whatever I do with you, it's got to be special. I feel you're special, whether you think you are or not, and whatever we do together should be… intense."
        She closed her eyes and wondered if she could find Narnia again after all these years.
        He said, "I can't answer your question as to what I want with you but I have no doubts about what I want with Ariel. Would you like to hear what I intend to do with her?"
        Most likely, she was too old to believe in anything, even just a magic wardrobe.
        Vess's voice came out of her internal grayness, as if he lived there as well as in the real world: "I asked you a question,