Do you need a painkiller? Nick has noticed the special care Will takes of his skull, and it occurs to him now how thoughtless it was not to guess at him needing something for the disorientation, if nothing else. He doesn't have anything in his own room, but he knows where things are, which is more than Will has.

I don't believe it either. He smiles, with a wry twist. God might exist. I'm dead and I'm thinking. I'm still an agnostic, at best.

Real gods don't need instant belief. Neither does real magic. It just is, I think.

All of this touches on Mother Abigail in ways that are too sharp--but there was nothing about her that was sharp, was there? There was just soft, uncompromising belief. After what Larry told him, how much can Nick disbelieve? Or what can he believe?

Whatever it is, that's not Nick's choice for Will.

Maybe it is sci-fi, though. Like Isaac Asimov. That would be neat.