Sinners and Saints

Sinners and Saints Chapter 39 - Heaven Can Wait

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Jill asks me as I wander back to Jojo and her.  Both of them are still observing slack-jawed.  Jill’s arms are shaking a bit and I take the phone from her and focus in. 

Looking through the camera, I don’t see anything unusual.  But looking with my eyes I can see shimmers over Drake’s hand and Rob’s chest.  I don’t remember that from my experience with Allison, but I was pretty adrenalin-hyped at the time.  Or maybe it’s that my powers work differently than his do. 

Moira’s eyes are shining with hope and Darius shifts his weight from one foot to the other impatiently.  Clark cranks the flashlight again and the house shakes from the storm. 

We wait and watch.  Finally Drake lets go and stands up. 

“What now?” he yells to us. 

“Now we wait,” I yell back.  He grins into the flashlight beam and walks toward me.  Jojo takes the camera from my hands right before he pulls me into his arms. 

“How do you feel?” I ask him, already checking his levels. 

“I feel fantastic,” he grins and tilts my head up for a kiss, “How long?” 

“Three or four minutes,” I tell him after he kisses me, “Shouldn’t be too long.” 

“I bought you something while you were in Hell,” he says, digging in his pocket, “I saw it in the shop window and immediately thought how good it would look between your breasts,” he grins wickedly and pulls out a pendant. 

The stone is a pear-shaped garnet and at least five carats.  There are topaz stones surrounding it – probably a quarter-carat each.  The whole thing is set in white-gold on a linked-chain that looks so delicate that the weight of the pendant alone should snap it in half.  

But I know Drake.  I know he’s inspected every millimeter of that chain – and the clasp.  It could probably hold up a pendant five times that big. 

“It’s beautiful,” I tell him, “You shouldn’t have.” 

“I wanted to,” he chuckles at me, “The pendant itself is old – Victorian – but cleaned up and re-pronged.  The chain is new.  And I know it will hang right there,” he pushes a finger against my sternum – midway between my breasts, “Because I tested it already.  The back is a puzzle-box,” he twirls it in his hand and I can see that the back is solid – like a locket – but there are some tiny buttons all around it.  Hidden by the topazes from the front.  There might be something engraved on it, but the light is dim and I can’t really tell. 

“Hnnngg,” Rob decides to stir right then and all of our eyes snap to him.  Moira’s practically wetting herself in anticipation and Darius’s tail is swishing again. 

“He’s waking up,” Jojo whispers and both Drake and Darius rush over to him. 

“Does he have a face?” Clark calls out. 

Another crackle comes from outside – the kind that makes all of the hair on your arms and neck stand out and then the deep-bass boom of thunder seconds later.  That lightning-strike was close. 

“Get him away from the water,” Moira yells after the reverberations die down, “Bring him up here.” 

Darius slings Rob over his shoulder and lays him out across some storage bins stacked up – all labeled “Claire’s shoes.” 

Now that Clark’s flashlight is on him, we can all see that yes, Rob does in fact have a face again.  He sits up slowly, running a hand through his thick, dark hair and asks in typical Miami bi fashion, “Dude, what happened?”