Divine (18 page)

I was overwhelmed with
so many emotions at that moment, so many questions. But, part of me
didn't want to ask them; I felt that it would be unfair if I got the
satisfaction of knowing who
he
was, without him knowing who
I
was. One thing was for sure, though, he was finally admitting to
me that I had influence over him, that I really meant something.

We looked over toward
the loud screams that poured out from the open doors of the concert
hall. The previously long line of people had made it inside, and it
sounded like one of the opening bands had gone up on stage to
perform.

Jonah looked back at me
and squeezed my hands in his. “I guess we better get inside, we
don't want to miss the show,” he said, his eyes flickering a
few moments more before altering back to their usual blue.

“
No, we wouldn't
want to miss anything.”

He let go of one of my
hands but held tightly onto my other one. “Let me rephrase
that,” he added, “we wouldn't want to miss our date.”

* * *

The inside of the
auditorium was large and cramped with tons of people. I wasn't
usually fascinated with the places where concerts were held, but this
place was different. It was standing room only on the bottom floor
where we were, but above us were balconies that were lined with seats
in case anyone wanted to go up and watch from there. Brass
antique-looking light fixtures lined the walls around us and were
dimly lit, casting a muted ambiance on the room. There were numerous
long red velvet curtains that hung from the ceiling on the far wall
and pooled onto the floor behind the large stage. Yeah, I was pretty
impressed.

As we made our way in
one of the bands that was opening for Divine Intervention was already
playing loudly on the large stage. Jonah gripped my hand tighter and
led the way toward them, guiding me through the tightly packed
bodies. Once we got to the middle of the crowd he stopped and pulled
me up next to him.

“
Is this good?”
he shouted over the blaring music.

“
Yeah,” I
shouted back.

We stood and listened
as the long-haired grungy band played to the wild crowd. A mosh pit
formed a few feet over from us and we moved away, being careful not
to get sucked in.

“
I don't really
like this band,” Jonah said as he leaned into me.

I gave him a sour look
and shook my head in agreement. “Me either, it's too crazy.”

“
Yeah, Divine
Intervention isn't like this. I think you'll like them.”

After a few more songs
the band was done, but another band hurried up onto the stage and
started setting up their equipment. They looked decent enough, with
clean-cut faces and well-kept hair. They jumped right in and started
off with a fast paced song, which I liked up until the lead singer
started screaming forcefully into the microphone.

Jonah and I shot each
other quizzical looks and laughed about having the same reaction.

“
I wasn't
expecting that,” I shouted to him over the singers screams.

“
I know,”
he nodded. He looked around at the jumping crowd and then leaned back
in next to my ear. “Hey, I have an idea.”

“
Oh yeah? What's
that?”

“
Well, since we
don't really like this band, I guess it looks like we're just going
to have to make this a little more fun.”

Curiosity consumed me
when he shot me his white mischievous grin. “Uh oh,” I
breathed nervously. “What are you talking about?”

Before I could say any
more he bent down and took me into his arms. “You ready?”
he shouted.

“
Ready? For
what?”

He shifted me around
and elbowed an overweight Gothic guy that was next to us. “She's
going up!” Jonah warned him. The dark stranger lifted his hands
above his head and nodded.

“
Jonah no!”
I cried.

I tried to hang on to
his neck but he pushed me up toward the man's hands. I screamed with
thrill as the stranger passed me along to another guy next to him,
and then another, and another.

Thousands of fingers
traced underneath my body as I rode the wave of the boisterous crowd.
Within seconds my flip flops were gone and my feet were naked and
raking against the heads of the wild people. At one point I was
thrown sideways and I accidentally kicked a big bald guy in the head.
“Sorry!” I yelled out to him, reaching my hand out in his
direction to make sure that he saw me.

The fingers soon
brought me to the front of the stage and into the arms of a beefy
security guard. He grabbed me and helped me down, pointing down along
the other side of the stage for me to leave the area. I ran along the
isle to the edge of the crowd and saw Jonah waiting for me with a
huge grin.

I grinned back and
hopped toward him with excitement. “Oh my gosh! That was
awesome!” I gushed, jumping into his embrace.

He wrapped his arms
tightly around my waist and lifted me up from the dirty floor. “I
knew you would like it!”

“
It was amazing!
I don't think I've ever had that much fun in my life! I lost my
shoes, though . . .”

He lowered me down and
looked between our bodies. “Oh no, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have
made you go up if I knew you were going to lose your shoes; I wasn't
thinking.”

“
No, no,” I
smiled, “it was so worth it. I'll just watch where I step.”

He returned a smile and
grabbed my hand to lead me back through the crowd to our previous
spot.

After the band played a
few more songs it was finally time for Divine Intervention. When they
came on stage the crowd went wild with excitement, making my ears
feel like they were going to bleed from the high-pitched screaming
and whistling.

I was surprised at how
different each member of the band looked; they didn't seem to fit
together at all. The singer was a short, plain looking guy with short
brown hair and glasses. The bass player was tall and skinny and
covered with tattoos, and had black hair that was slicked back. The
guitarist was heavy-set and had red hair and a red goatee. The
drummer was a medium height and build, and had long brown hair that
was tied back in a low ponytail. He was wearing black shorts and
black high top sneakers, and his shirtless chest and arms were
covered over in an array of colorful tattoos.

When I got a good look
at the drummer I nudged Jonah. “That's him, right?” I was
the most interested in seeing him play because he was the Divine in
the band who had the most impressive ability.

“
Yep,”
Jonah answered while looking at the stage. “Let's see if he'll
do something crazy tonight.”

The singer walked up to
the front of the stage. “Are you ready?” he bellowed into
the microphone. The crowd roared and jumped excitedly around us as
the drummer hit his sticks together in a count and led the band into
their first song.

The music was
aggressive and metallic with loud bass and timely rhythms. They
hadn't even made it through their first song and I was already hooked
on them.

“
They’re
great,” I yelled at Jonah.

He nodded back. “I
told you.”

The drummer picked
their fourth song to put his fire ability to use and get a rise out
of the crowd. He held the drumsticks together in one hand and touched
the tips of them with his other, igniting the ends, sending them
bursting into flames. The bass player pulled on his strings and led
them into the song, followed by the drummer who beat his drums wildly
with the engulfed sticks. The crowd responded with uncontrollable
screams and whistles.

When they got to their
last song the drummer stood up and ran along the red curtains,
skimming over them with his fingers and lighting them on fire. He sat
down at his drums and led the last song as the flames spread upwards
to completely engulf the fabric.

Jonah and I shot wide
eyes at each other and then looked back at the band, both of us
amazed by the sight of the hot flames tearing up the velvet. At the
end of the song they shouted goodnight to the amped-up crowd and
sauntered off of the stage as three security guards ran up to the
curtains with fire extinguishers, putting out the flames and leaving
behind what was left of their charred velvety tops. They definitely
put on a good show.

“
Wow,” I
marveled, “that was awesome. But no encore, huh?”

Jonah looked over at me
and shook his head. “Nope. They never do encores.”

“
Well I'm glad I
got to see that. I can't believe he lit the curtains on fire!”

“
I told you he
did some crazy stuff.”

“
Yeah, you were
right.” I looked down at my bare feet, feeling pretty grossed
out by the dirt and grime that was starting to build up between my
toes. “I need to find my shoes; my feet feel disgusting.”

He looked around at
what he could see of the floor. “We might have to wait until it
clears out a little better.”

“
Yeah, you're
probably right.”

We waited for a few
minutes as the people flowed out around us, leaving behind a dirty
floor with no sign of my flip flops.

“
Man, I don't see
them,” he sighed.

“
Oh well, it
looks like I'll be going home without them. No big deal.”

He crossed his arms and
gave me an apologetic look. “I'm sorry, it's my fault that you
lost them.”

“
No, it's okay;
you don’t have to apologize. I would do it all over again in a
heart beat.” I smiled at him, hoping that he would see that I
was truly fine with my missing shoes.

He smiled back and took
one last look across the dirty floor. “Hmm . . .”
Apparently a light bulb had gone off in his head.

“
What?” I
asked slowly; every time he got an idea it was usually something that
I wasn't expecting.

And of course, I was
quickly taken by surprise as he reached down and scooped me up into
his arms just like before. I draped myself around his neck and held
on loosely, this time not worrying that I was going to be sent off
somewhere else.

“
What are you
doing?” I laughed.

“
Well, it's my
job to keep you safe, and that includes your feet.”

I chuckled giddily as
he carried me outside into the freezing air and set out toward the
parking garage. I was still a little on edge from our earlier
encounter with the four men, and I scanned the groups of people
walking by us, hoping that they weren't anywhere around. Jonah made
me feel safe, though, so I knew I would be okay.

As he carried me
securely in his arms I looked up at him with a smile. I couldn't
believe that he was a Divine, and that he had hid it so well around
me.

Not too well,
actually . . .

Apparently I made it
hard for him to control it. That, of course, made me very happy. I
was also happy that my own skill was something that was easy to hide
from other people, even Jonah. After all, I was kind of an
embarrassment.

We made it to the
elevator and he stepped inside. I took an arm away from his neck and
reached down to press the button for our floor. “Do you need a
break?” I asked. “You can set me down if you want.”

He chuckled lightly
into the freezing air. “No, it's okay.”

The elevator creaked up
to our floor and opened its scratched metal doors for us to exit. He
walked us around to the passenger door of his truck and took one arm
off of me to reach into his pocket for his keys.

I couldn't believe how
easy it seemed for him to carry me; I wasn't a very heavy girl but it
was still a little bit of a walk to hold me the whole way. He made me
feel like I was as delicate as a feather.

The keys jingled as he
unlocked the door and pulled it open. I expected him to put me down
at that point, but instead he lifted me up into the tall truck and
placed me gently on the seat, with seemingly no effort at all. He
smiled at the questionable look on my face and shut my door.

How on earth did he
lift me up like that?

When he went around and
got in I looked at him in silence and waited for him to look over,
but instead he put the keys into the ignition and started the engine,
cranking the heater up full blast and turning the knob to direct the
warm air onto my naked feet.