Part 9 (1/2)
”I'm always careful.”
”What about Sharbot Lake?”
”That wasn't careless, that was just unexpectedly deep.” She turned again, facing him now. ”Will you be okay?”
He lifted her chin with a finger. ”Without you? Probably not.”
”Enough with the cliches, already.” Thumbs through her pack straps, Diana paced to the edge of the concrete and back making gagging noises. ”I've just figured out why Keeper and Bystanders together are such a bad idea. You're boring. And sappy enough to cause insulin shock.”
Dean ignored her, his eyes remaining locked on Claire's face. ”I'll be waiting here.”
”We'll be a couple days; remember?”
”But only on the Otherside.” When Claire shook her head, he frowned.
”Time runs differently there. You can come out just after you went in. Right?”
”Probably not. Time might run faster or slower in pockets, but in order for the segue to work, they'll have to make time run concurrent on both sides.” Hands flat on his chest, she studied his expression. ”You knew that, right?”
”And how would I be knowing that if you didn't tell me?”
”I didn't tell you?”
”No.” He sighed and pulled her closer. ”You'll actually be a couple of days on this side as well?”
”Maybe more. I've set my watch so that we'll know.”
”Okay, now we've got that settled,” Diana prodded, ”just say good-bye already, suck a little face, and let's go before the Otherside comes to us.”
Dean stared down into Claire's face for a long moment before his mouth finally curved into a worried smile. ”Got my heart?”
She laid a hand lightly against her chest. ”Right here. Got mine.”
He mirrored the motion. ”Safe and sound.”
”And did I mention, barf! Hey! I said suck a little face. You do know she's already had her tonsils out, don't you? So if you're in there looking for them, you're out of luck.”
Claire pulled out of Dean's embrace, turned on one heel, smacked Diana lightly on the back of the head, and walked toward the doors, all in one smooth motion. ”Someday, as unlikely as it seems, you're going to find someone able to overlook certain personality flaws and I'm going to be there to do the color commentary.”
”As if,” Diana snorted, waving to Dean and falling into step beside her sister.
”I thought the color commentary was my job?” Sam asked Austin as they followed the Keepers through the doors.
Austin sighed. ”There's usually enough to go around.”
Once through the inner doors, Keepers and cats both disappeared. Standing with one hand spread out on the outer door, Dean could see his own reflection and little else. It was just a trick of the light, at least that's what he told himself as he walked back to the edge of the concrete and stared out at the heat-silvered sky and the minivans keeping a silent vigil. He felt fidgety, restless, what his grandfather, an outport minister back in Newfoundland, would have called flicy. Hands shoved deep into his pockets, he turned and stared at the mall.
The vertical concrete slabs were almost the same shade as the sky.
Even without knowing what was going on inside, something about the building made his skin crawl. He would have said it was because it looked like a prison except there were two prisons within Kingston's old city limits and both of them were more attractive.