Michelle was inserting the small clasp into the silver linked chain. She had dropped the diamond, coiled with slinky silver wire, back into the cup. Lucifer sat beside the cup. He wasn’t trying to get the diamond, but he seemed intent, keeping his crystal blue eyes on it, concentrating his attention on the gem.
“I’ve read about that,” Michelle said. “The Greeks thought diamonds were originally the ‘Tears of the Gods’—which is kind of cool. But a few diamonds are considered so deadly and dangerous there are people, even today, who refuse to touch them. The Hope Diamond is probably the most notorious.”
Michelle held up the chain with the diamond attached. “Pretty, don’t you think?”
“Totally spectacular.”
They watched as Lucifer tried to bat the slightly swinging gem on the new necklace chain Michelle was holding up in the air. “Not a toy,” Michelle said, laughing at Lucifer’s antics.
Heather glanced at her watch. “Uh-oh. I’m going to be late!”
“Where are you going?” Michelle asked.
“The Honolulu Queens Hospital is having a benefit. I’m supposed to be ready in half an hour.” She was getting up, shoving the chair back in place at the table. “We’ll have to talk. I need to tell you about what’s going on. Omar’s got this fancy famous lawyer, and it looks like he’s going to be out on bail soon.”
“Oh, good grief,” Michelle said, really alarmed at the prospect of Omar free and possibly on an angry rampage.
Almost at the same time, though, she had a sudden image in her mind: Heather was wearing a long silvery strapless gown; diamonds sparkled in her ears, and she was wearing silvery high heels. Heather had on the diamond necklace Michelle just made. With her long blond hair and tiny stature, she looked like a fairy princess.
“That benefit for the hospital is a big deal,” Michelle said, trying to ignore the perfect image of Heather from her imagination. “I read about it in the Honolulu Star newspaper. Who are you going with?”
Heather shrugged dismissively, “A guy I met when I was in the hospital.”
“A doctor?” Michelle asked.
“No. A weatherman named Mike. He’s much too tall for me, and a total geek.”
“You like this guy!” Michelle said, smiling. “Every man is too tall for you.”
“And most guys are too short for you, except Rod, who’s perfect,” Heather said.
Michelle ignored the comment, “You like intelligent, intellectual geeks. You always say nice things about the guys you date, but not this one.” Michelle laughed. “So he must be special. How’d you two meet, if he isn’t a doctor?”
“He came to see the woman who’d been hit with a lightning bolt. I think he wanted to know if my brains were scrambled.”
Heather was moving to the door and Michelle picked up the diamond necklace, following her. “Since you’re going to wear that silver dress, this will go with it perfectly.” She held the necklace out to Heather.
Heather stood still at the door. She turned around, eyes wide, and looked at Michelle. “I didn’t tell you what I was wearing.”
Michelle shrugged, “I guess I just knew.”
“I’d love to wear it,” Heather said. “Don’t be upset. I think you are a witch, but like the professor said...you’re the good kind.”
“Sometimes it scares me a little,” Michelle admitted.
Heather took the necklace and smiled as she put the chain on over her head. “Thanks. I’d love to christen the necklace...be first to wear it. If anyone asks if it’s real, don’t worry, I’ll just say I wish it was. It’s so totally gorgeous.”
“Have a good time. I’ll want all the details tomorrow morning,” Michelle called out as she watched Heather skip down the hallway toward her own condo, her long blond hair swirling behind her.
Heather stopped and turned, “Don’t be upset about being a witch. You just have some really neat, unusual powers. I think it’s great.”
When Michelle closed the door she wondered if she’d done the right thing. Normally she didn’t believe in superstitious nonsense, but the legends about big diamonds being cursed seemed to go on through the centuries. So if a diamond really had a spiteful type of spirit inside, it sure as hell had a long shelf life; like the stories of a genie in a bottle, waiting centuries for some unsuspecting victim, to release it. She didn’t want her best friend, Heather, to be struck with some kind of weird bad luck, just for wearing the beautiful piece.
Michelle went outside on the balcony and sat down with her now cold coffee. She had bought the condominium because of the gorgeous tropical view that overlooked the ocean and Waikiki. Lucifer sprang on her lap and hunkered there as she watched a beautiful sunset glowing, dappling golden lights into the wavelets out over the ocean.
Besides Heather, Michelle’s concern was the fact that Omar was one very angry man; murderously angry at her. If he really got out on bail, he lived right here in this condominium, in the luxurious penthouse at the top of the building, where he parked his helicopter. He would either want revenge, or maybe decide to begin his sinister master plan all over again. If he did, Michelle knew she’d be in terrible danger.
Omar was an acclaimed magician. His followers believed he had supernatural powers as a Warlock. He had devotees from all over the world. The women who met him all wanted to be witches in his covens, because his charisma was brilliant and mesmerizing, and because he was so handsome.
Omar also had proprietary knowledge of many herbs and poisons. If he ever got hold of her, Michelle didn’t know if she’d be able to withstand another attack. The last time she’d had the help of Professor Vincent Middleton, an expert in psychic phenomena, from Stanford University in California. Heather and Rod had come later, tracking her to the island of Kauai. They had given her the needed help, moral support, and incentive to
