The First Lock - 36. EPILOGUE

Two Months Later

“Okay,” Katrena said firmly. “I am going to say this one last time, so listen up, monkey! If there is another random fire somewhere in the school building, or a mysterious tornado that only attacks your school zone, or some sort of a flood, or an earthquake during your test today, you will be so grounded! Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “And I am not a monkey...”

“You are a monkey,” she nodded. “And no mind tricks! He will be checking on you,” she nodded at Jett who seemed to be rather amused.

“I know,” Damien winced.

Katrena smiled with satisfaction.

“Not the alpha-dog anymore when it comes to mind control, are you? Good,” she nodded energetically. “Now off you go! Your bus is almost here.”

“Okay,” the kid sighed and grabbed his backpack. He paused by the front door and looked at Katrena. “Say hi to Paul for me, will you?” he said quietly.

“Yeah,” she nodded with a small, sad smile. “I will.”

“Bye, mom...” he looked at Jett. “Bye, Jett,” and he left.

“Hmmm...” Jett said thoughtfully. “I guess he’ll be calling me Jett until the end of days, huh?”

“Probably,” Katrena shrugged absent-mindedly. “Are you dying for him to call you ‘dad’?”

“I don’t know,” he said and got up, following her into the car. “Would be a nice change...”

“He might,” she got into the car and glanced at the back seat. The flowers she put there half an hour ago seemed to be fine. “Let’s go...”

...“I thought you said it was his birthday,” Jett frowned twenty minutes later when she stopped the car by the cemetery’s gate.

“It is,” she nodded and grabbed the flowers from the back seat.

“He is celebrating his own birthday at the cemetery?” Jett raised one eyebrow. “Has a bit of morbid fascination, huh? I guess I can see why you were attracted to him... He is...” he coughed politely. “Eccentric,” he finished with a small nod.

Katrena smiled and said nothing, making her way between the graves. Finally, she got to the right one and stopped, clutching the flowers.

“Where is everybody?” Jett frowned and looked around.

“Here,” she muttered and carefully put the flowers next to the headstone.

Jett blinked and looked at the photograph and the inscription. Then he briefly closed his eyes, silently calling himself a daft moron.

“Hey, McGregor,” Katrena said quietly, and Jett opened his eyes. “How are you? Me...? Oh, Paul, so much wild shit happened since the last time I talked to you, even I sometimes can’t believe it was real... That Friday in August, after I left you, I came back home and...”

“Hey, Kat,” Jett interrupted her softly. “I am going to go smoke by the car, okay?”

She frowned slightly.

“Why?” she asked with puzzlement, and he shrugged indifferently.

“Don’t feel like smoking at the cemetery,” he said. “Doesn’t feel right, you know?”

“Okay,” she gave him a small smile. “I will...”

“Take your time,” he interrupted her immediately. “Really...”

“Okay,” this time she didn’t smile.

Jett glanced at the grave one last time, gave the photograph a solemn nod, and walked away. He didn’t go to the car – he didn’t feel like smoking. The reason he told Katrena that small lie was the fact that he wanted to leave her and Paul alone for as long as she needed. He felt out of place right there next to her. He stood behind an old maple tree, leaning on it with his shoulder, and watched her solemnly, his hands in his pockets.

She sat down on a small bench in front of the grave, talking and gesturing mildly once in a while. In an hour or so, she kneeled next to the grave and started to wipe the photograph with her fingers.

“You made her happy,” Jett thought, seeing that photograph bright and clear in his mind. “Thank you... And you made Damien happy as well,” he nodded slowly. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t be calling out for you back in that house... Thank you,” he nodded again.

...He watched her for the next hour and a half, leaning on that maple tree, hands still in his pockets. A thought of a cigarette never even crossed his mind. Finally, she stood up, after running her fingers over the surface of the picture one last time, and then she was walking towards him. He peeled himself away from the tree and took a step forward.

“You sure took your time smoking,” she said seriously and patted his shoulder, getting all that bark off his sleeve.

“It’s an addiction,” he nodded solemnly. “Finished the entire pack...”

She almost said that he sure didn't smell like someone who just smoked an entire pack of cigarettes; in fact, he didn’t smell like smoke at all.

“Check on that monkey, would you?” she said instead and walked towards the gate, knowing that he would follow.

He did follow her rather slowly, his forehead slightly wrinkled in concentration.

“Good...” he muttered, and Katrena turned around and looked at him. Suddenly, he grinned. “Nice try, kid...” he muttered. “But that barrier is nothing for me...” He narrowed his eyes after a minute. Better...” he nodded slowly. “But not good enough... Don’t strain yourself, kid...” he laughed. “Just like your mother said, I am going to be the alpha-dog for a while, deal with it...!”

He hemmed and blinked rapidly.

“Oh, man,” he looked at Katrena. “In a couple of years or so, I won’t be able to check up on him anymore. The last barrier he pulled up was pretty good...”

“Great,” Katrena muttered gloomily. “It’s gonna be so much fun when he hits puberty... Ugh!”

“We’ll deal,” Jett grinned and put his arm around her shoulders. “Let’s go eat something. I want to celebrate my Social Security card...”

She shot him a dirty look.

“Do you have any idea what kind of paper-signing-hell I had to go through to get that damn card?” she asked in a low voice.

He lightly shrugged and tapped his temple.

“It’s a gift,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t have to sign anything... They just assigned a new number to me, that’s all.”

“Well, get a job then,” she said with fake sharpness. “I am not supporting your ass any longer!”

“I will,” he nodded with the same smile. “I can get any job I want.”

“Get the one that pays well,” she hemmed.

“I am planning on it,” he nodded. “Where do you want to eat?”

“Somewhere they serve steak,” she said immediately.

“Give me the car keys,” he stretched his hand. “I wanna drive.”

She handed him the keys without saying anything, and soon enough, they were zooming down the empty highway without even bothering looking at the speedometer. Nobody in the world would pull them over.

*********

THE END