The First Lock - 30. Part 3, chapter 3

- III -

When Katrena came about, her head felt like it was about to split apart. She moaned, shakily sat up, and blinked when she saw a small puddle of blood on the carpet. She felt something tickling her lips and chin, and absent-mindedly wiped her mouth with her palm. Then she stared at her hand without blinking. The palm was covered in blood. She pulled herself up, holding onto the table, and shuffled into the bathroom.

She turned on the light switch and looked in the mirror. She had a hell of a nosebleed, she realized. Also, a thick strand of her auburn hair was now completely white. She looked at herself in the mirror for several minutes, and then turned on the faucets and washed her face. Cold water made her feel somewhat better, and the headache shrunk a little.

“Did I do it?” she thought numbly. “Did I break it? No, probably not... It’s impossible... I probably just passed out from pain, that’s all...”

She stared into her own eyes in the mirror and tried reaching for the Fire. For some reason, Fire was always the first one to respond to her. Nothing happened (“Of course!”) and she was about to slam her fists into the mirror hard enough to make it break, when all of a sudden, her fingertips itched like crazy. Her eyes flew wide open and she froze, concentrating on what she was feeling. The mad itching didn’t go away; it became bigger instead.

She let out a wild sound that sounded like a mix of laughter, howl, and a sob. Left wrist first, she thought without unlocking her gaze on the reflection of her own eyes. Nothing happened at first, but she felt like it was a child’s game to her now. Try number two made her entire left arm go numb for several seconds, and then there was a blue flash, and she started laughing manically. One remaining bracelet was nothing. It fell apart almost immediately. She was screaming with howling laughter by now. Suddenly, the entire bathroom set ablaze.

“Shit!!” she screamed with uncontrollable laughter. “Water! Water...! Oh, son of a bitch!” she shrieked when something very close to a waterfall drenched her instantly, threatening to overflow the entire house, let alone bathroom. She managed to stop cascading water, her throat hurting from all that manic laughter, and grabbed onto the counter. She looked around. The bathroom was ruined.

“Remodeling time,” she muttered, and then laughed again until she started to hyperventilate.

****

She could finally breathe normally around 6:30 in the evening. At first, all she wanted to do was to hop into her car and drive like a maniac around the city until she found the blonde. Then she realized that she would be looking for a needle in a haystack. That and the fact that Roxanne (“I will make you bleed from places you didn’t know you had...”) would probably kill Damien on the spot, September 2 or not, if she sensed her. She chewed on her lower lip until she almost drew blood. Finally, she got up, thanking God for the absence of headache finally, and reached for the magic streams.

This world wasn’t magic-free. It simply didn’t produce any individuals who possessed an ability to use it. The streams were here; they weren’t as strong as in her old world, but they were here, all right. As long as she could reach them, she could work with this.

She ran her fingers through all those streams, frowning in concentration, looking for the right one. Finally, she found it and yanked it forward. The stream shimmered angrily, but shot towards her, unable to resist. “Yeah,” she thought. “Not used to it, are you? When was the last time anyone used you? Probably a very long time ago, if ever... Suck it up and deal with it,” she smiled without opening her eyes. God, it felt fantastic to be able to do this again... She would have to be careful with the elements, however. She hadn’t used them in eight years, and it seemed to her that now she was even stronger than before. It wasn’t true, she knew that. It was simply the fact that she was in a ‘dormant’ state for a long time, and now she had difficulty controlling the strength of her calls.

She opened her eyes without seeing anything around her, a silver stream splashing on her eyelashes. She slowly raised one arm and her fingers trembled, creating a shimmering, spider-web-looking pattern in the air. Finally, she blinked and lowered her arm. The pattern grew bigger and brighter, and suddenly, it flashed silver-red and transformed into a portal. She smiled and nodded to herself before stepping through.

****

She had no idea if he was still living at the same place. She decided to take her chances. It took her maybe fifteen minutes to get to the right house, and then she stood still for almost ten minutes, staring at the painfully familiar door before finally being able to lift up her arm and knock onto the dark oak with her knuckles. There was no answer and she knocked harder. Finally, she heard footsteps from the inside, and drew a deep breath.

The door swung open, and when she saw him, she couldn’t breathe. He stared at her without blinking, his winter-blue eyes huge, mouth slightly agape. Neither of them said a single word; they just stood there, staring at each other. Finally, he blinked, and she thought for a second that he was about to slam the door in her face. He didn’t. Instead, he turned around and walked away. She took a very shaky breath and followed him, carefully closing the door when she was inside.

She walked into the living room and blinked when she saw a half-dressed brown-haired guy on the couch. Jett handed him some money.

“You need to leave,” he said, and the guy looked at Katrena with curiosity.

“Pity,” he said finally and started to get dressed.

When he finished with his clothes, he looked at the money in his hand.

“You didn’t have to pay the whole amount, you know,” he said with a half-smile. “We didn’t even get to the good part...”

“Not your fault,” Jett said tightly. “Your pocket shouldn’t suffer.”

The brown-haired man smiled.

“All right,” he nodded. “You’ll get a bonus next time,” he winked. “Call me,” he said before leaving.

Katrena heard the sound of the door closing, and took another shaky breath. He wasn’t even looking at her right now; he was staring out of the window instead.

“Jett...” she said after several minutes. “Jett...” she whispered when he still wouldn’t look at her.

He turned his head and finally looked at her, his mouth harder than ever, eyes colder than snow.

“Well,” he said. “I suppose the rumors of you being Locked were quite exaggerated.”

“No,” she muttered, unable to look away from his eyes.

“I see,” he nodded slowly after a minute or two. “So you found someone who opened a portal for you then?” he narrowed his eyes. “How are you planning on getting back?”

“Nobody opened a portal for me,” she said quietly. “Jett, I broke the Locks...”

“Right,” he nodded without even a hint of a smile, his eyes colder than before. “You broke all three Locks, and bears will stop shitting in the woods as of tomorrow.”

“I am not lying,” she said in the same quiet voice. “I didn’t believe it at first... I thought it would kill me, it was...” she tried to find the right word. “It hurt,” she said finally with a small shrug. “I passed out after the first one, and when I woke up, I realized that I did it...”

“Katrena,” he said, and she closed her eyes for a second. He always called her ‘Kat’ before. “I don’t know what game you are playing right now,” he continued. “And frankly, I don’t care. I am not even going to point out the obvious... Breaking all three Locks is impossible, that is... Why are you here?”

“I need your help,” she said simply, and he blinked and started to laugh.

“You need my help,” he said finally. “You disappear for eight years, without as much as leaving a note; you go to a different world; you...” he stopped talking and turned away. “And now,” he continued after several minutes of heavy silence. “You pop out of the blue, as if nothing happened, waltz in here, and tell me that you need my help...” He turned around and looked at her again. “Do you seriously believe that I will jump with joy and scream ‘Oh, God, yes!’?”

“Jett, please... Just listen, okay? Please...”

“No,” he said with a very dark, twisted smile. “Get out.”

“Jett, please just listen...”

“Katrena, go, all right? Just go... I don’t care where. Just leave, you are good at that.”

“Jett...”

“Leave... Now.”

“Goddammit, Jett! Just bloody listen!” she exploded, and suddenly, every single window in the house shuttered into pieces when an insanely powerful blow of the wind shook the entire house. “Shit!” she growled and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the Air. Finally, the wind stopped, and she carefully opened her eyes and looked at him.

He stared at her without blinking, his eyes huge once again. Katrena cleared her throat.

“Sorry about that,” she muttered. “I haven’t used it in eight years... It sort of out of control right now... I burned and then flooded my bathroom...”

He blinked slowly.

“You really did break them, didn’t you?” he asked in a quiet, disbelieving voice.

“Yeah,” she nodded, and he was silent once again.

“How?” he said finally, his eyes like two very confused question marks.

“I had a hell of a motivation,” she said bitterly. “The same motivation I need your help with...”

“What kind of motivation would make you break all three Locks?” he asked in the same tone of voice.

Katrena took a deep breath.

“I have to get my son back,” she said, and he stopped blinking again.

“You adopted a kid?” he asked after a minute of stunned silence. “I had no idea you had it in you... Anyway, why would I even care?”

“Because he is your son as well,” she said without looking away.

He looked at her as if she suddenly sprouted several horns and hooves.

“Okay,” he said very carefully. “I suppose breaking all three Locks causes brain damage...”

“That was the reason I left, Jett,” she said quietly. “I found out that I was pregnant. That’s why I left... I knew that if Claudia or Reagan found out about it, they would kill all of us immediately. I had to leave... I didn’t tell you because I knew you would never agree to that... I am sorry,” she finished in a whisper.

He looked very thoughtful right now.

“So you are telling me...” he said slowly. “...that two people, who are completely and utterly incapable of procreation, somehow, managed to create a life?”

She didn’t say anything, she just nodded.

“Oh,” he said with energy, as if he just got a sudden revelation. “I get it,” he nodded. “Charlie never left, isn’t that right? That son of a bitch drugged me, didn’t he? I am hallucinating right now, hopefully on my couch, and he is robbing me as we speak...”

“Charlie?” Katrena frowned. “The guy who was here when I came in?”

“Yes,” Jett said with a small smile. “Wonder what he gave me... This is extremely vivid... I am going to hunt that bastard down, and I am going to kill him when I wake up... If this shit gives me a headache, I will make him suffer, I swear!”

“Jett,” she said slowly. “Charlie left; you paid him and he left.”

“Of course, my lovely hallucination,” he nodded.

“You are not hallucinating!”

He looked at her with reproach.

“Every self-respecting hallucination would say that,” he nodded again, and she just sighed. “That explains everything,” he continued. “You breaking all three Locks, us creating a life... Oh, Charlie, you'd better find a very good place to hide...”

“Jett...” she closed her eyes for a second. “I don’t have time to convince you that you are not hallucinating right now. I have to find him and I need your help. Because first of all, I have no idea where he is, and second of all, even with my abilities, there is still a huge risk of her killing him if she feels that something is off. She would be able to kill him before I could get anywhere close... I can’t risk that.”

“She?” he squinted his eyes.

“Roxanne DeLuca,” she said quietly.

“How in hell did she even find you?” he frowned.

“She found the wizard who Locked me,” she sighed, noting the fact that he didn’t seem to mind talking to what he believed was an extremely vivid hallucination. “I made him swear that he wouldn’t tell anyone where I was right before I left, but apparently, breaking the promise was a lesser evil for him...”

“Huh,” he said very thoughtfully.

“Jett, please...” she took a quick breath. “Listen, even if you think this is nothing but a hallucination, come with me... I mean, when the drug wears off, you’ll simply wake up, right? What can it hurt? Jett, please come with me!”

He cocked his head to the left, his thoughtful gaze never leaving her face. Finally, he let out short laughter.

“Fine,” he said, and she closed her eyes when a huge wave of relief almost knocked all air out of her. “If I have a headache when I wake up...” he muttered, and Katrena interrupted him rather impatiently.

“You will make him suffer,” she nodded. “I got it!”

She dove into the magic streams, searching frantically. She found the one she needed almost right away, and soon enough, her fingers hastily drew the same spider-web-looking pattern in the air.

“Let’s go,” she glanced at Jett, whose expression was rather amused. “Give me your hand,” she commanded. “Don’t want to risk losing you on the way...”

He didn’t say anything and took her hand. She felt a powerful vibration running down her spine the minute his fingers wrapped around hers. “God, I missed you so much!” she thought hazily. “Please, don’t push me away, please!” She took a deep breath, and then both of them stepped through the portal, which hung in the air like a gaping hole.