loping along through the cosmos

34: BLAST FROM THE PAST

It was scorching hot.

The heat of the summer was making the three kids sweat as they stood in a backyard. Jade was holding a piece of paper while her uncle Jinx was pushing a shovel through the ground. Beside her was a pale boy standing, in awe of the other boy digging.

"Are you sure it's okay to do this here, Agy?" she asked.

The pale boy nodded. "Yeah. My nanny doesn't care about what we do here. As long as she's getting paid after this, she won't snitch on us." Agustus looked around their backyard. "She's not even here."

"I saw her when I took the shovel from your father's stock room. She was calling her boyfriend so she didn't see me," Jinx said as he dug deeper. He paused and wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. "This should be okay." He held out his palm towards Jade. "Give me the map."

"What if someone dug here and take that?" asked Agustus warily, the only person among the group that felt giddy.

"You won't let that happen, right?" asked Jade. "You'll be living in this house until we get old. We can take it back once Nana tells us to." She grinned. "I'm also telling this to Theo. He should be in on this too."

"Where is he, anyway? He said he wants to meet Agy but is always absent when we visit the De Villiers." Jinx was already placing back the dirt to hide the map, making sure the spot doesn't look unusual.

Jade groaned. "He's too chicken to go here. He said we're trespassing or something."

"Well, for one, you two aren't really visiting because you are trespassing. My parents said they don't want any visitors when they're not around, remember?"

"But you let us enter to it's not really trespasing, is it?" Jade asked, confused.

"Don't worry about that. It's too complicated for your little brains," Jinx teased while finalizing the spot. With three last taps, he turned to his companions with a proud grin. "We've successfully accomplished Nana's last mission for the month."

Jade happily raised a fist before high-fiving her uncle and her friend.

"No one should forget about this spot, okay?" Jinx reminded them. "At least one of us should remember it."

The two Valentines smiled at the boy standing in the backyard with them, not knowing that it will be the last time that they will see each other.

—---

Iris Lockhart sat in front of Jade Valentine's bodyguards.

The two men looked friendly, they were all smiles whenever Iris sees them in her restaurant. Now, the bodyguards couldn't stay in one place. They were pacing the room back and forth for half an hour already.

"Do you want some water?" she asked just to get their attention.

Fino stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "I'm going to call her doctor again."

Iris sighed. "You already did that 5 minutes ago, Mr. Evans. Also did 15 minutes ago."

Kieran then stopped and opened the door. "I heard footsteps."

Iris stood up from her seat, and followed the boydguaeds to her room. Tue enough, Jade was already om her way to the door when Kieran opened it.

Kieran and Fino sighed at the scene, almost dropping on their knees in relief. Meanwhile, Iris was the only one who approached Jade and checked on her.

"Are you feeling sick? Do you want us to get you to the hospital?"

Jade shook her head. "I'm not allowed to check in a hospital. I have my own private doctor who visits our house once in a while." She pointed at her bodyguards. "Must be hard reassuring these guys, huh?"

Iris smiled. "A little bit. I was worried, of course, but those men were on another level. You're lucky you have them with you."

"They're like my brothers," she whispered to her. "But they're also scared if I get hurt because they're going to get fired."

The bodyguards were now back to their usual self after Jade stuck her tongue out at them to tease them.

Kieran cleared his throat. "Are you okay now?"

"I remembered something."

The three adults looked at her in concern but only Iris could speak up. "From the past?" Jade nodded. "Before the accident?"

"Yes," she answered.

Iris slowly pulled her to the living room where everyone could sit down. Once all of them were settled, Jade continued.

"I was with Jinx and another boy. I don't know who this kid was until that memory," she turned to Iris. "And I'm a hundred percent sure it's not Theodore. I haven't met him for a while but we seemed close friends in that memory. He... his name is Gus?"

Iris stiffened. "Agustus? De Villiers?"

"De Villiers?" Jade repeated. "That's his last name?" She turned to her bodyguards. "That's the family of that man you caught in the woods!"

Kieran massaged his forehead. "Oh god, we're now connecting the dots. It's going to get more hectic."

"But more thrilling!" Fino excitedly said. "At least we'll get to know the people behind the incident. They should be behind bars years ago!"

"But that boy," Iris said softly, changing the atmosphere set by the bodyguards and Jade. "He's dead. He died," she swallowed, the next words hard for her to say. "Earlier this year."

"Oh." Jade slumped. "What's the cause?"

Iris shook her head. "Unknown gunman. The authorities never found a suspect."

Could this be connected to our problem? Jade thought before looking at her bodyguards with a frown. Then, she remembered why she went to Hiraya in the first place. "Mrs. Lockhart, I'd like to ask one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Do you know anything about the Lockharts? Theo's father and their ancestors?"

Iris looked up, thinking. Glancing back at Jade, she gave her a tight lipped smile. "Theodore's grandfather was supposed to marry your grandmother, Leira Sinclair. The people from their generation said that it was a hot topic. Leira being a renowned surgeon and painter, the Lockharts having a dynasty in politics."

"Why didn't they marry?"

"Theo's grandfather already has an illegitimate son on the way, but only the Sinclairs and Lockharts knew about it. So they thought that they could plan an arranged marriage between the two families. However, he died of food poison not long after the announcement. It was only then that the Lockharts approved of Theo's grandmother and let her have their name just so their legacy would continue." She sighed. "My husband was always trying to get the Lockharts' acknowledgement."

So, they Theodore's grandparents were never really married then?  "He died the same way my grandmother died."

"Do we have the same culprit then?" Fino asked.

"Or the Lockharts must have recreated the situation aa a form of revenge," Kieran pointed out, seeing it impossible for having one culprit since the Sinclairs aren't really the bad guys.

Jade was itching to say that her grandmother died because the Lockharts knew of her act back then. Kieran must be right but Fino's question was possible as well.

Is someone just orchestrating all of these or are the Lockharts really the puppeteers of it all?