Epilogue:
There's No Place Like Home

Chapter 45 – The Big 1-5

Birthdays.

What would normally be a joyous, eventful occasion for some was oddly lukewarm for me. I mean, I like gifts and all — and I especially enjoyed the cake — but my heart wasn't really into the celebration. There could have been several factors that added to my lack-of-enthusiasm, ranging from the constant concern over Erasers attacking our home at any moment, to the awkwardness between Fang and me, and even the fact that I still hadn't gotten on the best terms with Mom again. I suppose when you boil everything down, all these problems were generated from the same spot: Jeb.

Speaking of the devil, he called me bright and early this morning.

"Happy birthday, Max," he said after I'd just came in from farm duty. I was sweaty and mucky, and in desperate need of a shower. The last thing I wanted to deal with was him, even if I did respect him now.

"Yeah, yeah," I barked, imagining the horror fest at school. James promised me an especially interesting gift, which had me both intrigued and frightened. "If that's all you called to say I'll be on my way."

"Not so fast." He paused, as if considering whether he should say something. It had been three months since I'd spoken to him. I assumed his doctor life had kept him busy, which was fine by me. But I did miss Ari.

I waited for him to say something.

"Did you ever talk to your mother about… that night?" I knew what he was referring to, and thinking about it made me sigh. This was the last thing I wanted to deal with today.

"No, why?"

I could hear his shrug over the phone. "I would just consider you doing so. It's not like you to be distant with her, and it worries me. You need to forgive your mother."

Suddenly, I was irate. "Listen, Dr. Phil, when did you suddenly become a psychiatrist? I will deal with that on my own time." Fang, who was eating pancakes in the kitchen, looked at me questioningly, but my returning glare had his eyes quickly dart away. I almost felt bad for the look but he was another person I really wasn't in the mood to deal with. "Just…" My breath came out shakily. "Just forget about it, okay? I will try to settle things, but I can't guarantee anything."

He consented. "Listen, Max, I want you to know that no matter what happens in the next year of your life, you can always trust me. Do you understand?"

For a moment I didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to sneer, Oh, now you act like the father you never were. Part of me didn't want to get my hopes up on his promise. I was skeptical as I answered. "Yeah, sure."

"I know you may not understand now," he said with clear disappointment toward my reaction, "but everything will be clear soon. I have a feeling that in this next year of your life things will change. Big time."

And my gut is telling me the same thing. But I wasn't going to let him know that I actually agreed with him. "Well, I need to get ready for school…" I hedged, hoping he caught my drift.

"Oh, right. Well, happy birthday again, and Ari sends his love, too."

We say our goodbyes and the phone clicks off. Despite being the big 1-5, I didn't really feel older. I felt ancient, like I'd been to hell and back. And somehow wiser, too. And right now my new instinct was telling me that Jeb's call was a horrible, horrible omen.

What will change in the next year of my life?

I unwrapped brightly colored paper from a firm, hard rectangle. James was sitting across from me in the hallway, watching me with an anticipated grin. I still wasn't sure what was inside. The gift felt hard and had some weight to it. Perhaps an exploding stink bomb? Maybe he placed a severed head in a box, as disturbing as that may be. (Hey, I've seen the Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a definite possibility!)

What it was surprised me.

"A brick?" I asked, confused. And somewhat disappointed.

James busted into laughter, cackling like a maniac. After I shot him a disapproving glare — and a smack on the side of the head — he produced a small bag from behind him. "Hey, it was a joke. Lighten up a bit, Max. You've been too tense since Christmas break. C'mon, it's your birthday!"

I cautiously took the bag from his hand, suddenly wary of what new prank he had in store. Reaching inside, I feel a mass of tissue paper and a clump of something I couldn't identify. It was solid yet soft. After I peeled away the layers, I was greeted by a medical-approved, squishy stress ball. It was so ironically perfect that I let out a cynical laugh.

"Do you love it or what?" he asked expectantly.

This time I laughed more naturally. "Of course I do. It's… oddly appropriate."

"I figured it was perfect… and I'm on a limited budget. You know, after my parents grounded me last month they reduced my allowance."

I wasn't ready to retell the events that lead to his grounding. I'm sure you have enough of an imagination to come up with some wild scheme of his. "Well, I'm sure this will get tons of use." I squeezed the stress ball and enjoyed the feeling of taking out my frustration on something that was made for that purpose. Although I didn't mind punching a couple of stuffed Erasers either.

"I wish I could have been there to fight those Erasers," he added with a sigh, reading my mind in a Fang-like manner. "That would have been the highlight of my life."

I thought for a moment, recalling Jeb's conversation. "Knowing my luck, it won't be long before they show up again. And this time it's not just Fang they're after; they want me, too."

"And it's all because of the wing-thing, right?"

When Fang and I had first returned home, I filled in James on everything that had happened while we were in New York. He was excited about the whole human-turning-into-wolves thing, and he was just as thrilled about the idea of Fang and I being created to have wings. He may be a future crazy scientist, but at least he had enough decency to be appalled by the treatment of those mutants we'd seen in cages.

"Yeah. Somehow they thought that giving us wings would make us greater than all the other humans and they would use us to take over the world or some sort of stereotypical evil scientist scheme. Can't they get more original?"

We laughed just as the bell for first period rang. I rolled my eyes and gathered my stress ball and brick. Leave it to James to do the unorthodox. As I scrambled through the hall, James yelled after me, "Happy Birthday, Old Fart!"

Apparently others were taking notice, too.

Later that night, while slaving over a horrible Algebra problem set — and desperately wanting to go to bed — Ella bounded into my room with a wide grin spread across her face. "Come downstairs! Mom made your favorite meal for dinner."

I growled under my breath, frustrated that my answers weren't matching any of the multiple choice options. I shoved the papers aside and got to my feet. "Okay," I sighed.

She frowned. "You're such a downer. It's no wonder you're sprouting some gray hairs."

"I am not." I couldn't help but run my fingers reflexively through my hair anyway. My stress wasn't really escaping anyone at this point. A teacher asked me in front of the whole class if anything was bothering me, leaving me glaring at her furiously and completely embarrassed.

We headed out of my room. Just as promised, I instantly smelled the glorious aroma of fabulous Mexican cooking, as well as a sweeter scent — chocolate. My mouth watered immediately. Sitting on the kitchen table as I came downstairs was a rich chocolate cake surrounded by cookies. Nothing gets to me more than my mother's famous chocolate-chip cookies. I swear that just at the mention of them my stomach could be heard growling in China. My fingers tiptoed across the tabletop and climbed up the mountain of cookies that were baked for moi.

A hand swatted at mine before I could snag a cookie.

"Save them for after dinner," Mom warned with a smile. "They should still be warm until then."

I grudgingly sat down at a chair. I suppose you can't rush greatness, even if was my birthday. So much for that whole your-dreams-will-come-true crap. All I want is a cookie.

Mom served food to the four of us. Dinner was a quiet event, what with the awkwardness between me and Fang, me and my mom, and me just not being in a cheery mood. Luckily the food was spicy and yummy, which always made me feel better. I ate quickly just to get to the sweets lined up for me. And after a rousing rendition of the happy birthday song, I finally got to savor Mom's cookies.

Mmm. Delicious.

"You can open your presents now," Mom said as we were all munching happily on cake. She handed me a long box, to which I opened resignedly. I was a hard person to shop for which, frankly, made my presents suck. While I liked getting presents, anything I did end up receiving had some practical value placed with it. I believed passionately that there is nothing worse than a practical gift. It meant you had no personality.

Big surprise, it was a box. When I pealed off the lid, my eyes widened like a kid in a candy store. Well, it was a practical gift, but this was something I would actually use. They were leather, fitted riding boots. The official, custom made, extremely expensive kind. I didn't want to think how much mom had spent for them, but my old ones were on their death bed.

"Thanks." She smiled at the comment, mostly because she knew that I meant it.

"Me next!" Ella volunteered as she handed me a bag similar to the one James had given me. When I reached inside and pulled out the lucky prize, it was a cylindrical container. The label dubbed it as a deep-conditioning hand lotion.

"You said you needed something for your hands during the winter. You know, since they get all dry and cracked from working in the cold."

She was right; I did mention hand lotion. Still, practicality was annoying.

"Thank you," I managed with a fake smile. I think she bought it.

Fang had been so silent the entire evening that I almost forgot he was here. I said almost because, even though he never said anything, I was totally hyper aware of him being in the room. It was pathetic how I could never be fully free of him anymore.

He held out a packaged wrapper that looked like a big piece of candy. "Happy birthday."

I untied a string holding it at one end. I hadn't told him to buy me anything, but no doubt Mom had made him get something. Then again, I would have known about that. Or at least I thought I would have caught on to a conspired trip to the mall. We hadn't been there as a group since… at least not since before Christmas vacation. So I had no clue what he could have gotten me.

When I pulled away the tissue paper covering it, I couldn't help but stare for a couple moments.

"I kept my promise," he said softly. "It was a project for art class. I thought you might like it, even if it's a bit ironic."

I used my fingers to spread it out as far as I could. It was a bracelet. The band was made of fine Indian leather, wrapped around several times and chorded with thick beads. In the center of the bracelet dangled a couple small, black feathers. Ironic, indeed, but I could tell it was made with care. And it wasn't too girly to keep me from wearing it.

"You like it?"

"This is amazing," I whispered. I looked into his dark eyes and grinned. "Thanks." And before I could stop myself, I jumped out of my chair and hugged him. It was quick enough not to draw unwanted and unnecessary attention from Mom or Ella, but not long enough for him to hug me back. He seemed surprised that I'd actually liked his work — or maybe just shocked that I'd hugged him.

I spoke before there could be an awkward silence. "Thanks again, everyone."

Well, at least this day hadn't blown up on me. I supposed I could have been attacked by more Erasers or something. At least I got to spend my birthday with my family, instead of in a cage with other creepy experiments. I couldn't begin to imagine how awful it would have been to have been raised in a lab with the only human interaction I'd experience was with scientists. Who could have grown up like that?

But right now, only one thing seemed important.

"Let's finish these cookies." All of us laughed in agreement.

I'm sorry it took me this long to update, and that the quality of this chapter isn't the greatest. I've been having some writer's block. So there are only two more chapters left, and from now on updates will probably be more infrequent. But reviews make me happy. :) In the mean time, check out a new story I'm working on. It's a parody of Vampire Kisses, and you don't need to know the story to understand the parody.

Happy New Year's Eve! Watch the Winter Classic tomorrow!! Go Flyers!!!!! :D :D :D
--biteoutoflife--