What happened to her though? Surely if she was still a Werebeast he'd be looking at her very differently. She held up her hands. They were her hands. She smiled and gazed drowsily back up at Alf. “What happened?” she slurred.
“You were running. I saw you and tried to catch up then you fell over, began convulsing and passed out. You were in and out of consciousness. And your bones were clicking and cracking a lot.”
“Did I...? Did I...Change?” she managed to say. Her tongue was like a fat slug in her mouth.
Alf shook his head gently. “No.”
“Oh...You know... I think...If I did... I don't think it'd be so bad... after all.”
Alf smiled.
Jaz knew she was blurting out nonsense and squeezed her dry, cracked lips shut.
Alf nodded his head in agreement. “You're right. It's not as scary as you think.”
She closed her eyes. “I said some really bad things to Nik.”
“I know.”
She opened her eyes again to look at him; her focus was a little off.
“I heard,” Alf added. “He told me to find you. I followed your trail here.”
“I didn't mean to... I think I really hurt him.”
Alf grinned. “I thought you didn't like him, so why do you care?”
She gazed up at him, her eyes watery. “I lied, Alf. I've lied all along. Even to myself. I can't help it.”
Alf bobbed his head once. “Don't let your fear hold you back, Jaz.”
She sniffed wiping her nose with the back of hand. “I don't think I can walk. Take me home.”
He lifted her up without hesitation. “You're still skinny y'know. My grandma weighs more than you do.”
Jaz sniggered into his shirt. Then the sounds turned into quiet sobs. She cried into the nook of his neck until she drifted into blissful unconsciousness.
~Chapter 33 - Rush~
Later that day...
Wednesday June 22nd, 9:10 p.m.
Jaz's bedroom
Jaz woke up to the sound of a tinkling noise. Fluttering her eyelids, she managed to crane them open to see where it was coming from. Her gaze focused on the ceiling of her cabin bedroom. She glanced to her left at the bedside table clock. She'd slept at least four hours. Her body was so stiff she felt like a mannequin.
She heard the same sound again only this time it was a loud rattling; something she'd heard many times before but it took her a moment to recognize it. She turned to her right and tried not to show any reaction at the sight of Nik Driver sitting by her bed, watching her.
He was perched in his familiar state of complete ease, on her wooden desk chair that Alf had given her.
He looked calm and seemed his usual self though there was a cautious glint to his eyes. He was holding up the half-full, iron supplement bottle she'd discarded in the bin two weeks ago. How he'd gotten hold of it, she could only imagine. But she suspected like the used hemlock roots, they must have been retrieved by someone, and Garik's suspicious presence earlier was a huge clue.
She looked away, flushing her irritation down the toilet of her brain.
Nik pressed the bottle between his hands by his thighs. “How long ago did you stop taking them?”
It was a huge relief to hear his calm, soothing voice. “Around the time my iron levels got better,” she whispered.
“A month ago?”
She shrugged.
He popped the cap and she turned her head back to him. It hurt to move her neck. He handed her a pill and a glass of water. She carefully sat up; it was a clumsy, painful effort but she did her best not to show it, before obediently accepting the pill and water.
The pill slid down her dry, parched throat. She glugged down the rest of the water.
Nik gazed at the empty glass as she handed it back and then peered at her. “I'll get some more.”
She tried to sit up and winced, her voice was breathless as she said, “N-no, I'm f-fine.”
Nik held his hand up in a stop motion. “I wasn't asking.”
She slumped back against her pillow.
“I'll be back.”
She waited for a long, uncomfortable minute before he returned with a bigger glass filled to the brim. He shut the door behind him, handed her the glass and sat back in the chair.
She took it, staring at him above the top of the glass before taking a sip. She couldn't stop herself from gulping it down after that: she hadn't realized how thirsty she was. She closed her eyes as the glorious liquid rushed down her throat and into her empty stomach. She then put the glass back on the bedside table and inch by inch, turned to look at him.
He was watching her closely, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together, the thumbs propped up beneath his chin, his index fingers touching the inside corners of his brows. She'd seen this position before when he sat just like that on his bed the day she'd confronted her aunt. The first day she'd met Skye and her grandmother.
How drastically things could change in such a small space of time.
“You should keep taking them,” he began.
She didn't argue, but nodded once.
“Once a day, for now. Just to be safe.”
She gazed down at her hands resting on her duvet.