She huffed. “I'm just trying to deal with one thing at a time, so will you just back off.”
He backed away holding up his hands in surrender. He reached the wall and slid down it, sitting on the ground, his elbows resting on his knees. He gave her a look that said 'I'm waiting'.
Jaz glowered at him, folding her arms across her chest. She kicked up her legs and rested them on the bed, crossed-legged. She then gazed out the high window. The sun was shining. She hadn't been outside in over a week. It made her sad. Just tell him. Then maybe he'll let you go out.
She swallowed her pride, slumped a little and unfolded her arms, placing them either side of her hips. “Fevers, aches, stronger...senses.”
Driver looked up the moment she spoke. He'd been gazing down at the floor. Now his eyes were burning with interest as he studied her. “Aches where? Which senses?”
She hesitated before answering. “All over. Even when I don't have a fever, but worse when I do. And my hearing, sense of smell. Maybe my sight, not sure.”
“You've had five fevers in a week.”
She shrugged.
“How long does it last?”
“The longest was almost a whole day. That was yesterday. It's the worst one I've had.”
Driver nodded, as if expecting this answer.
She waited for him to speak again.
“What about, cravings?”
She blushed madly. She'd had many cravings, and not all in the same category. She'd die before she told him the sordid ones. Instead of answering, she just nodded.
After a while she said, “Even though it's disgusting... and I feel sick just thinking about it... I want... raw meat.” She was surprised she was confiding in him like that. It took her a moment before she could meet his gaze.
He regarded her with intense eyes. “You will... more often than not.”
She didn't ask all the questions brewing in her mind.
He added, “When you're ready, which will be sooner than you realize, you'll know why.”
*
Two weeks later...
Saturday May 28th , 2:33 p.m.
Driver's room
“I want you to meet Edda.” Maria raised a hand to the middle-aged woman who regarded Jaz with a polite smile.
Jaz eyed her suspiciously.
Edda was tall, skinny but lean and had a feminine face dulled by a ruddy, olive complexion. Her wide brown eyes focused on Jaz. Her short sandy hair was damp and her plump lips, which were her most attractive feature, hinted at a smile. She wasn't wearing make-up and her skin was beaded with sweat as if she'd just come inside after doing hard labour in the midday sun. To support this theory, she was wearing scruffy clothes and plimsole trainers that were caked with dirt.
Jaz turned to Maria, not sure of what to make of Edda.
“She wanted to meet you before you stayed in her cabin,” Maria explained with a light smile. “We feel that you are ready to move into an Early Pha- an Early Cabin. For those like you who are new to the way of life here,” she began.
“What you mean li-like live here? There? In a cabin?” Jaz questioned with equal surprise and trepidation.
“Yes, in a cabin-”
“-For how long?”
“As long as it takes. You're our guest and you can stay as long as you want, but at least while you're new to all this, I believe you'd be better off staying somewhere where you can be looked after. By someone with experience, who can help you through it. Until you're ready.”
Jaz was about to ask the question she had locked away since she'd been told she 'wasn't human'. Not so directly by Driver, and very directly by Maria. If I'm not human, what am I? She bit her tongue.
Edda held out her hand, but Jaz didn't return the handshake. She just stared at her, knowing it was rude to both stare and not return a handshake but her brain was stalling. She didn't want to shake Edda's hand because it felt like she was willing to put her faith in a woman she didn't know.
And after injecting herself with an iron shot that morning she wasn't feeling very well. More accurately: she felt like something a cat had sicked up.
Edda put her hand awkwardly by her side, her smile strained. Maria didn't seem offended, which made Jaz exhale with relief.
“What am I supposed to do there?” Jaz blurted out.
Edda eyed her and then glanced at Maria. “She doesn't know?”
Maria shook her head. “She doesn't ask.”
Jaz was dying to know but whatever answers they gave her, she knew it would be the final hurdle and there'd be no going back.
Edda looked at her and said matter-of-factly, “You're going there, until you awaken to the Change.”
All Jaz could do was gape at her in fear.
*
3:20 p.m.
Jaz hadn't really unpacked anything from her suitcase but many of her used clothes were piled in the corner of her room. Her toothbrush, hairbrush and all her other toiletries were in her little en suite. She was packing the last of the items into her toiletry back, when someone knocked on the door. She zipped up the leopard print bag and stuffed it in the suitcase. Then she turned to look towards the open door.