The man gave him a distasteful look. He didn't like messy eaters, Jaz saw that much.
He was a hard-looking man. His manners, his face, his jaw, his whole body consisted of sharp, straight lines. His nose was rectangular and flat like he'd been punched there a few times. His mouth was thin lipped and severe. His eyes were small, beady and bright ocean-blue. They were watching her now, unblinking.
Jaz swallowed.
“Jasmine, right?” he asked in his gruff, slightly nasal voice.
She hesitated, then bobbed her head once.
He held out his square, strong hand. “I'm Garik. “
My uncle? Jaz's eyes widened. He wasn't what she had expected. She got to her feet and shook his hand. “Nice to meet you. And it's Jaz, by the way,” her voice croaked.
He bowed his head a fraction, his eyes closed. “Jaz. My mistake.” He scanned her up and down in a way Jaz couldn't understand. They released hands, though she could see his eyes still studying her face.
Skye saved her from the awkward moment. “Garik, you doing the afternoon shift?”
“Yep.” He smiled revealing small, crooked teeth. The smile looked odd on his face. “Brought the afternoon shifters with me.” He seemed to find that funny and chuckled.
Skye laughed politely.
Jaz just stared blankly. Oh, shapeshifters. Ha. Funny...
It was anything but. The idea just filled her with dread. Was that what they claimed she was? Some kind of shapeshifter? She couldn't get her head round it.
She was awoken out of her daze by the sound of someone creeping up by her side. She nearly jumped out of her skin when something brushed against her arm. It was Ronnie. He grinned as if pleased with himself.
“Sneaky,” she whispered, smiling.
“It was really nice to meet you.”
Jaz snapped her head up to look at Garik. He studied her face intently.
“You too,” came her weak reply.
With that, he gave her one last look that puzzled her even more before heading off to the van where the afternoon people were crowding round. She recognized two of the women there in the group of ten. The redhead with the screechy laugh and the raven-haired young woman with the Oriental eyes. When Jaz looked their way, Oriental Eyes was already watching her. She gave Jaz a hard look and then turned away to say something to her friend.
Jaz's brow furrowed with confusion. It looked as though the girl had given her a dirty look. What's her problem? She leaned into Skye's right ear and muttered, “Who's the redhead and the girl with the black hair next to her?”
Skye swallowed her mouthful of burger and discreetly peered in the same direction. She looked down at her plate. “The redhead is Sunhild, she works in Surveillance three days a week. The other is a Pack Scout. She's a nasty piece of work. Her name's Fraya.”
Jaz's eyes widened as she stared at the spot on the ground she'd been focusing on. Then she flicked her gaze up, peeking between her lashes as she skewered the woman who had made her sister's life a living hell.
*
Sunday June 5th
Construction site
It was exactly a week later when things took a turn for the worst.
Jaz helped out with the build every day from the early morning until around one o'clock. When she got the chance, she'd spend it lying in bed; her whole body aching.
That week, she had two fevers but they were manageable. Edda knew about them but didn't show any signs of concern. They appeared around dinnertime and continued all the way through the night. Jaz stayed in bed without eating; sleeping it off.
Every day, after returning to the cabin, she'd always get a visitor. Either Alf, Skye, Ronnie or Kelda and Kenna. They would drag her out the house, and take her on long scenic walks. Jaz didn't like to admit it, but she did feel better afterwards and she really enjoyed spending time with them.
The sisters came to see Jaz often, usually with Skye in tow. Ronnie came as often as he could between his homeschooling, and Alf would always tag along, no matter who was with him. He and Ronnie were very close; they treated each other like brothers. Jaz learned that the Scottish man, Tomas, who had slapped Alf on the back, was Ronnie's and Skye's father. It made sense that Tomas would treat Alf like his own son when she saw the affection between Ronnie and Alf.
Skye and Alf took it upon themselves to teach Jaz about the routines, the council, what everyone did; how the whole community saw each other as equals and took equal share in the chores; how they were self-sufficient but still did trading with the outside, and between Packs who they had good alliances with. They skipped over the Packs they weren't on good terms with, and Jaz didn't ignore it.