Chapter 2: Whammy's House
The plane ride was long, and Jaz slept through most of it. She was experiencing severe psychological trauma, and her body refused to continue functioning, completely drained of energy from the events of the previous twenty-four hours. She tensed and mumbled to herself, sweating and whispering terrified phrases. It was the quietest reaction to a nightmare that Mr. Whammy had ever witnessed. It was like she was subconsciously aware that she was in a public place, and she refused to make a specatcle of herself. Mr. Whammy regarded the look of pure terror on her young face, and he felt bad for her, but he couldn't wake her up even if he wanted to. She needed her sleep, and he knew that she would most likely train herself to function without sleep, becoming an insomniac like many of his charges. He decided that he would wake her up if she started screaming. They landed without any incidents, and he woke her when everyone had exited the plane. "Hey, sir," the attendant said. "We need you to exit the aircraft."
"Yes, I understand." Mr. Whammy lifted Jaz into his arms with little effort because she was so small and light. He immediately proceeded to the baggage area, setting his newest charge on a bench gently. She woke when he returned with his bag, standing and shuffling along beside him, the bandages on her feet acting like shoes. She tugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders, taking care to keep it off the ground. She hadn't taken it off since Mr. Whammy had wrapped her in it. Mr. Whammy opened an umbrella, motioning for Jaz to follow him into the storm. "The orphanage is not far, Miss Talbot. I apologize for the lack of transportation, but they did not expect me to be home so soon."
"Mr. Whammy, I recall telling you to refer to me as Jaz." Jaz stated in a monotone. Mr. Whammy could already tell that she was going to fit right in.
"Oh, of course, Miss Jaz."
Jaz sighed. "Not Miss, Mr. Whammy. Just Jaz. I do not wish for anything to remind me of the life that was so cruelly taken from me. I need to be a normal civilian. Well, as normal as a genius with a mysteriously dark past can get, I suppose."
"I understand, Jaz." Mr. Whammy was saddened by how distant the damaged little girl had become. He sighed. He should have expected it. Many of his charges were mute, or antisocial, or just plain mean, tormented by horrible memories of their pasts.
Jaz hung her head as they walked in silence, trying her best to keep from crying.No more tears. Not now, not ever. I can no longer afford any kind of weakness. If I do, I will be no match for the cult when they find me. And find me they will, of that I am certain. Leaving America has only delayed them, momentarily put them off my scent. That old man was too smart to get caught in the fire. He knows I am alive, and he will stop at nothing to find me. When he does, I must be prepared. Before she knew it, they had stopped in front of a large, wrought-iron gate, very similar to the one that had spanned the perimeter of her home. She sighed. It seemed she would not escape her past after all.
"After you, Jaz." Mr. Whammy gracefully held out one slender arm to the open gate. Jaz started in surprise. When had it opened? She shook her head in disdain, reprimanding herself under her breath for letting her guard down. She shuffled forward, staying under the shelter of the umbrella to the best of her ability. Mr. Whammy followed her, and she didn't turn around when the gate slammed shut behind him. She walked down the beautifully paved path that led up to a mansion. Her heart wrenched painfully at the resemblance it bore to her childhood home. When she reached the front door, Mr. Whammy slid a key into the lock and swung the door open silently, revealing a warmly-lit entrance hall. She stood on the mat and removed the sopping bandages from her chilled feet. To Mr. Whammy's surprise, her feet were healed completely, not even slightly scarred. "How is this possible?"
Jaz grimaced and dropped the bandages into the wastebasket that was right next to the door, hearing them land with a wet splat. "It has to do with my... well, you know." She waved a hand over the X, the blanket hanging off of one shoulder and pooling around her newly healed feet. Mr. Whammy only nodded and pulled the blanket over her other shoulder, hiding the X. Jaz smiled gratefully. "Thank you." Suddenly, she caught a flash of movement. She craned her neck around Mr. Whammy's body and met the obsidian eyes of a boy who was about fourteen. Dark bags accented the dark orbs, made more noticeable by skin as pale as hers. Black hair stuck out in all directions and he stood hunched over, as if he carried a very heavy burden on his back. His clothing hung off of his bony frame; a long-sleeved white shirt and baggy denim jeans. He was barefoot. He regarded her cooly. "Who is this, Mr. Whammy?" she asked in a monotone. A flash of surprise brightened the boy's eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come, replaced with the aloofness that Jaz reflected in her own.
Mr. Whammy turned to follow her gaze. "Oh! This is L. He is a resident here."
Jaz couldn't help but mentally facepalm. "Yes, I realized that." She kept her face impassive, although she felt the urge to roll her eyes. She repressed the urge, staying polite to her new guardian. "Hello, L." She walked around Mr. Whammy, shuffling just like she had on the way from the airport. Again, she saw that flash of surprise in L's eyes. "I am Jaz. I am to be your new housemate."
L held out one slender hand. Jaz eyed it a little distrustully before hesitantly holding her own out.What is he doing?she wondered. Suffice it to say, she had never seen a handshake before, much less participated in one. A small smile graced L's face. He grabbed her small hand in his own and shook it once, gently. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he let her go. "It's called a handshake, Jaz." His voice was also a monotone, deep and smooth.
Jaz blinked. "What does a handshake singify?" she asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.
L chuckled. Mr. Whammy watched in surprise as L and Jaz bonded, becoming closer than friends in a matter of seconds. The fourteen-year-old boy explained how a handshake meant "hello" without having any words spoken. Jaz's eyes widened. "Well, I was certainly sheltered. I have so much to learn!"
L smiled and wrapped an arm around the little girl protectively. "It's okay. I'll be your family now. I'll teach you all about everything I know." Jaz smiled, only barely holding back tears, and wrapped both of her arms around her new brother. Somehow, the blanket stayed where it belonged.
"L," Mr. Whammy asked. "Is it all right if Jaz sleeps in your room for tonight? I took her in unexpectedly, and I need to prepare a room for her with children her own age." L nodded, then he and Jaz shuffled off, L slightly pulling her along.
L led Jaz up to an elevator, pressing the up button. They waited a few moments until the doors opened, and then he practically dragged her inside, shaking with excitement. He didn't press any buttons; instead, he swiped a card in a slot next to the buttons."Welcome, L."A robotic voice stated melodically as the elevator started moving.
Jaz looked around for the voice, startled. It was clear that she hadn't experienced many of the wonders of the modern world. "It's okay, Jaz." L said. Jaz relaxed in response. If her brother said it was okay, then it must be okay. "It's only a robot."
"What's a robot?" Jaz asked in reply. L spent the whole elevator ride explaining different things to Jaz. He was surprised at how fast Jaz learned, but then again, Mr. Whammy wouldn't have taken her in if she wasn't smart. Jaz was sad when the elevator stopped, but she soon forgot that when the elevator doors opened directly into L's room. One half of it was shrouded in darkness, but what she could see were many screens. They covered the entire wall, with a solitary laptop sitting open on the floor, its monitor showing a black L on a white background. She got the feeling that, whatever it was, it was important and she probably shouldn't be messing with it, no matter how much she wanted to. She took in the rest of the room. A bed was shoved up against the corner, as far away from the wall of screens as it could possibly get. It didn't look like it had been recently used. A desk stood next to it, but what was remarkable about it was that it was covered with sweets of every kind, ranging from lollipops to strawberry shortcakes. Her mouth watered, and she dimly recalled eating dinner just before her parents had been killed. That made it at least twenty-four... no, forty-eight hours since her last meal.
L followed her gaze, and he frowned slightly. "Jaz, when was the last time you ate?"
"Two days ago." Jaz mumbled. Her stomach growled, as if proving her hunger.
L sighed. "You need to eat, Jaz. If you keep going for much longer without any food in your system, your body will shut down."
"Yeah, I know." Jaz shrugged, the movement sliding the blanket aside for a split second to reveal just a glimpse of black. "There's just been so much going on, I didn't even realize..." She trailed off as L held out a strawberry. "Ooh." Her eyes glinted with delight as she ate the strawberry in one bite, a little bit of juice dribbling down her chin. "Mmm." She closed her eyes in happiness, reveling in the sweet taste of the fruit. Then she saw the doughnuts. There were many, but she picked up one with no hole in the middle, knowing that it was a sign that it was filled with something. She sniffed it, and the unmistakeable tang of lemons assaulted her nose. Jaz's eyes brightened, and she looked around for the honey, spotting it quickly. She drizzled it on the pastry, and then sprinkled some powdered sugar on it. She noticed L watching her strangely. "What?" she asked, lowering the doughnut from her lips.
"It's nothing; I just thought that I was the only one who had a weird thing for combining sugary things." L grabbed a huge slice of strawberry shortcake, setting the strawberry aside before he ate it. Jaz smiled and took a bite out of her dessert, sighing contentedly. She ate a few more doughnuts after that, but only the jelly-filled ones. L tried one and didn't like it, so he gave all four of them to her. She smiled and ate them slowly, savoring each bite like it was sacred. L smiled. He was the same way with his cake.
After they were done, Jaz yawned. "You can have the bed." L said. "I don't usually use it anyway."
"Why not?" Jaz inquired. L looked okay; he didn't seem that sleep deprived, well, except for the bags under his eyes.
"I'm an insomniac." He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it when he saw Jaz nodding tiredly, trying her hardest to keep her eyes open. "Okay, you need sleep." He drew back the blankets for her, and helped her exhausted body lay down. He went to take the blanket from her shoulders, but her grip tightened. A flash of hurt momentarily made it past his walls, and he quickly hid it, but Jaz had already seen it. She shifted her gaze to a spot just over his right shoulder and let go of the blanket. L removed it, and she shut her eyes tightly, unwilling to see the look of horror that was sure to overtake his features. He stared at the mark, tons of theories and possibilities running through his mind. He saw how stiff she was, and instantly knew that the unusual anomaly had given her a lot of trouble during her life. "What happened?" he asked quietly. Jaz tentatively opened her eyes and was shocked to find that L was looking at her with no horror, just curiosity.
"I was born with it. My mother said that I had a twin brother as well, and that he had an emerald one on his hand, but the nurse that was caring for him kidnapped him and I have never even seen him. My parents sued the hospital, but the nurse just completely disappeared. I've never met my big brother." She was silent for a few moments. "Anyway, I was born with it. I don't know why. I think that my dad had one, too, because he was constantly wearing an armband over his bicep. He never took it off, not even at night. My parents put me in a public school for kindergarten, and I wore turtlenecks for pretty much the whole year. But when it started getting warmer, the kids started making fun of me for dressing so weird. They said that an Everburne should be more dignified... We got a tutor after that." Jaz was too wrapped up in her memories to notice her mistake, but L froze.
"Everburne?" Jaz's eyes snapped up to his in panic. "You'rethe Jasmine Everburne?" Unable to take back her slip-up, Jaz only nodded. "But, they said you were dead... You faked it, didn't you?" Again, she nodded. "Why?" L was truly curious. What would drive such a little girl to fake her own death?
Jaz looked at him, silently staring into his eyes and looking for any sign that she could trust him. Reluctantly, L pulled down his mental walls, letting all of his emotions show through. Jaz did the same, letting him see her raw, unadulterated pain to prove that her story was indeed the truth. "My life was in danger, and the people who threatened it would not stop until I was dead. So I decided to mislead them. They set my house on fire, accused me of being a witch, and one man even tried to strangle me. I ran five miles in bare feet." L looked at her feet disbelievingly. There were no marks, nothing to prove her statement. "You can talk to Mr. Whammy. He's the one who cleaned and bandaged them. It has something to do with the stone." L nodded. When he looked at her again, she was asleep. He pulled up the bedclothes to her chin, and put the blanket she had been wearing for two days straight over her sleeping form.
L turned to his laptop and crouched in front of it, turning on the microphone and talking to the task force he was working with on a murder case in France. He stayed like that well into the night, only moving to get cake or just to move into a more comfortable position. He was currently working on seven different cases around the world, and so he was very occupied. At around three in the morning, he heard soft whimpers coming from the bed. He stood and shuffled over to it, surprised to find Jaz writhing and kicking, clawing at her neck with her face sruched up in terror. She made hardly any noise, but he could see that she was definitely having a nightmare. "Hey," he said gently. "Hey, Jaz." She flinched away from him in her sleep and stopped writhing, but she was shaking so hard she was actually moving the bed. He firmly grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her. "Jaz. Jasmine Everburne." She didn't respond. "Jaz Lawliet." He didn't realize what he was going to say until he said it, but it worked.
Her eyes fluttered open, stark terror very visible in the golden irises. "What..." she groaned, her voice a little raspy from sleep. "What did you just call me?"
A light blush dusted L's cheeks. "Jaz Lawliet."
Jaz smiled. "I like it. From now on I will be Jaz Lawliet, because Jasmine Everburne is dead and I never liked Jazia Talbot anyway. Although it says it on all my fake documents, I will hardly ever go by Jazia Talbot ever again. I am your little sister, after all, L Lawliet."
L smiled. "Do you have nightmares often?" Jaz nodded. "I can help you keep them away."
Hope flared in Jaz's eyes. "Can you really?"
"Yes. If you deprive yourself of sleep, you go for a very long time without the nightmares. When you do need to sleep, you are so exhausted that you don't dream at all."
"How do you know?" Jaz asked, but she had a sinking feeling that she already knew the answer.
"I used to have them as well." Jaz sighed. She had been correct.
"Well, tell me how, please. I am so sick of having these over and over again."
L smiled with understanding. "Well, eat a lot of sugar. I was actually surprised that you fell asleep after all those doughnuts. The sugar should have kept you up. Caffeine also helps."
"Caffeine like coffee?" Jaz asked, shuddering slightly. She had tasted coffee only once before, and she had detested it.
L noticed the shudder and inwardly smirked. "Well, there are also energy drinks and sodas that are jam-packed with caffeine and sugar."
Jaz brightened. "Really? Do you have any?"
L smiled. "Well, yeah. I'm okay with coffee, but the energy drinks and soda taste much better. There are also energy drinks that have coffee in them." He walked over to a minifridge that Jaz hadn't noticed before, retrieving two tall, black cans. They had green squiggles on them and said "Monster Energy". L handed her one. "Here. This should keep you awake, and if it doesn't, then I have no idea how to help you." Jaz shrugged and popped the top, chugging the fizzy liquid without even a grimace. Luckily, the caffeine and sugar combined did their job. Jaz's heart was racing and she was extremely hyper. L watched in despair as Jaz walked in circles, being quiet and careful not to wake anyone else up.Maybe I should have started her out small with a Mountain Dew or a Coke instead of the Monster.he thought as he observed that Jaz was now standing on her head and giggling uncontrollably. She teetered, and he caught her just as she toppled over sideways.
Jaz was still giggling quietly four hours later, when L summoned the elevator to take them to breakfast, since they had eaten all of the sweets that he had in his room. She calmed down during the elevator ride, thankfully. They emerged onto the first floor when the elevator stopped. Jaz had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, unwilling to part with it lest anyone see her mark. All conversation stopped when they entered the huge dining hall, every head turning to look in their direction. Jaz held her head up and sauntered over to a table without even flinching, knowing that her birthmark was covered up. No one was sitting at the table because it was piled high with food, most of it sugary. She immediately spied the doughnuts, and she grabbed all the jelly-filled ones. There were about eight. She also grabbed a jar of honey and a container of powdered sugar, not worried about taking it all because there were about ten more of each. She knew that people were looking at her oddly, but she didn't care. So what if she had a fetish for jelly-filled doughnuts covered in honey and powdered sugar? It was good!
L stood at Jaz's side, his plates piled high with slices of many different kinds of cake. He also had a mug of something that smelled fantastic. "What's that?" Jaz asked, staring pointedly at the mug.
"It's called hot chocolate. Have you ever had it?" Jaz shook her head regretfully. Several gasps alerted her to the fact that people were still watching and listening to them. "You have to try it!" L exclaimed. He grabbed another mug of the aromatic stuff, somehow balancing three plates of cake along his arms and holding mugs of hot chocolate in each hand.
Jaz eyed L with interest. "Wow." she remarked. "You're talented." She balanced her plate of doughnuts on her head and held the sugar and honey in one hand, her other one keeping the blanket in its place.
L smiled, eliciting more gasps from their audience. "So are you, showoff." Jaz grinned and scanned her eyes over the cafeteria, finally landing on a table near the back. Three children sat at it, not paying any attention to what was going on in the rest of the room. One had a white head of hair just like her, and he looked almost exactly like L. He was dressed completely in white and was playing with little toy robots. He looked like he was about eight. The other two sat as far away from him as they possibly could, and Jaz immediately felt sad for the little boy. She knew how it felt to be shunned. The offenders looked to be about Jaz's age. The one on the right had blonde hair that fell to his shoulders, and he was dressed entirely in black leather. His cold blue eyes stared at the little boy with something akin to anger. Beside him was a redheaded boy, who was occasionally stealing little bits of chocolate from the blonde boy's overflowing plate. The redhead was wearing white goggles with orange lenses, so Jaz couldn't see his eyes. He was playing a small handheld game and chewing, yes,chewing, on a cigarette.
Jaz made her way over to them, with L following close behind. She set her plate of sugary goodness down by the white-haired boy, quickly retrieving her mug of hot chocolate from L's grasp and helping him set his cake down. All three of the children looked up, and their faces changed from surprise to utter shock when they saw L. "L!" the boy with the blonde hair said.
"Hello, Mello." He gestured to Jaz, who was now sitting next to the little boy. "This is Jaz Lawliet."
"Hello, Jaz." the little white-haired boy said before the other two could even get a word in. "I am Near." He spoke in a monotone just like L and Jaz did. Jaz smiled and offered Near a doughnut, since he had no food in front of him. Near took it and eyed it suspiciously. He looked over at Jaz, who was drizzling honey and powdered sugar on a raspberry jelly-filled doughnut. "Can I have the honey and sugar?" he asked, curious to try the concoction that Jaz seemed to enjoy so much.
Jaz handed them to Near, and then she turned to the blonde boy, the one L called Mello. "You're Mello, right?" she asked. He nodded. She turned her gaze to the redhead.
"Matt." he said, as if he knew that she was looking at him. He grunted in frustration because he couldn't beat the boss on this level. Suddenly, Matt's game was grabbed from him. He looked up in anger, but stopped short when he saw that Jaz was staring at it and pressing buttons with a look of intense concentration on her face. Mello started to stand, ready to steal the game back for his friend, but Matt put a hand on his arm. "Wait." he said. "I want to see what she does." L and Near just watched, with Near leaning over her shoulder. His eyes widened fractionally every once in a while, and Matt had never seen Near look as surprised as he did now. Mello also looked surprised at Near's expression. Near was emotionless, like the robots he played with, and even this expression was out of character for him. Jaz handed back the game, a look of satisfaction gracing her features. Matt looked at the screen and choked on his cigarette.Congratulations! The screen proclaimed.You have beat the level! "How?" he asked staring at Jaz in surprise. Mello gasped quietly. Matt had been slaving on that level for three hours straight, and Jaz had beat the boss in a matter of seconds! Jaz launched into a detailed conversation with Matt about battle strategies, and they were pretty much instantly best friends.
Mello watched the two in awe. No one was better than Matt at videogames, and he felt a grudging admiration for this girl. "She's a genius." he said to L.
L smiled proudly. "Of course she is. She's my little sister."
Mello's jaw actually dropped. "Since when did you have a little sister?"
"As of yesterday." came the reply. L watched Jaz happily as she and Matt chatted about things called game platforms.
Jaz stopped in the middle of her sentence when she felt a weight on her lap. She looked down and smiled in delight at the sight she found. Near was curled up next to her with his head in her lap, and his arms were wrapped around her waist. He was fast asleep. L craned his neck to see what Jaz was so happy about and laughed out loud. Matt and Mello, stunned into silence because L was laughing, came around the table to see what all the commotion was about. Matt choked on his cigarette again, and Mello just stared in surprise.
Jaz ran a hand through Near's shaggy white hair. Near smiled in his sleep and relaxed, purring a little bit. Jaz turned to L, her eyes dancing. "Can we keep him?" L choked on his cake. "He's like a little kitty... He can be my little brother!"
"Of course we can," L conceded. "That is, if he wants to." Jaz made a happy little squealing sound. Jaz forgot that she was supposed to be holding onto the blanket, and fell away, exposing her secret to the whole room. The conversation quieted again, and most of the older kids were giving her pitying looks while the younger ones just regarded her with curiosity. No one noticed the boy crouched on the other side of the room that was observing Jaz with a predatory look in his red eyes.
Mr. Whammy led Jaz into the elevator and pressed a button that said 2000. "There are more than 2000 floors?" Jaz asked in surprise.
Mr Whammy chuckled. "No, that's the year you were born."
Jaz considered this. "Oh. That makes sense. But why does L have his own floor?"
"L is the greatest detective in the world, so he needs his privacy. He is also the only child who was born in 1997 that we are currently housing." Mr. Whammy explained.
"Hmm." Jaz said. The elevator opened to a brightly lit corridor, lined by doors of many different colors. Mr. Whammy led Jaz up to a black door. "How did you know that black is my favorite color?" Jaz asked, looking up at the sweet old man inquisitively.
"L noticed it, actually. He observed that you have so much black, and you might have mentioned it when you were high on caffeine." Jaz blushed.
"Well, in any case, thank you, Mr. Whammy." Jaz said.
Mr. Whammy removed a card from his pocket. "This is your keycard." he stated, handing Jaz the shiny black rectangle of plastic. It had a string of silver numbers on the front. "This also doubles as a debit credit card. It has all your funds, so you don't have to worry about spending too much. You have a laptop, and you can use the card to buy yourself some new clothes." Stunned, Jaz just nodded and swiped the card, gaining access to her new room. She closed the door on Mr. Whammy's retreating back, then turned to face the room she would be living in for at least the next six years. The walls were black, and the baseboards had been painted white to add a little contrast. Bookshelves covered one wall, a huge TV screen covered another, one was covered in floor to ceiling windows, and the other had a queen-sized bed, a dresser, a vanity, and a desk. There were speakers in every corn of the room. There was also a minifridge that Jaz discovered was stocked with Mountain Dew, honey, sugar, and jelly-filled doughnuts. She immediately knew that L was behind this. She smiled and took in the rest of the furniture. The bed had a white frame, and it was covered in a fluffy black comforter and a bunch of black pillows. There was a white teddy bear that was almost as big as Jaz was. The rest of the furniture was also white. There were two doors on the wall with the bed, not including the one she had just stepped through, but Jaz decided that she would check those out later.
There was a black laptop on the desk, and Jaz grabbed it before climbing onto the bed. She closed her eyes and sighed at the comfiness before flipping open the laptop. She knew that she needed new clothes, since she had been wearing the nightgown for almost three days. She went to a few different stores before deciding that she liked Hot Topic the best. After buying eighteen different t-shirts, nine pairs of different skinny jeans, thirteen pairs of leggings, three miniskirts, two pairs of shorts, a pair of combat boots, a lot of rubber bracelets, seven belts, seven pairs of underwear, four beanies, a bunch of socks, and posters of her favorite bands, Jaz had only spent 1/3 of her funds, which had origianlly been something like $1,000,000. She bought a toothbrush, a hairbrush, chocolate-scented shampoo and conditioner, strawberry-scented soap and deodorant, a razor, lotion, black nail polish, and a black robe after discovering that the black and white bathroom, which had been through the door closest to the bookshelves, had none of them. By then, she still had $500,000 left. She decided to invest it all in the stock market, which was skyrocketing. "I am one rich kid." Jaz muttered to the teddy bear, which she had named Val. She shut down the laptop and went to investigate the door she had not yet looked through. It was closest to the wall made of windows, and Jaz found that it was a walk-in closet. "Well, that's convenient." She had been afraid that she wouldn't be able to find places to put all the clothing she had just ordered.
The laptop informed Jaz that her purchases would arrive in the morning and would be delivered to her room. She decided to play some videogames to pass the time and drew the black curtains over the wall of windows to block out the light. Two hours later, she heard a knock on her door. She pulled the headset off, which was currently silent and opened the curtains, squinting at the sudden assault to her sensitive eyes. She opened the door to reveal Mello and Matt."Oh, hey, guys." she said, stepping aside so that they could come in.
They walked in, appraising her room. "Wow." Matt said, his eyes falling on the screen.
"I know!" Jaz smirked. "I've been playing for two hours straight."
Matt grinned. "'Atta girl! Can I play?" he asked, noticing that Mello had found a book and was now sitting on the bed reading it.
Jaz shrugged, a mischevious glint in her eyes. "Yeah, sure. I mean, if you wanna get your butt kicked."
Matt laughed. "We'll see about that." He grabbed a controller and headset and flopped down on the bed next to Mello. Jaz clambered up beside him after closing the curtains once again and fixing the fire so that Mello had light to read by, and they began to play. They didn't leave the room until lunchtime, and Jaz sauntered to the dining hall with her arms flung around her two new best friends.