(Pov Jasmine)

  Jasmine looked at the large parkitecture lodge in front of her. Though calling it a lodge was, in her opinion, laughable, it was closer to a large farmhouse or small mansion. She did know her mother had mostly bought the building due to the attached land, which extended onto the mountain ridge, indeed, what might be called a peak very much higher up, and all the way down to the river on the valley floor. It included large areas of forest, largely by coincidence.

  Turning around, she took in the surrounding landscape. The sunlight glittered through the patches of snow that remained further down in the valley and the still fully covered peaks. The slope just below the slight plateau that the lodge stood on would make for an excellent place to have an orchard, at least when the time for such things came. A small smile crept its way onto her lips at the thought. Even if she couldn't start with such things right now, there would be plenty of time to do so. At least once, more immediate matters were dealt with.

  Jasmine opened the door to the old lodge and was met by the smell of dust and stale air. The entire house was covered in a layer of dust that had probably accumulated since the last inhabitants moved out in the 40s. Her eyebrows drew slightly together as she thought about the kid coming to live here at least for a while, the one coming today. The current state of the lodge wouldn't do. She knew she would need to get at least the basics downstairs and some of the bedrooms cleaned up.

  It took her an hour to get an overview of the rooms of the house and to clean up the bare minimum of the habitable areas that they would need going forward. Julie would have to help with the remainder, which, as she lived here, seemed only fair.

  Some of the windows had been broken and then boarded up, and they would need to be replaced. She had found a room on the second floor that would make a great study, and one on the first that would make a great library, at least eventually. In fact, for the library, the idea of having the window be stained glass brought a small smile to her lips. A new window would need to be obtained anyway, so she might as well go for it.

  Jasmine felt her heart flutter at the possibilities the old lodge held if preparations were made relatively soon and it was done properly. In her eyes, it would definitely be worth the cost and effort.

  —------------------------------------------------------

  (Pov Julie)

  “Are weee there yeeet?” sounded a rather bored voice from the back seat.

  Julie let out a deep breath and said. “Yes, we are almost there. Ten more minutes.”

  Time crawled as the forested hills and mountain sides rolled by. Julie's finger was absentmindedly tapping at the side of the steering wheel. A heavy weight had been settling in her stomach since yesterday. The offer seemed too good, too easy. Her luck wasn't that good.

  Still, she had gotten her contract, with everything that was promised in writing. She had also gotten a very hefty NDA to sign, but she could live with that.

  After what felt like an eternity, she could see the old lodge emerge from the forest. She could see parts of it from the road further down the valley, but it was surprisingly difficult. The lodge itself, while it looked kinda like a very, very large ranger station, had some features that made it seem almost like an old fort or manor.

  As Julie helped her son out of the car, she heard the noise of a door opening. Looking up, she saw a woman walking towards her. Every step the woman took seemed to have a kind of easy confidence, carrying the woman forward like she almost weighed nothing. Then Julie noticed her eyes.

  She had seen red eyes a few times before, mostly in those few cases when she had encountered people with albinism. The woman walking towards her did not have those kinds of red eyes, and something told her they were not fake.

  Julie tightened her grip slightly on her son's hand before she spoke. “Hey, you must be Ms.Burns?"

  The woman's eyes, which seemed to have systematically searched over the car, now locked onto her. Julie felt like someone had dropped a bucket of ice into her stomach. Those are not normal.

  “Ohh, please call me Jasmine. We will be living here together, and the formality would just get awkward. You're Miss Macleod, then I presume?” The woman had a small and quite pleasant-looking smile on her lips as she offered her outstretched hand.

  “Yeah, that's me, and please call me Julie. Also, I just wanted to thank you for getting to live here at least for now. It helps a lot.”

  The woman gave a light laugh. “Think nothing of it, as I said, it benefits me too, so don't think too much of it.” Jasmine then looked at her son and said, “And who is this little guy?”

  Julie felt the ice in her stomach disappear; the smile her new employer had while addressing her son held no sign of malice or deceit. Maybe I am just worrying over nothing.

  —--------------------------------------------------------

  (Pov Jasmine)

  “I am Sam.” said the surprisingly small boy, his voice guarded.

  “Well, hello Sam, it's lovely to meet you.” A small smile played on her lips before she continued. “So Sam, I was just wondering? Do you like pizza?”

  The boy's eyes lit up as he nodded. Jasmine said, “Well, there is pizza. It just got here, so it's still warm.” Jasmine glanced up at Julie with a slightly raised eyebrow.

  “Take your backpack, and carry it inside, and then we can eat ok sweetie.”

  “Yes mom.” Sam looked at her and said, “You have weird eyes, miss.”

  Jasmine raised an eyebrow and bent down til she was on eye level with the young boy. “Do I now. It's genetic, but a big boy such as you can help keep it secret, right? people find it really weird, and that can make my job harder, so I would really like it to be our little secret?”

  “Will I get in trouble?” Sam asked in a tiny voice.

  Jasmine gave him a smile and said. “Of course you won't. You're just helping me and helping me keep something like that secret isn't wrong. So what do you say, will you help me?” Jasmine cocked her head slightly to the side.

  Sam nodded.

  “Thank you, Sam, I really appreciate it.” Jasmine looked up at Julie and asked. “So what do you need help carrying inside?”

  “Well, I think Sam might be a bit hungry?” Julie said, looking down at her son, her eyebrows raised. The small boy only nodded in response. “I think we only need to take the clothes and toiletries right now.” As she spoke, she pointed to some of the bags in the back of the car.

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  Jasmine looked at Julie as the woman seemed to consider something before saying. “Thank you for helping carry this stuff.”

  “Don't mention it, it's the least I can do. There isn't a lot of stuff inside, as most of my stuff hasn't gotten here yet. So it's nice getting some stuff inside.”

  The taste of cheese and pepperoni exploded across Jasmine's tongue as she took the first bite of the pizza slice. Looking up at Julie and Sam, both of whom were digging into their own slices of pizza, she spoke.

  “So I am thinking we will start tomorrow. I have my first meeting at one, so I am thinking I will just send you the files and bring you up to speed. The next one after that is on Thursday.”

  She took another bite of her pizza before she continued. “I have also talked to the lovely woman running the local kindergarten, and they can start taking Sam as soon as he is ready, but they want to talk to you when you drop him off.” She took another bite of her slice before saying. “Though if you wanna start off on Thursday that's fine too, but it would really help if you started as soon as possible.”

  “I can start tomorrow, no problem. If we could leave a little early so I could drop off Sam and talk to the kindergarten teacher, that would be great.” Julie's voice sounded distracted as she tried to get the very stringy cheese into her mouth.

  “Yeah, of course. I will send you the notes. Though I have to warn you, legal kinda messed up with the farmers we are meeting on Thursday."

  Four hours, that was how long Jasmine had been in this meeting with many of the local farmers. She had some hope given how well yesterday's meeting went that today wouldn't be a problem, she was wrong. The room at this point smelled of stale coffee, tobacco, and a faint hint of sweat. Jasmine had noticed that Julie seemed to be carrying some tension in her shoulders that wasn't there before they started.

  “Mister Thompson, I understand that you have no wish to sell those portions of your farm. And from what I gather, that is a worry you all share. I am not asking any of you to sell. West Star Construction and hydropower would, however, like to lease those areas near the dam, power station, and a few key areas along the river.”

  The slightly rotund, red-faced man seated further down from her in the conference room in the Fairvern library spoke. “Well, we have been using that land for decades, and we are using it now; our income would take a serious hit from the lost land. We also aren't convinced you are doing enough to prevent your work on the dam from affecting the groundwater, nor if it floods the areas upstream.”

  Jasmine took an almost imperceptible breath to steady her nerves, her face remaining perfectly composed. “I can assure you, Mister Thompson, there won't be any flooding. While we will be removing some sediment from near the dam wall and deepening parts of the reservoir, we are not expanding the dam itself. No additional areas will be flooded from the current improvements and upgrades being made.” The man fidgeted with something, though Jasmine couldn't see what.

  “Well, we have no proof of that now, do we? You guys have already been acting like spooks when you started this.” Said the man, letting out a huff. “Being all cloak and dagger when you started looking to lease the land, why should we trust you now?”

  An older voice sounded from further down the table. It came from an older man who had lost most, though not all, of the hairs on the top of his head, with a sharp jaw and rather intelligent and wise eyes. “Now, Jack, the deal they offer seems good. I am thinking we ought to consider what Miss Burns here is saying. I am sure if we ask kindly, they will be more than willing to accept a little delay to provide us with some proper proof that it won't have any effects.” The man looked at her with his bushy left eyebrow raised.

  “That is something we are more than willing to do, Mr. Smallers. Would that satisfy your concerns, Mister Thompson?”

  Mr. Thompson's eyebrows drew together, and he grit his teeth for a few seconds before he spoke in a low rumble. “Yeah, that can work. But we will need that proof to not fight this.”

  “Then we will make sure you get Mister Thompson. We’ll compile everything and send it over. Then we can have another meeting to discuss them further once you have all had the chance to look through them.” Jasmine said, feeling the small tension in her shoulders relaxed.

  As she watched the last of the twenty or so people who had just been sitting at the conference table leave, Jasmine couldn't help but release a deep breath she hadn't known she was holding. Some resistance had been expected, but not quite to that degree.

  “Well, they were certainly more organized than I expected.” Julie spoke from where she was packing up right behind her.

  “Yeah, they were smart to organize once they realized we had started to try and contact them individually. Quite frankly, the fact that legal tried to do this quietly was a dumb idea. They don't trust us; that only hurts us long term. We are investing a lot of money and resources here, and the locals not liking us isn't helpful.” Jasmine rubbed her eyes before she mumbled. “Though them being organized does help.”

  “How does that help us exactly? It seems like it would only drive up the price.” Julie said, her head cocked slightly to the side.

  “Well, it means that they will feel they have proper paths of recourse so that we don't get a bunch of other major lawsuits later on. As well, we plan on being here for a very long time, and having a counterbalance that isn't replaced every 4 years will certainly help prevent the person taking over after me from doing something shortsighted.” Jasmine said while fidgeting with her pen absentmindedly.

  “So Julie, do you wanna go grab some food before we pick up Sam, or do you wanna just head straight home?” Jasmine asked, looking over at her assistant.

  “While I would like to head straight to picking up Sam, it's rather late, and Gloria said she could look after him for the evening. And it wouldn't exactly hurt if he had to play a little with the other kids that are there for a little longer.” Jasmine noticed that there was some slight tension in Julie's face as she spoke.

  “Well then, I hear there's a rather decent bar and grill in town if you're up for that?”

  “Let's go then.” Julie said while nodding towards the door.

  The sun was surprisingly low on the horizon for it to be Thursday in the middle of spring. The snow was mostly gone this deep into the valleys, though small patches remained even here in town. Yet a slight sting remained in the air as Jasmine drew it into her lungs.

  They were walking from the parking lot towards the Bar and grill. The town felt largely empty; there were fewer pedestrians than one would expect. And there was an ominous feeling hanging over the streets, just a few too many lights were broken, just a few too many store fronts were empty or boarded up.

  As they approached the bar and grill, a scent hit jasmine. Freshly baked bread and vanilla- pulled at her stomach and made her mouth water.

  Jasmine's eyes darted around the street in front of her, her nose twitching. Just as they were about to reach the entrance of the bar and grill, the door opened fully, and a young man appeared. In Jasmine's estimation, he was probably around 18. But far more importantly, he seemed to be the source of that ever-so-enticing smell.

  In fact, getting a good look at him, he was quite attractive, the tall, lanky type. If a little too skinny. She did regrettably not get a good look at his face before he was down the stairs and turned to walk away from her.

  The boy turned, and his shoes seemed to lose all traction. Jasmine's heart jumped into her throat, and she grabbed hold of the magic threaded through her blood and body. She pushed at it as hard as she could, flooding her muscles and nerves with power.

  A passing car crawled along the road, and the droplets of water dripping from the roof slowed until they seemed to move at only half their normal speed. Though Jasmine's heart still felt like it was racing as her arms shot out. She managed to grab hold of the boy's lower and upper back, halting his fall before he hit the ground.

  It took a long second for the boy to open his eyes, as he realised he was not about to hit the asphalt. They were hazel brown and kind. Yet right underneath them were a little too large dark bags, and his cheeks a little too hollow.

  “Whoa there handsome, I got you. You ok?” Jasmine said as she took in the boy's face.

  “i…..I ... .Yeah, I am, or I think so. Thanks for catching me?” The boy said. A blush was creeping slowly up his neck. The scent Jasmine had noticed earlier got stronger as the boy's blood flushed just beneath his skin. well fuck me, so that's what that was.

  “mmmm…. I am kinda in a weird position here. Could you….. Could you please help me up?” The boy said, his voice carrying a nervous tone.

  “ohh right, yeah, of course.” Jasmine said as she lifted the boy back to his feet effortlessly.

  “Tha… Thank you for catching me. I really appreciate it.” The boy said as he walked hurriedly away.

  “How the fuck did you do that?!” Julie said, stirring Jasmine from her own thoughts.

  Looking over, Jasmine could see the mild shock written all over Julie's face. “What do you mean?”

  “How did you move like that? I have never seen people react that fast, even when they're getting shot at.”

  Jasmine felt her chest tighten. “Just luck, I guess. Sometimes people can react quickly. Still though, I wonder who he was? Anyways, let's go order something.”?

  “Yeah, I guess.” Julie said, her eyebrows still drawn together as she looked Jasmine up and down. Though she seemed to drop the issue.