He watched Iris lean forward and kiss him briefly. "Goodnight," she said. "This is the best night of my life. I hope it's yours too. Don't think too much, and spoil the memory. Tomorrow we'll continue the search."
Colton nodded, saying nothing.
"I will keep your jacket," Iris said. "I like that it smells of you,” she said, and got out.
Colton watched her wave goodbye to him from behind the blurry window with rain trickling down. He drove ahead toward the Ruins, and he wasn't going to tell Iris about it. He didn't want her to worry. He wanted to peel off some more of the phrase “humans always see what they...” Something told him a lot would be revealed if he read the rest of that phrase.
Half an hour later, he was in the Ruins, applying the revealing techniques Iris had taught him. Still, he couldn't read the rest of the phrase. He'd only succeeded in uncovering the first letter from the word following the word “they.” The letter was a “V,” and it frustrated him that it didn't make solving the rest of the phrase any easier.
Humans always see what they v...?
It didn't make any sense. He was determined to spend the night here, uncovering other letters. He didn't mind if they weren't in order. Just anything that would be a clue, so he could try to figure it out.
As he kept working, he could sense being watched again. Whenever he turned around, he saw no one.
"Whoever you are, I'm ready for you," he yelled at the silent Ruins.
No reply. Just that creepy sense of being watched lurking in the air all the time.
Colton dropped his tool for a second and stared up at the gray sky. There were no stars or clouds here. Just this darkened veil covering the sky above.
"What really happened here?" he sighed. "What kind of war or conflict did this kind of thing to a world people used to live in?"
Asking questions to the still air in the Ruins wasn't going to solve anything. He returned to working on the phrase. The thought of Iris being taken was consuming him with every passing moment. He wanted to tell her that Elia Wilson had also been his girlfriend for a brief time, but couldn't. He was afraid Iris would freak out and leave him. He'd been reckless in the past, but he'd changed now, because of her. But that thought wrapped around him, like a dead man's carcass. If Elia had been his girlfriend, and so had Eva, and both were taken by the Beasts, was he cursed? Were all his girlfriends destined to be taken by the Beasts?
32
Two days later, the rain had turned into snow, and it fell majestically to the ground. It was a cold, but beautiful day. Zoe's first day back to school, and of course, Iris was with her.
Iris had woken up with an unprecedented amount of energy and love for life. She'd even pondered the thought of trying not to cause any trouble at school, and actually learn something. Why not? She was going to see Colton today.
They hadn't met yesterday because he'd been busy with something, and she'd preferred to spend the cold and rainy day with Zoe, who ended up talking with Cody on the phone the entire time. Iris had decided to sleep in Zoe's bed as punishment for leaving her alone, and also to get her out of the patient mentality.
Zoe's mother had made soup for Iris and interrogated her about who this Cody was. Iris had assured her that Cody was far from being a serial killer, and that she should bless this relationship.
But today, Zoe called Iris to wake her up. "It's time for school," she said on the phone. "I'm so excited."
"You're excited to see Cody, you sneaky liar," Iris rubbed her eyes and jumped out of bed. She put Zoe on speaker as she brushed her teeth and worried aloud that Colton would discover she had a slight gap between her front teeth--as if he hadn't already. Was it also possible that he noticed her hair was slightly thinner on the right side of her head, and that it was stiff when she was a kid?
"Shut up," Zoe said in the speaker. "Colton already likes you. I can't believe we're dating brothers. That's so absurd." she laughed.
"You should listen to Cody going on about Colton. He's more like his Godfather," Zoe added.
"Really?" Iris was beginning to get bored from Colton amazing her with his personality.
"You think the four of us should get married the same day?" Zoe blurted.
"Wow. Where did that come from?" Iris said. "Your head just jumped five years into the future."
"Actually not," Zoe said. "Cody and I are planning to get married in a couple of months."
"You're joking, right?" Iris stopped brushing her teeth.
"No. I’m serious."
"Is that even legal? Say you're kidding, Zoe. You only got to know the boy a couple of weeks ago."
"I'm not kidding. Cody and I have been talking about it a lot."
"Wow. A lot. You make it sound as if you’ve been planning this huge decision for a year or so."
"Think about it, Iris," Zoe said. "We're all vulnerable here. I could be taken by the Beasts at any moment while I am seventeen. I don't want to regret I didn't do this."
Iris shrugged, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She looked rather awful with the toothpaste crawling out of her mouth, like in a cheap horror movie. But it was that sudden feeling that filled her lungs. Why did she suddenly feel like her time had come to be taken? Was this why Colton had been acting worried yesterday, and the day before?
"Iris?" Zoe said. "Did you drown in the sink?”
"I'm here, Zoe," she said. The toothbrush stuck to her mouth, like a cigarette on wet lips.
"I'm sorry if you don't approve, but Cody will ask my mother to marry me next week. Come on. You should be happy for me."
"I am, of course. You know I will support whatever mad thing you decide to do." Iris said.
"That's my girl," Zoe said. "See you in a while crocodile." She hung up.
Zoe never said stuff like that – that was pure Cody influence.
Iris did nothing but stare at herself in the mirror. Something wicked was about to happen, and she didn't know what. It was a horrible feeling, so present and so illogical.
All the way to school, sitting next to Zoe in her mom’s minivan, Iris couldn't shake the feeling from her chest. Something felt like it was coming her way. It was an irrational fear, but it was imminent and grounded. There was no escaping.
"Don't you think it's been too long without the Beasts taking anyone?" Iris asked Zoe.
"It's been nine days," Zoe said. "But it's happened before. One time we waited two weeks."
In class, Zoe followed every word Mrs. Wormwood said. Iris, on the other hand, didn't. She'd been whisked to another world in her mind, looking outside the window at the snow falling. Every second intensifying the crazy feeling in her mind. She'd heard about people capable of sensing danger before it happened. She just never believed it was possible.
Once the bell rang, she hurried to Colton's class. She asked him to talk in private. It didn't help when he looked like he was keeping a secret from her. But Colton loved her. It was only a minute before he told her about his suspicions, that Elia and Eva had been his girlfriends.
"But you must have had a lot of girlfriends before," she told him, standing by a quiet cornerstone next to the playground.
"I did," Colton said. "But..."
"But?"
"What if this is was something that started only with Elia? Elia was my girlfriend before Eva, and Eva before you. Besides, I checked, and none of my other girlfriend were taken. This thing just started with Eva."
"But Elia wasn't your girlfriend when she was taken."
"I thought about that too," Colton said. "Maybe it's going backwards. They took my last girlfriend then the one before."
"The world isn't revolving around you, Colton."
"I know, and I wish I was wrong. It's just that this feeling has taken over me since we kissed. Maybe it's just angst. But seriously, you said you feel it too.
There was no discussing if they were really boyfriend and girlfriend. None of them had uttered the words.
"So what are we going to do?" Iris said, pretend
ing she wasn't afraid. But what was to be afraid of? The Beasts were practically the unknown fate. Nothing was scarier than the unknown.
"I don't know, Iris," Colton hugged her to his chest. A couple of elite students saw this and Iris thought it was ironic. The moment Colton declared she was his in the middle of school should have been one of the best days in her life. Yet, it was one of the scariest moments. "I just have this fear inside me since we kissed on top of the Sinai building."
"You should have told me, Colton. I have the same fear now."
"I didn't want to scare you," he said. "Listen. Whatever happens, I will be there with you," he lifted her head up to him. "I will not give you to them. I will fight for you."
"Fight who?" a single tear escaped her eyes, trickling its way down Iris’s cheek. "The Beasts?"
"How can you fight someone you haven't seen, when you have no idea what it really is?" she buried her head in his arms again. "I don't want to die, Colton. I am still so young."
As more tears blurred her vision, her eyes were filled with the Fragonard painting, where the boy was originally the Beast. It wasn't far from the truth now. Colton and Iris were looking at the Fountain of Love, only Colton was the Beast, not because he was evil, but because he was cursed somehow. Maybe Zoe’s hallucination was a prediction somehow. Maybe she was warning her unconsciously that being with Colton was going to turn her into a Bride. But how could Zoe have known? It didn't make sense.
Why was this happening to her? Was this what love was, some beautiful form of dying?
"Love is nothing but a Pentimento," she mumbled, not sure if he could hear her. "It looks like something from the outside, while it's something totally different from the inside. And one can only understand this after some time, when the lie on the outside peels off."
"What do you mean, Iris?" Colton said. "Don't say that. You are the world to me. I am not giving up on you. I lo..."
Whatever Colton was going to say was eaten away by the horrible loud blast of the Beasts' horn.
33
While every other girl in The Second sprang to her feet, Iris clung tighter to Colton and closed her eyes. Colton wrapped his arms around her as the snow whiffed its particles onto their faces.
Everyone's phones began beeping and a number of girls starting hooraying nearby. It was a painful sound of celebration to Iris and Colton's ears. Each time girls celebrated, Iris felt closer to fainting. No girl had ever been interested in uttering the number of the chosen one. Maybe out of politeness or fear, who knew?
The beeping spread all around them. Iris couldn't bring herself to check her phone. She hadn't been fond of doing so in the past, why would she now? For a moment, she wished her father hadn't bought her a new phone after the old one broke on Eva's day.
Colton saw a group of girls noticing him and Iris were hugging, instead of checking the phone. The girls had read their messages. They were not chosen and the look on their faces was indecipherable. Was Iris the Bride?
"We have to face this," Colton whispered in her ear. "Let's read the message and see if it's your number. Whatever happens, I am with you."
Iris untangled her arms and clicked on her phone. She raised her head one last time to meet Colton's eyes. They didn't conjure the magical safety they always did when she looked into them this time.
Lowering her head, she scrolled and clicked on the message. The sender was the Council and the number of the Bride was right in front of her face.
Tensed, she thought she'd forgotten her own number for a moment. Then it came back to her. She dared to look at the number on the screen. Well, the first number was like hers. So was the second.
And the third.
Colton began to tense to her reaction.
Thick tears began forming in her eyes. Maybe the fourth wasn't hers.
She was wrong. It was.
And the fifth.
"I can't--" Iris tried her best to inhale. The world seemed void of air all of a sudden. "It's me."
Colton grabbed the phone and read it. This couldn't be true. He wasn’t some kind of clairvoyant. Why would the Beasts go after his girlfriends?
He read the number from the beginning, losing breath to each number that matched Iris's ID. But then something happened. The sixth number, and last, wasn't hers.
"Thank goodness," he sighed and hugged her, almost choking her. "It's not you. It's not you!"
Iris freed herself from his embrace and dried her tears instantly, re-reading the number again. She had to make sure.
"It's not me," she said, unable to believe it herself. The happiness numbed her and she couldn't even smile. "I can't believe it."
"We were only paranoid," Colton said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her closer. Iris stood on her tiptoes and pulled his lips to hers. She needed it now more than ever. Colton kissed her while lifting her up in the air and spinning her around. "I'm sorry I scared you with my stupid interpretations," he said.
Iris sounded like she had hiccups, as Colton lifted her up and down again. "I-I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?" Colton's blue eyes twinkled. "We were wrong. You're not the Bride, and I am not cursed." He waved his eyes toward the sky.
Girls started giggling around them. No one had seen Colton that giggly before.
"And we thought..." Iris hiccupped again. "I was so scared. The first five numbers were just like mine, then..." Iris’s hiccups stopped abruptly and her face went pale. Her eyes screamed for help, as she slammed her chest with her hand.
"What's wrong?" Colton wondered. She was acting weird again all of a sudden.
Iris said nothing. Her mouth was agape, staring at Colton with appalled eyes, her tears surfacing again.
"It's not me, but it's..." she stared back at the class she'd left a while ago. “That's why the numbers were so close!" Iris screamed and ran toward the class, slipping away from Colton's hands. "Oh, my. We weren't totally wrong." She said, on the verge of crying. She ran toward the class, pushing students out of her way. This couldn't be. The closer she got, she heard another girl scream. It was a painful scream. It was the scream of today's Bride: Zoe Peterson.
34
If Iris had thought that watching a Bride tread to her death was the most horrifying thing in the world, then she was wrong. The most horrifying thing was watching her best friend walk to the Beasts' ship.
Iris stood to the right with the girls, paralyzed with fear. It was a mystery to her how her feet still held her. She felt like a rose torn into pieces. She was nothing but scattered petals in the air. She couldn't feel the ground underneath her, yet she was still standing.
As Zoe stood there, wearing her wedding dress, she looked at the light coming from the ship at the end of the red carpet. Instead of marrying Cody and wearing the dress for him, she wore it for the Beasts. Zoe was right about wanting to get married so soon, Iris thought. Sadly, it wasn't going to ever happen now.
The look Zoe gave Iris was the look of a dead girl staring at another dead girl. Zoe was dying on the inside, because she was sent to the Beasts. Iris, because she couldn't imagine the world without her best friend. And because she couldn't do crap to save her.
It wasn't like Iris didn't try. She had pulled Zoe with her and ran out of class, jumped into Colton's car as he drove away, trying to escape the police, the Council, and the Beasts.
But in a land where its borders were the Ruins, there was no escaping an illusion. Like Colton had said, the Beasts were up there, watching them, mocking them, and taking their girls. Without the slightest reason at all. The world must have been the table they used to play roulette and humans were the scattered little steel balls.
Colton hadn't even made it to the Ruins. They were caught by the police soon before that, crashing Colton's car and wounding him and Iris. It wasn't a surprise when the ambulance people dismissed them both and ran toward Zoe to save her. The Bride had to be saved first, so she'd look good in her wedding to the Beast.
Like all the
other girls, Zoe was crying now. Each step she took toward the Ship of Light was a step away from Iris. It was just minutes before Zoe would vanish forever, and never be seen again. Cody and Colton managed to come over and grip Iris tight from both sides, in case she decided to do something crazy. Iris was paralyzed by fear and frustration. Whatever she did, no one was going to back her up. Colton and Cody weren't enough. Her father wasn't enough. The sovereign of the Beast needed an uprising. A great one, probably like the one that presumably happened in the past.
Zoe walked closer to the light, which was nothing but a great darkness. It was all about how you perceive things, Iris reminded herself. All you had to do is choose which side you were on. Man or Beast?
Zoe was going to see the Beasts' Pentimento. She was going to uncover the mystery. Sadly, whoever dug that deep never returned, so at least for now, the mystery would remain.
Why couldn't Iris just run to Zoe and face the Beast? Maybe because Colton and Cody were holding her still. Maybe because she feared the Council would hurt her dad. Maybe because Iris wasn't strong enough to risk being taken. But it wasn't that. It was because Iris believed she was more useful to Zoe staying down here in The Second.
Before Zoe was consumed by the light, she gazed back toward Iris. Like usual, the girls lowered their heads, as if Zoe was an epidemic. The Second was preparing themselves to forget a girl named Zoe existed. Iris stood tall, respecting her friend and nodding at her. Although Cody was already sobbing next to Iris, he still held his head up high. Colton had to play strong to take care of Iris and his brother.
Zoe gazed at Cody, and blew him a kiss from her hand. Nothing else was going to happen between them. Then Zoe mouthed something to Iris. The same painful words Eva mouthed to her before. They were the same words. Ironic how the same words have a whole different impact, depending on whom the speaker is. The first time, Iris was shocked, but didn't truly respond to it. This time coming from Zoe, the mouthed words, “Avenge me,” had an impact like no other.
Pentimento: a dystopian Beauty and the Beast Page 12
