I hadn’t decided where to go yet. I had no idea what I wanted to study. Ashley was going back East to Harvard. She wanted to study law, which fit her perfectly. Most days she wore black horn rimmed glasses and kept her short, dark hair pinned back. She was short, like me, and had brown eyes, not like me. Mine were hazel.
Cassidy was going to the University of California, Berkeley. She said she was going to study the fine art of hot men and surfing. Her long blonde hair, green eyes, and unnaturally tanned skin would fit right in on the California beaches. She was also tall and super into working out.
Eva was staying in Utah to go to the University of Utah. When I found out that was where Greg went, I understood. It was hard to know what the true color of Eva’s hair was. She changed it monthly. Today it black with white streaks throughout. She had a tattoo of a butterfly with fangs on her left collarbone and her nose was pierced. Her clothes were edgy too. She said she wanted to work in a zoo, and her plan had been to go to Africa for a semester. But the way she kept looking at Greg, I wondered if she would now. Probably not, which was completely idiotic. She’d probably known the guy five minutes.
I didn’t know where Will planned on going to college. He hadn’t told me and I hadn’t asked.
I’d been accepted into a few schools but since I didn’t know what I wanted to study, I couldn’t decide which school to attend. My parents didn’t seem to care where or even if I went, unlike other kids’ parents, so I figured I had time. Maybe I’d go to Belize and not come back.
Ashley dunked Eva under the water. Eva screamed as she surfaced, spitting water out of her mouth.
“Don’t do that again,” Eva shouted, slashing Ashley with water.
Ashley gasped as though she couldn’t believe the nerve of Eva. “You’ve ruined my makeup!”
Greg jumped out of the pool and walked over to where I was sitting. He picked up a towel from the chair next to mine.
I decided to use the alone time to make my move. “Can you help me get some more wine?” I asked him, smiling sweetly, the way I always did when I wanted something.
“Can’t Isaac get some?” He glanced back at the pool, at the still fighting girls.
I pouted. “Yes, but I want some now.”
“All right.” He grinned, wrapping the towel around his waist so that it hung low on his hips. I knew this was going to be easy.
I took him down the back stairs into the cellar. It got cooler the deeper we went. “What’s your major?” I was trying to be conversational.
“Engineering, I suppose.” It was hard to see in the dim light, but his eyes seemed to take on a strange color, almost turquoise.
What did he mean, he supposed? Not that it mattered. I didn’t want to get to know him, I wanted to make out and mess around. Do just enough damage to remind Eva just how much power I had over anyone I wanted. I didn’t want sweetness, Greg’s life story, or anything personal. “How much longer do you have?”
Greg glanced up as though thinking about it. “A year, this time.” He gave me a strange smile.
I did the math on his age as I flicked on the lights. The walls to our wine cellar were made of stone. There were wood cabinets. The wine slots were wood as well. The floor was made of slate. “You must be twenty-one then?” I preferred older men. They weren’t as immature as the guys my age. They seemed less gushy with their feelings.
“My age is of no consequence.” He walked over to the wine rack. “Did you want red or white?” Greg pulled a bottle and held it out.
“Sure, whatever.” I slid up to him, putting my hands on his naked chest and tracing my fingers along his muscles.
“What are you doing?” He grabbed my hands, his strange eyes studying my face.
“Come on. Don’t you want to mess around?”
Greg released my hands. Sadness crossed his face. “Are you sure you want to?”
“Yeah. Are you kidding? You have to know you’re gorgeous.” I ran my fingers down his muscled arms. He didn’t move. “Don’t you want to?” I removed his towel, letting it fall to the floor.
“What about Will?” He put his hands on my waist. A strange tingle wriggled in the back of my mind. Like it was trying to tell me I’d forgotten something and was on the verge of remembering.
I ignored it. “We are definitely not together anymore. You saw what happened.”
Greg leaned down so his lips were next to my ear. “And what about your friend Eva? She and I are an item. We’ve talked about getting married. What about her?” His voice was soft and warm.
The irritating tingle came back but this time it was stronger. It felt like my mind was trying to tell me no, that it wanted me to run away. But that was ridiculous. I did what I wanted, when I wanted. And right now I wanted Eva’s boyfriend. “She doesn’t have to know.” I didn’t say I’d make sure Eva found out within minutes after he and I were finished. He didn’t need to know that. He didn’t need to know anything, except that I wanted him right now and that meant I should have him.
He sighed heavily. “Then it’s come to this.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
I tried to kiss him but he pushed me away.
“Come to what?” I frowned, unused to being denied anything.
He kept silent, picking up his towel and wrapping it around his hips again. It was then I realized he no longer held a wine bottle. When had he put it back? I thought, a little confused.
Greg’s turquoise eyes were a mixture of sadness and delight. “When we designed your species we believed you were perfect. We thought you would be the precise combination of ferocity, tenderness, humility, generosity, power and love. I was most excited. Your kind was to be my finest creation.”
Greg ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. I watched, caught between being mesmerized and terrified, even though I had no idea why. Maybe it was because he was crazy. What did he mean perfect species? I was a human, not some beast that was bred to be domesticated like the house cat. He wasn’t making any sense and the tingle in the back of my brain had changed to an annoying buzz. I felt myself take a step back. The heel of my shoe caught on the grout between the slate slabs. I started to fall, but felt my body turn so I landed on my hands and the balls of my feet.
“Whoa,” I said, pushing myself up. I turned back to Greg. His body seemed to shimmer in the dim lights. Or maybe it was my head. I’d had more than my normal amount of alcohol. I covered my ears with my palms, pressing them against my temples. I hoped that would clear the incessant buzzing and whatever was going on with my eyes.
Greg leaned toward me. “Beatrice Cavanaugh?”
He said my name like a question. “Yeah.” I thought maybe he’d changed his mind about messing around and moved closer.
He held me at arm’s length. “It’s time you understood that being beautiful doesn’t give you the right to be beastly and that sometimes those who seem the most beastly are actually quite beautiful.”
I snorted. “Right. Whatever you say, Greg.” Obviously the combination of too many fruity drinks laced with alcohol and too much time in the sun was making me see things.
Greg’s distorted eyebrows rose. “For your vanity, your cruelty, and your cold unfeeling heart, a curse I leave upon you . . .” While Greg spoke his body changed from chiseled arms and legs to something less corporeal and more ghost-like.
The buzzing in my head was so loud that if he said more I didn’t hear him. Turquoise eyes watched me from within the dark mist that had once been Greg. The mist shot up, passed through the ceiling, and was gone.
Pain. The noise was pain. The buzzing sound all I knew. It seemed to engulf my body. I fell to my knees, pushing my palms more tightly against my head. The room started to quake. The lights swung from the ceiling. Bottles fell from their shelves, crashing to the floor. Glass cut my skin. Wine broke free of the bottles. I watched it mix with my blood. One of the lights broke free, smashing against my forehead. Red liquid ran into my eyes. I closed them, forcing the world to go black.