AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know what, maybe you’ll enjoy them,” I said. “I sure did. For the first three months. Then, just like real relationships, everything turns to shit.”
“That’s such a pessimistic outlook—”
“Prove me wrong, then. I’m hoping you will.” I held out my palm.
She looked at it like it was covered in manure.
“The pen,” I reminded her. “Unless I’ve got to pay you with more answers?”
Her eyes flicked over to the swans circling in a clique on the lake. “One more question before I give it to you: where did you get it?”
“Found it,” I said shortly.
Her eyes pressed me into the bench like a spatula pressing a pancake.
“I found it in the trash where it belongs,” I snarled. “Anything else?”
Her eyes went heavy-lidded and haughty. “How do you know if someone you just met is, what you claim, anink-person?”
“If they’re too good to be true. That’s the first sign,” I said, remembering the sunny feeling when I met the first one, Bethany. “When you first meet them, they look like normal people. Real people. But as time goes on, they start to show their true colors. Literally.”
She raised an eyebrow.
I didn’t care if I used the word ‘literally’ wrong. I was a simple man. “What did you write your list with?”
“Huh?”
“The list of your ideal partner. What colorink?”
“Oh. Um, Monteverde Sapphire.”
“Then he’ll bleed that color.”
She squirmed. “Is there any other way to tell?”
“Not at the beginning stages,” I said. “They look like regular people. Hell, they look evenbetterthan regular people because they’reyourperfect person plucked right out of your wet dreams.”
Grace re-crossed her legs.
“You’re in for a good time. Thebesttime, because it’s not real. It’s just a mirror. But sooner or later, that mirror’s gonna crack open and you’re gonna cut yourself on the broken glass.”
“What should I do then?”
I shrugged. “Try to make peace with them. All of them.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then join the fucking club,” I said, holding out my hand again.
This time, finally,fucking finally,Grace unzipped her fanny pack, pulled out the wicked black pen, and put it in my palm.
I swore I could feel its evil and dread pulse through me as soon as I closed my fingers around it.
“If everything you say is true,” she said, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear, “Why do you want it back? Are you trying to make more?”
“Hell no. I’m trying to weaken my last demon. This bitch is tough—”
“I don’t appreciate you using that word.”
