Birthmarked

4-Meet and Greet

His brothers and sisters. Were they the ones I thought I saw in the hallway? They had to be, right? They all looked alike; like something out of a Twilight film, they were eerily beautiful. 

Were they some kind of cult? Were they planning to use me as some kind of human sacrifice for their little deity? Uh-uh. I didn't like this. 

The car stopped and I turned to look out the window, afraid of what I would I see. To my surprise, stood a Victorian two story house, looking big enough to hold twenty people.  

"Come on, it's time to meet the family." I followed him, sure I had no choice-the tone of his voice left no doubt. 

He pushed open the door and held it open for me. Stepping in, I looked around me. We stood in the large parlor. To my left was a long, dark spiraling staircase that obviously led to the upstairs rooms. I looked to the room to my right which was obvious the living room. Branching off from this room was just another extension with more TVs and stereo systems; a lounge. Straight forward the parlor led to nothing, but abruptly turned to the right to what I assumed was the kitchen. The house was carefully made; carvings of strange marks lined some of the walls and a few of the doors that I could see from downstairs.  

"Guys!" Nathan called. I turned to look at him. Who was he calling for? This house was empty.

"Hey you guys!" I swung around at the sound of a new voice. Standing at the top of the stairs was a boy with dark, messy curls and chestnut colored eyes. He smiled down at me, eyeing me openly. Looking at him, I felt some of my tension slide away. "Look what Nathan brought home! We got a new pet!" 

Wait, what? Run that by me again? My idea of this good looking boy with the easy smile changed.  

"Mac," Nathan said disapprovingly. He shrugged and descended down the stairs slowly. "Look at you two, still in your school uniforms and everything. Did you two skip?" 

Nathan shook his head, closing his eyes.  

"You must be Penelope. My name is Mac." He held out his hand and I took it, but smoothly took it back when he tried to kiss it. He gave me a shocking smile before turning to Nathan, "I like them a little feisty." 

I stepped back as Nathan stepped forward.

Someone else showed up at the top of the stairs. The girl I had seen in the group in the hallway. Her cool grey eyes rested on me. She looked different outside of school, out of her dark uniform. Now, she wore overalls over a tight fitting white shirt. Her wild, dark curls pushed away from her face by a white headband. She looked dazzling. 

A girl and boy joined her at her side; I didn't recognize either of them, though I was sure they were at the cafeteria table with the rest of them when I was caught staring. 

The boy's hair was a mass of golden curls that hung only a few inches from his shoulders and his eyes were almost the same color. He watched with curiosity but he remained expressionless. The girl at his side was different. Her waving hair resembled a wild fire, all flames. She wore a deep green shirt that came close, but didn't really compare, to her mossy green eyes. They were an unusual color; a color you would stop to admire in a shop window. A hint of a smile began to form on her lips and she wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something bad. 

A boy with wavy blonde hair and black clothing walked into the parlor from the far room I assumed was the kitchen. Following him, a girl with mahogany curls that framed her heart shaped face and smiling violet eyes stopped a foot away from him. She gave me a beaming smile.

Trailing behind them more slowly was the boy Alli was head over heals for. He glanced up at me from his feet before looking down again. He looked like a little kid who had just gotten scolded for sticking his hand in the cookie jar. He was thin, thinner than the others, with short, straight, almost black hair and then those striking blue eyes that he hid from me now.