Beasts

45: Fifty Eyes

  At Lynx's, I put on my dress then May started my makeup as Elle watched. I'm not talking about normal makeup here, with the mascara and junk, but that black paint dad used on me for the Firefly Festival.

"Stop moving." May said as she added dots on my face that felt randomly placed. Seriously, she'd go from my cheek to my eyebrow out of no where.

"Yah. Funny how time flew by. First I was walking down in a graduation gown, now a wedding dress." I sighed.

"That's the life of a Beast. If you blink, you could miss everything." May said with magic fingers on 'everything'. By that, I mean purple sparkles came from her fingers when she waved them. "I remember this one time...I was swamped with work as this family was moving out. So I didn't even know that Iridescent was invited to the council until I saw her at the next meeting. And she acted so nonchalantly about it as well! She was just like 'Oh, I didn't tell you? I started a week ago.' Outside I was like 'Really? Cool.' But on the inside I was freaking the heck out. Like 'What!? What else have I missed!? Has the ice caps melted? Are the deserts melting and palm trees growing in Greenland?"

  I laughed and Elle said, "I remember seeing that. You had this face like 'Are you kidding me?'." She had her eyes wide in shock and her mouth opened.

"Shut up." May laughed and lightly pushed her. "You have to admit, things move pretty quickly here. Right, June?"

"Oh definitely. In the two months I've been here, I've been poisoned, burnt, learnt how to use magic, and now I'm getting married." I listed with my fingers.

"That's nothing." Elle waved off. "We've been here our whole lives and let me tell you, I did a double take when I found out we were getting an orphan phoenix. You know that Phoenix is the only phoenix we have? Probably in the entire area even. Unless you've seen fire haired people walking through the city streets."

  "I've noticed... Are you done yet?" I ask impatiently and peer at May.

"Hold on..." She did a little dabbing under my eye. "Done!" She threw her arms into the air like those people on cooking competitions when the time is over.

"Whoa. Where did you learn how to do that pattern?" Elle studied my face and asked.

"My mom. That's why Iridescent knows as well."

"Can I see now? I wanna enjoy how it feels to be pretty before I do something crazy and mess up my self."

"You're not pretty. You're stunning." Elle said and slid off the couch. I got up as well and followed May to the bathroom.

  Let me be honest, I was scared of what I saw in the mirror. No, there was no axe wielding maniac. Just me. In a dress like no other and dots forming a 'X' on my face. The points started from the top ends of my eyebrows, crossed my nose, and ended at the bottom ends of my eyes. They also got smaller and smaller until there was nothing. Then my hair was in a neat bun, leaving my bangs curled against my face. My gold eyes stared at me. What I once thought as some illness was now what I loved most about my appearance.

  "What do you think?" May asked as I looked over myself once more to check if it was really me.

"It's great." I said  100% genuinely. "Do we go now?" I turned away from the mirror.

"Yup. Let's go! Iridescent should be waiting for us there." She pushed me out the door as Elle grabbed our coats.

"By the way, where's Lynx?" I asked as I put my coat on.

"At the wedding already." Elle answered and pushed open the door. Cool air rushed into my face and I held close my coat. "God, why's it so cold? Last year wasn't this cold. Is it reverse global warming, or something?"

"Who knows. Just get to the wedding." May said and led us to the wedding grounds which I hadn't seen since the early stages of it's making. All I know is that the main colour of everything is a pale blue.

  "Here we are." May sighed when we got to the outside of this room divided from everything else by black curtains. "In here is it. You ready?" She asked. I could hear the chatter behind the curtains and my stomach dropped when I realized what I was doing exactly. I was marrying at eighteen to someone I met less than two years ago so I could save my tribe from being in a forever coma. Um...no thank you.

  "June?" Dad popped out of the curtains with Iridescent. He was wearing a tux which was new and Iridescent had on a pale blue dress. Her hair was in a ponytail which just clumped all the colours together to create this rainbow coming from her head. In her hands was a cascading bouquet of light blue and white orchids. Why was the only question I had: where did those orchids come from?

  "There you are! Here, take these and let's hurry up. You're late." Iridescent said and shoved the flowers into my hands.

"What? We are?" I turned to May.

"I didn't know." She shrugged. "I was too busy focusing on doing your make up without messing it up."

"Just go sit down." Iridescent shoved the two into the curtains then turned to me. "You know what to do, right?"

"Kinda..."

"Well too late now. Just walk down the aisle with your dad when you see a firework from above."

"Firework?" Before I could say anything else, she disappeared behind the curtains. "She sure is doing all of this pretty quickly." I tell dad.

"Indeed. She's probably a bit overwhelmed and panicking."

"I don't blame her. I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest." I stare down at the bouquet in my hands and the black lace on my arms. I can't believe all of this happening. It was all too much but I couldn't back out now. "Say, who's the best man?" I turned back to dad and asked.

"Phoenix. It was either him or Jason." He answered.

"They made a good choice." I said before a firework of Iridescent's colours burst a top the curtains. "There's our cue." I linked my arm with dad's then we walking in together.

  Fifty eyes fell on me. There was the counselors on one side and some Wolves on the other. I spotted Lacey, Omega's father that's I've only seen a couple of times, and Lynx. If only Omega could be here. There was also a bunch of familiar faces I didn't remember the names of. At the end of the white carpet wad Danny, Eddison, Iridescent, and Phoenix. Phoenix looked so fancy in that tux. The best I've seen him in was that vest during the festival. This, this took the cake.

  Phoenix quickly reached his hand up and tapped his chest, under his bow tie. I glanced down and noticed that I hadn't taken off my necklace. I looked back up at him and he just smiled and lightly shrugged. Next I turned to the counselors. They all had on smiles but I could see the sadness and fear in their eyes. The rest of the tribe may of been saved, but they weren't. They still had to have their magic taken away from them. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of Danny.

  "I didn't think you could get any more beautiful." He smiled.

"You're the one who looks sharp as a knife." I said back before Eddison started speaking. It was too quickly my turn. It was so simple. Two words. I. Do. Yet I couldn't say it. I gulped and turned back to Iridescent who held my bouquet. Then to Phoenix who gave me a sad nod.

  "June?" Danny asked. Everyone was on the edges of their seats, waiting for me. I opened my mouth but something else came out,

"Forgive me." I grabbed the bouquet from Iridescent, lit it on fire, and tossed it to the the curtains; lit the wedding on fire.