Chapter Three

“Me, my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother are all direct descendants of the first Eve,” Eve explained, in an oddly formal tone. She sounded like she had been repeating these words for years, but I sincerely doubted that. “That’s why we are born with a snake on our arm. The snake is a constant reminder of the sin our ancestor committed. For thousands of years it’s been this way, going back much farther than anyone can remember.” Eve paused, gauging my reaction, before continuing with her story. “Every two hundred years, a man is supposed to come along, and try to break the spell that binds the women of my family.”

“What spell?” I interrupted, raising an eyebrow. Eve scowled at me, for interrupting when she was clearly getting to that part.

“All the women in my family will die a painful and violent death,” Eve said gravely, my eyebrows flew into my hair in shock. That was surprising, Eve’s driving skills terrified even me, and yet she was supposed to be worried about a painful and violent death?

“Wait,” I said, confused and disoriented at this jumping-all-over-the-place story. “What?”

“If you quit interrupting you will understand what is going on,” Eve hissed threateningly at me from between her teeth.

“Okay,” I said meekly, feeling myself shrink back at her scary figure. Eve raised an eyebrow at me, daring me to speak, before she was satisfied I wouldn’t interrupt again and continuing.

“Anyway,” Eve said, glaring at me still. “Every two hundred years, a man is supposed to come along and fall in love with one of the descendants, and usually, he tried to rid her family of the spell. Typically, this ends badly, and he is killed, occasionally, along with the girl. I believe the ghost of the First Eve appeared to us, because she knew that you were going to try to rid my grandmother and I of the spell that possesses us.” Eve finished with a triumphant air about her, and a slightly smug smile.

“How do you know I’m the guy, besides that whole ghost thing?” I asked, curious, hoping that I wasn’t the guy at all, and that this was a just a huge misunderstanding. But, the expressions on Madam Rosa and Eve’s faces told me otherwise.

“You have to tell me,” I said quietly. “I’m in this just as much as you are.” Or at least I think I am, I sighed inwardly, crossed my arms and waited. My patience was disappearing by the second. I started tapping my foot, while Eve looked at me uncomfortably. Then, she finally took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose loudly.

“You have a snake on your arm, but you can’t see it,” Eve said slowly, choosing her words carefully. “Its like a birthmark…that only your soulmate can see.” I blanched, spluttered and then blushed furiously.

“What?” I stuttered, incredulous. My voice was at least an octave higher and my face was more than likely challenging a tomato for redness. Eve snickered at my face. Raising my eyes to meet hers, I found I almost couldn’t look away. She crossed her arms across her chest and frowned at me slightly, only one side of her mouth turning down at the corner.

“I’m not exactly happy about this either,” Eve sighed. “I mean, I just met you and it’s like we’re engaged, or something.” That comment made Madam Rosa burst out laughing, snorting like a horse and squealing like a pig. Eve and I broke our staring contest and stared at the elderly woman bent over double, tears of mirth streaming down her face.

“I’m sorry,” Madam Rosa said, still giggly and not quite over her laughing fit. “But you two act like you’re already married!” Eve and I scowled at the elderly woman.

“What do we need to do, to stop this curse-thing?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I do not know,” Madam Rosa said sadly. “But I can find out, soon. Possibly today, if I work efficiently.” She pressed a small brown hand into her face and her muttered to herself silently, thinking.

“But,” Madam Rosa continued. “I need to be alone for my research. Why don’t you two go back to the house? Maybe use the old swimming hole out back. Get to know each other.” Eve and I glanced at each other, both of us blushing wildly.

“Okay,” Eve said, sounding resigned, as if she physically or mentally couldn’t say no to her grandmother. Madam Rosa grinned at us, her eyes and mouth crinkling at the corners, her white teeth in shocking contrast to her face, which was more of a coco color. “Come on.” Eve grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to her rusting car down the street. I climbed in, and she followed suit, putting her keys into the ignition, but she didn’t start the car, even though we seriously needed the A/C. It was boiling out.

Eve closed her eyes and leaned back against the driver’s seat, eyebrows tense and mouth set in a thin line. I reached out and took her hand in mine. I never realized how much smaller she was than me. Her hand felt good in mine, like it belonged there, that I knew. Her eyes flipped open and she looked at me, surprise written all over her face, but she didn’t pull away. Maybe she felt the connection too. I wouldn’t know, because I pulled away first, my face flaming.

Eve started the car, it’s ancient engine rumbling to life, and then pulled out, speeding through the city, onto the dirt road we had pulled off of. We drove in silence, her eyes on the road, mine on the passing forest that bordered the street. She pulled into her long, gravelly driveway what seemed like an eternity later, before stopping the car, jumping out and gesturing for me to do the same. I climbed out, slamming the door behind me. I noticed that paint and rust flecks fell onto the light gray rocks the car rested on, looking old and forlorn.

“Come on,” Eve said. “I’ll show you the house.” She grabbed my hand, not my wrist I noted, before pulling me toward the house. The front door was unlocked, and when we entered, I almost fell over. Before, I hadn’t gotten a real look at the inside of the house, but now, I noticed that it looked entirely preserved, except for possibly one very 1950’s chair sitting in a corner with a tabby cat curled up in it. Wooden floors covered by plush, well cared for Persian rugs covered the floor, leading up to the two curving staircases on either side of the house. The doorway that led to the kitchen, I what I presumed were other rooms, was below the staircase, elaborately carved flowers and symbols borders the door.

“It’s really pretty,” I said lamely, looking up at the beamed ceiling, the high stained glass window’s astounding me.

“Wait till you see my room,” Eve said mysteriously, climbing the staircase on the right, pausing. I darted after her, once I realized that she was waiting for me, somewhat impatiently. Instead of looking at the walls, and into the extensive rooms, my eyes were trained on her black-and-sweatshirt-clad figure walking swiftly, almost dancing, through the long hallway.

She stopped at the last doorway of the hall. The door was painted white, a violet pentacle painted in the center, and it was closed tightly. Eve sighed, before throwing open the door and walking in. I stayed in the doorway, even more astounded. The wall opposite of the door was made entirely of glass, a small porch leading branching off it. The other three walls, plus the ceiling, were covered in photos and sketches and portraits of people. Tons and tons of people, of every color and nationality imaginable; some of the sketches were colored, but most were charcoal, black and white, with colored eyes.

“Did you draw all of these?” I asked, finally stepping into the room and reaching out, my finger brushing against one of the portraits.

“Yes,” Eve said. “I sit on street corners and sketch people I see walking by, or I’ll take pictures of them, and sketch them later.” She smiled lightly at all the images surrounding her, before turning to me.

“You’re good,” I said lamely, offering her a smile.

“Thanks,” Eve said, sincerely, I noted. That made smile, and I grinned stupidly at her. Was I seriously falling for this crazy, tattooed punk-rock-goth girl? That thought actually made me smile harder.

“You look like you’re going to murder someone,” Eve said, raising an eyebrow, before continuing. “I’m going to go change, if I’m going swimming. I’ll be right back.” She grabbed something out of a wardrobe I hadn’t seen, before she darted out the room. I vaguely heard a door shut somewhere, out in the hall, but I was too fascinated to notice or really even care. This girl was really talented, it was like the people on the over-large sketchbook pages could just walk out and start talking to you.

“Alright,” I heard Eve say behind me, and I turned, seeing her looking exactly the same, minus the huge sweatshirt.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.” I smiled at her, and she grinned back at me, like she was lighter without her grandmother around the both of us. Eve turned and led me back down the stairs, and again out the front door, before turning sharply and following the line of the house, finding a narrow path that led into the thick trees that border her house. We had to walk single-file down the path, and we were silent, walking along the sunlight-dappled path. This place felt like it had never changed, as if it had been this way forever, and it was always going to be this way.

The only sound we made was our feet crunching on the dry leaves and broken twigs. After a couple of minutes, Eve led the way into a clearing, and in the center of the clearing was a clear, clean pond, with a gazebo sitting on the edge of the bluish water. Eve walked over to the gazebo, and I followed her at a leisurely pace, gazing into the shallow water. There was a narrow dock branching off of the gazebo’s far edge, going about a quarter of the way into the pond. I found Eve sitting at the edge of the dock, her toes dangling above pond. She wore a black swimsuit that made her look thin, which I then realized, feeling stupid, she actually was. I pulled off my shoes, throwing them in the gazebo, before sitting next to her on the edge of the dock.

“Is this place man-made?” I asked, looking down at the considerably deeper, yet still crystal-clear, water.

“No,” Eve said. “But we do put chemicals in it, so that way we don’t get bugs and scum and stuff. And we built the gazebo and dock, obviously.” She smiled, facing the water, before she stood, walked to the end of the dock, before running at full speed and cannonballing into the water, making a huge splash.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, scowling at her. “Watch it!” Eve laughed and swam up to me, feigning that she was going to yank me in. She laughed, eyes glinting in the bright summer sunlight.

“So,” I said, looking at her smiling face.

“So,” she repeated, looking into my eyes. I smiled at her, my mouth quirking up at the edges.

“Why do you act so different around your grandmother?” I asked, the question I had been burning to ask finally coming out.

“I don’t,” Eve said, sounding confused. I raised my eyebrows at her, brushing some of my shaggy hair out of my face for continuing.

“You act like you mad at her,” I said, pulling my legs up and crossing them, tapping my fingers against the wooden edge of the dock.

“I am,” Eve said. “A little bit, at least.” She sighed, resting her arms on the dock, still kicking her feet under the clear water. I looked down at her, before shifting again to lie on my stomach, so as to look at her face easier.

“What about?” I asked, curious to know, because as messed up as this situation is, I was beginning to genuinely like Eve.

“She’s…just has an old fashioned way of looking at life,” Eve said, she kicked back, floating on the surface of the water, staring up at the puffy white cotton balls that barely passed as clouds.

“I know what you mean,” I said, dipping my right index finger into the rippling water. Little rings passed from it, going to the edge of the pond. Eve lifted her head up, looking at me, eyebrows raised in question.

“My dad is very military,” I explained. “He’s a pretty serious person, ever since my mom died.” I sighed, talking about my mom was still difficult, but it was so much easier around Eve. I guessed I just connected with Eve, even though I didn’t truly want to. But the back of my mind told me otherwise. I told that part of my mind to shut up, and it did.

“That must have sucked,” Eve said, looking back at the cotton ball clouds. I glanced at her, confused. “Moving all the time,” she elaborated.

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “It was difficult to make friends, because I knew I was going to lose them. But I was always on the soccer team.” I smiled at several memories that flooded into my head, of that sport.

“Why?” Eve asked. “I mean, besides the obvious.” She lifted up a hand, and her head, and gestured to my physique.

“It was something that was always a constant. I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to finish up my collage applications and join the soccer team,” I sighed. “But that’s alright, I like this city okay. I can be a history geek sometimes.” I laughed, I definitely took after my dad in my love of American, especially Southern, history.

“You should,” Eve said. “I know my school has a team.” The conversation hit a lull, before she swam over to me, and leaned back on the dock, our arms touching lightly. I smiled lightly at her, and she smiled lightly up at me, before suddenly, out of the blue, she pressed her lips to mine in one swift motion.