Pentimento: a dystopian Beauty and the Beast Read Online Free PDF Page B

at night too," Colton mumbled, staring at some invisible nowhere.
    Iris squeezed his hand and shot him a sympathizing look. It was a true gesture. She might not have liked Eva, but she felt guilty about her being taken, after she had wished it herself. It was ironic that Colton and Iris were here together because of Eva.
    Iris squeezed his hand again, and they began walking toward the bakery. His hand felt warm and strong, and so did her heart. She hadn't told him yet about Eva's words.

8
    “What the heck is that?” Colton squinted at the shady Ruins.
    Iris knew his infatuation with the tunnel and the Barnum Bakery hadn't withered yet, but the darkened Ruins beyond made his heart skip a beat. The sky above him was purplish, with a feeble sun trying to pass its orange hues through the thick layers of gray clouds. Hell, he doubted the sun was even there behind it. It was as if there was some kind of fire in the sky, one that had only been put out recently. All kinds of smoke swirled around them as they walked through the old and abandoned buildings. The Ruins smelled like ashes left in the rain.
    “Welcome to the Ruins,” Iris said. Her gaze was cautious and alert. She knew of the dangers lurking in every corner. She had never encountered a slug, a dangerous animal, or even a revolutionist. But she’d heard them so many times. There was always this feeling that she was being watched in here. That’s why she preferred to go back before sunset, when the place dimmed from shades of gray to obscurely dark. “This is the world as it might have been before The Second. In your terms, this is probably The First.”
    “Do you really think this is the old world before the Beasts arrived?” Colton’s mouth was left agape. He couldn’t stop walking around and touching things, and taking pictures with his camera. Like Iris expected, whoever entered the Ruins was immediately entranced by the brick, stone, and wooden buildings.
    “What else would it be?” Iris pulled him toward the building she wanted to go to. A place where she could practice the Pentimento.
    “So the Beasts aren't the bad guys after all," Colton said. Iris shot him a worried look. "I mean, maybe the world was in Ruins and the Beasts saved us from it, like they always tell us in school. The Beasts designed a brand new place for us to live in, and we should be thankful.”
    "How could you say that?" Iris frowned.
    “It's the most plausible explanation," Colton said. "Look at this horrible place."
    A limping dog showed from behind a far wall. He looked thin and scruffy. Colton looked worried. She knew he'd never seen a real dog before. Dogs in The Second looked too good, with fair skin and hair. They didn't even drool, because they weren't real dogs. Only one of the Beasts’ many inventions. You could even buy a dog that didn't bark or poop, if you so wished.
    "It won't hurt you if you leave it be." Iris said.
    "You've been bragging about this place having real animals. But they're deformed and ill. Look at him. I wouldn’t want him in my world, and I should thank the Beasts for that. And you said you saw real plants? I bet they are as ugly as that." Colton pointed at a single green plant, barely making it out of the black soil covering the ground. It was full of fungus and weeds. "Is this the kind of plants you're talking about? And look at this soil. Would you eat something grown in here?" he sighed, staring at the darkened sky again. "What have our ancestors done to this place?"
    "I can't believe you're saying this," Iris protested. Colton wasn't on her same frequency by any means. "If the Beasts saved us from a great danger, then why didn’t they fix the Ruins as well?”
    “Maybe the whole world outside is the Ruins. It might have been too big for them to fix, so they just picked a smaller place for us to live.”
    "Listen to yourself,” Iris said, nearing the building she was heading to, Colton following her. “You don’t make any