Page 45 of Eye of the Beholder
“Mina, everyone. Everyone, Mina.”
“Hi,” I say, miraculously keeping the squeaking to a minimum.
Jack and Grant smile at me, although Grant looks a little confused by my presence, and Virginia and Marie just sort of stare. Standing next to them makes me feel kind of like an idiot. Which is dumb. I’m not an idiot just because I’m wearing a different kind of costume. I try to shrug it off.
“Come on,” Virginia says, hooking her arm through Jack’s and looking pointedly at Cohen. She gives him a weirdly suggestive look, licking her lips slowly in a way that makes my skin crawl. “Let’s do the maze.”
I notice her shivering, and I bite back a grin. They can look at me like I’m stupid, but at least I’m warm.
Grant and Marie don’t pair off the way Virginia and Jack do, but they look pretty cozy. That leaves Cohen and me.
“Um,” I say, and he leans down a little to hear me. His clean scent mixes with the vague smell of fall and bonfires that the wind is carrying to us, and the result is pleasantly heady. “Virginia isdefinitelytrying to work her seductress magic on you.”
He looks surprised for a second and then laughs loudly, causing Grant and Marie to look at us briefly. Cohen stifles his laughter quickly.
“Virginia always wants what she can’t have. If Jack’s not interested, she wants to be with Jack. If I’m not interested, she wants to be with me. It’s a power play for her. She’ll never be happy with one person. So even though she and Jack are hanging out—”
“She still tries to undress you with her eyes,” I say, nodding. “I saw it. I will neverunseeit.”
Cohen shrugs, staring at his feet and looking uncomfortable as we shuffle along. “Yeah. I don’t know.”
“And you don’t want to get back together with her?” I say over the wind. I’m glad my hood is up, because the wind would have a field day with my hair.
“No,” he says with a snort of laughter. “Very much no.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to ask—if she’s that terrible, why did you ever go out with her in the first place?” I say as we reach the entrance to the maze. The cornstalks sway in the wind, rustling softly around us.
He looks at me. “She wasn’t terrible to me,” he says as though it’s obvious. Which maybe it is. “And despite my charming personality”—I laugh, and he grins—“people on Virginia’s level aren’t usually interested in a face like this. I was flattered. She was gorgeous and flirty and sweet.”
“You seem to think you’re uglier than you actually are,” I say, frowning.
Cohen pointedly ignores this. “And then I started noticing how she treated other people.”
All right; we can ignore it. “And her devil horns showed up.”
He grins at me. “Something like that.”
I smile. “Now,” I say, looking around. “Where are we going?”
The labyrinth of corn surrounding us is twisting and shadowy. It’s quieter than outside, and the wind is mostly blocked by the corn growing all around, although I still feel it a bit. It’s oddly peaceful in here. However, I have little to no faith in my ability to get through.
“No idea,” Cohen says comfortably.
I wince as a thought occurs to me. “Are they actually going to do the maze? Or is everyone going to just…you know…find a corner and make out or something?”
Cohen winces, too. “I can’t promise it won’t be some of both.”
I throw my hands up in the air. I look around to make sure everyone is far away enough that we won’t be heard before I say, “I’m supposed to be here talking pretty words to Jack. I can’t do that if he’s off making out with Virginia somewhere.”
“Talking pretty words?” Cohen says with a grin.
I hit him on the arm. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, if you’re really dedicated to this—”
“I’m in costume in a corn maze with people I don’t really like. Present company excluded,” I say as he opens his mouth to protest. “I think it’s safe to say I’m dedicated. This is my year.”
Cohen shrugs. “Well, then I think our best option is just to follow Jack and Virginia and don’t let them sneak off.”
