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“Gwen—”
“No!”
“It’s just an eye—”
“That was inside of your head—”
“Gwen—”
“Ambrosius—”
“Look at me.”
Gwen was angry enough that she did and gaped. Instead of an empty cavity, another eye had appeared. Ambrosius looked no different than he had before he had attempted his impromptu gorging.
“The word you’re looking for is enucleation, andI’m perfectly fine,” he assured. “Your sentiment is noted, but not needed.”
“I wasn’t…”
He lifted a brow.
Okay, maybe she had been concerned. Weren’t humans normally concerned about fatal wounds?
He’s not human, remember?
“Of course not,” he said condescendingly. “Now, give me your hand. Anddon’t argue.”
His voice had grown dark near the end. Gwen swallowed her pride and held out her hand. Ambrosius dropped the eye into her palm and it took all of Gwen’s will not to throw it back at his face. It felt …warm,and a lot like a ripe tomato. It had a familiar dark brown iris, but the veins on the sclera were different. That same nearly black-teal color she had seen before—
Gwen jumped.
“Your eye just moved!” she exclaimed.
“Yes, it does that.”
The eyeball in her palm rolled from side to side, and the pupil dilated. It wasdefinitelystaring at her.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” Gwen demanded in a hushed tone.
“Put it in your pocket,” Ambrosius instructed. “I won’t be invited in, but this way I can keep an eye on things.”
“Did you just make a joke?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Gwen carefully put the eyeball into her front pocket just as she heard a knock on the door.
“Good luck, my bittersweet!”
When Gwen looked up, Ambrosius was gone, and before she could figure out where he had disappeared to, the door opened.
This was the closest Gwen had ever been to seeing her neighbor. He wasn’t too much taller than Gwen, just shy of five ten, if she had to guess. His scruffy beard extended to his dirty blond hair, and he wore a wrinkled gray crew neck shirt. His eyes were blue and he had several freckles across the bridge of his short nose. He looked just as confused as Gwen felt.
“Hey,” Gwen sighed with a flirty tilt of her head.
She immediately wanted to go kill herself.
Come on, commit to the bit, bitch!