Page 28 of Thirsty
Maggie shook her head sadly, like she’d explained this many times before. “He just does.”
Charlie wanted to ask what she meant, but he was distracted when another woman walked across the room. He could tell immediately she was supernatural—she seemed to be lit from within, putting off light as if she were a pool of water, soft and rippling. She was tall and willowy, with pin-straight pale blue hair, and walked past them into the kitchen with an unnaturally smooth, otherworldly gait.
“Who isthat?” he breathed.
“Our third roommate,” Maggie said. “Isolde.”
“What is she?”
Maggie waggled her eyebrows, drawing out the suspense for a moment, and then said: “A unicorn.”
“No,” Charlie gasped. Maggie just nodded, very satisfied to have delivered the news. “But she’s—”
“Decided to take on human form for a while,” Maggie said. “I don’t know all the details.”
A glimmer in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he realized that there was a faint trail of what looked like dust along the floor where Isolde had passed by—dust that was glowing like something under a black light. He bent down to rub some of it between his fingers. “Holy shit, she emits glitter?” he said, standing up to observe it more closely. “That’s amazing. Is this biodegradable? Wait, what am I touching right now.”
Maggie grinned. “Want me to introduce you?”
They went into the kitchen, where Isolde was standing in front of the sink, staring at the faucet as water poured out. Rachel was standing next to her, holding a mug and tapping her foot impatiently.
“Isolde?” Maggie said. “This is my friend Charlie. He wanted to meet you.”
Isolde craned her neck to stare at him. She was unbelievably beautiful—not colloquially unbelievable, but in a way that truly seemed beyond belief. Her skin was moonlight blue and impossibly smooth. She had huge eyes, long eyelashes, and delicate features, and her eyebrows and lower lip were pierced with something that looked like bone. She seemed to move less than a human would, even down to the speed with which she blinked. Staring at her, he felt caught between elation and pure terror.
“Hello,” she said. Her voice was soft, raspy, and deep.
“Hi,” he managed. “Nice to meet you.”
Rachel shook her head, seeming exasperated. “Wait for it.”
Isolde said, “You are unchaste.”
He hesitated. “Un...unchaste?”
“Impure,” she said. “Sullied by your earthly hungers.”
Rachel leaned past Isolde and clarified: “She means you’re not a virgin.”
“Oh!” Charlie said. “Wow, so the whole thing about unicorns and virgins is not a myth, huh?”
“No,” Isolde said, then turned back to stare at the water pouring out of the faucet.
“Is something wrong with the water?” Charlie asked tentatively.
“No,” Isolde said softly, craning her neck just a bit. “And yes.”
“Wow,” Rachel said. “That’s profound.”
“All water is pure,” Isolde said. “And it is all impure. Just like all of you,” she finished, turning to look at Rachel.
Rachel flushed and glared at everyone in the room before stalking off, her mug forgotten. Isolde turned back to the water and then shut off the tap before also leaving. The sound of her footsteps was deeply unsettling for reasons Charlie couldn’t put his finger on at first, before he realized: there was nothing organic about her at all. The sounds of her footfalls and her clothes rustling as she passed by weren’t soft but crystalline and brittle, like a machine made of finespun glass.
“Wow,” Charlie said to Maggie. “That was—wow. Thanks for the introduction.”
Maggie smiled at him. “You’re fun.”
He stayed for a few minutes to chat with Maggie, but just as they started to head back to the party, Lorenzo came into the room. Once again he stopped short when he saw Charlie, looking uncomfortable. “Hey,” Charlie said.
