BEATRICE:

Zayne flapped his expansive wings. It was truly a sight to see… Half boy, half beast. He flew toward Mark and me with a blood-curdling scream.

“Guards, capture him!” We backed up against the balcony railing to protect ourselves from the wild creature we’d accidentally created. That monster needed to be caged in order to keep society safe. We clearly needed to get him under control before any damage was done.

“Zayne, please!” Naive Grace called out his name, drawing attention to herself. She was always beautiful, but never intelligent.

The creature turned to Grace and said, “I wish to tell you, but scared what you think of me. I am a freak because of them!”

The creature motioned toward Mark and me, still cowering near the edge of the balcony. Like Doctor Frankenstein, we knew we’d have to make peace with our creation. Of course, we always intended to make things right.

“I’m sorry, dear.” Grace touched Zayne’s face and caressed his wings. They had formed a deep connection. It was horrific.

Mark and I had been so engrossed in my treatments, so focused on finding a cure, that we failed to realize she had found this boy. A grave oversight, to be sure. We should have realized she was still young and needed constant supervision.

“Grace, stay away from him!” Mark stepped forward cautiously and tried to grab the gun off his drone, but it was half-secured and stuck. The creature noticed and growled.

Unarmed, Mark stepped back and spoke in a calm tone. “It’s okay. We can work this out. We will arrange an incredible compensation package…”

My Markie always did the right thing, but those two were so engrossed in their own puppy love to see things clearly. Grace turned the creature’s face back toward her, and they stared into each other’s eyes.

Grace whispered, “You’re not a freak. You’re beautiful.”

Leave it to my daughter to fall for a monster. She always felt uncomfortable in refined society. She complained of decadence and expectations. In reality, she enjoyed slumming it for excitement. She had a golden parachute. We were always there to clean up her blunders. This was an epic failure.

“I love you, Zayne.” Grace leaned in and kissed him right in front of us! As if she hadn’t learned how to behave at the finest schools. She did it to spite us, I’m sure.

I would have let her run off with him and suffer the consequences of her own stupid decisions. She’d be so lucky to find half the love Mark and I shared. But Mark wouldn’t have any of that. Not his daughter.

He shouted, “No, Grace! Back away from him. Now!”

Mark always said he only had eyes for me, but Grace had several years to secure her place in Mark’s heart. Instead of laughing with me in his workshop, he’d tinker with his drone with her while I sat staring at the fireplace, trapped in that wheelchair with nowhere to turn but my own thoughts.

“You always scolded me about the consequences of my actions…” Grace looked at us with rage in her eyes. Her veins glowed under her skin as she approached us like an animal herself.

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“What have you done?”

“Zayne isn’t the only one who’s had the serum…”

I was genuinely afraid of her. She always had that rebellious streak, but we thought we’d raised her right. In reality, we didn’t know what our daughter was capable of.

Gunshots echoed in the background, a reminder of the chaos building outside. We expected the villagers to be ungrateful for all the opportunity we’d given them, but never anticipated it from Grace.

The creature, with a wingspan twice his size, had more sense than our daughter. He pulled Grace’s arm back and said, “We go. The villagers deal with them.”

Grace said to Zayne, “I love you. I want to be with you, but do you really think they’ll let us be together?”

Zayne and Grace looked at me and Mark, gripping each other and the balcony railing in shock.

Grace looked me dead in the eyes and said coldly, “Throw them over.”

“Grace Marie Claudi,” I called out. “You stop this nonsense. We’ve always fixed your mistakes, but now you’ve gone too far. There’s no coming back from this.”

“What mistakes, Mother? You’re the one who’s done unspeakable things. It’s my turn to fix your missteps. It’s your turn to suffer.”

I’d never seen so much disgust on someone’s face. Grace looked at us like we hadn’t given her everything she’d ever wanted. Love, attention, material wealth. None of that mattered now. This was every parent’s worst nightmare. Grace was the monster.

“My dear, I can tell you’re upset, but I can fix things,” Mark pleaded. “I promise, honey. Everything will be okay. We can come back from this.”

“You know, Father, there are no bad ideas. Only bad execution.” Grace twisted Mark’s words against him.

“I…” Mark stumbled on his response.

“My whole life, I thought you were perfect. I wanted to be just like you two. So in love…” Grace admitted.

Mark and I were so in love. He was my everything, and I finally had a second chance at life with him. With my fragile body restored, so was my hope for our future as lovers, parents, soul mates. Our love was literally rebuilt brick by brick. Our struggles intertwined with triumphs.

“Please, Grace…”

She continued her diatribe. “I’ve found a love more powerful than yours. Our love is bigger than Zayne and I because it includes all the boys you’ve kidnapped and tested on. You’ve tortured the people from this island. We won’t let you hurt one more person for your own selfish gains.”

She turned to her creature and added, “Throw them over. It’s the only way to stop them. They’re too powerful. Politicians, police, media, they own them all. They’ll never let us be together. You and your people will never live in peace if they’re alive.”

“No! Don’t do this!” We pleaded with our power-hungry child. We begged her not to do something she’d regret, but she had already crossed over to the dark side. She chose her misguided puppy love over our family’s future. Grace failed to see the long-term gains of the treatment Mark created, and all the future lives we could save.

“Yes, dear.” Zayne flapped those fiery wings and swooped toward us.

Mark and I crouched down together and held each other tightly. I couldn’t let go. I wouldn’t let go.

“B…” Mark started, but I shushed him. I refused to say goodbye to the love of my life. Not after all we’d been through. Not after everything we’d sacrificed. Not after what we accomplished. Grace was foolishly taking away the ends and the means, making Zayne’s sacrifice meaningless.

The wind generated from Zayne’s massive wings blew my hair around our last passionate kiss. Mark’s pounding heart melded with mine as that monster effortlessly picked us up as if we were playthings. We gripped onto each other, dangling in the air, over the volcano. We never let go.

That coward Grace walked away. She didn’t have the courage to face us in our last moment. Grace had her creature do the dirty work. She showed no emotion, no remorse, no regret.

My stomach jumped into my throat when Zayne released his grip. We fell into the heart of that volcano, staring at each other until the bitter end. Despite the hot rushing wind, we couldn’t afford to blink and miss even a millisecond of time together.

I lost myself in Mark’s ocean blue eyes, his deep and loving nature sparkling through their boundless beauty. We were each other’s raison en d'etre. You’ll never meet another couple so endlessly devoted to each other.

And we never let go. Instead, the lava melded us together; body, mind, and soul.

How could Jackie choose Grace’s side, now that she knew her mother was a murderer?