copper-coloured eyes. He wore black jeans and a charcoal grey T-shirt, with a black waxed jacket on top.
Let me just say that if ever I had any doubts about the definition of the word ‘beautiful’, then they were eradicated at that moment.
He was beautiful.
In fact, both boys were extraordinarily handsome, but in appearance they looked nothing alike. Polar opposites, even. Their only comparable feature was the same arrogant smirk that occasionally flickered over their lips.
“I do apologise for such an impromptu visit,” Caicus said, addressing Mary as though they were old friends. “My brother and I have found ourselves in quite a pickle. You understand, though.”
Presumptuous! I thought, in disbelief.
“Of course,” Mary answered the blonde boy. “Car trouble, is it?”
He feigned an overly saddened expression. “Oh yes. Terrible car trouble. And on such a stormy night. My poor brother has found the entire thing very distressing. His nerves are shot to pieces, God love him.”
The dark-haired boy seemed to be battling to suppress a grin. “I’m of a nervous disposition as it is,” he chimed in, though his remark was highly unconvincing.
Were these guys for real?
“Oh, my apologies,” Caicus slapped his hand to his head. “I have not properly introduced my dear brother, Oscar.” He gestured to his companion.
Oscar gave Mary a striking smile. “Oscar Valero.”
“Oh. Pleasure to meet you both,” Mary told them. “I’m Mary Clements. You’ve met my husband, Roger. And this is our niece, Rose. She’s staying with us over the summer.”
Caicus fixed his cool blue eyes on me. “Oh, how nice,” he said in a sickly sweet voice.
Yuck. I grimaced. Insufferable!
Regardless of my inward dislike, I forced a smile. They may have been good looking, but they definitely weren’t good people. They oozed falseness and superiority. I didn’t like them and I most certainly didn’t trust them.
Caicus continued, “I think it’s best if we stay here tonight,” he stated, specifically to Mary. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
I stared at him, incredulously. I watched as his unnerving eyes seemed to bore into Mary.
Whoa.
It seemed totally implausible, but I was almost sure that Caicus’s eyes had changed colour. A second before they’d been blue, but at the moment he focused upon Mary, they gleamed like white diamonds. Even in the dimly-lit dining room, his eyes shimmered like glaciers. And if that transformation alone hadn’t been bizarre enough, something even more peculiar happened. To my sheer astonishment, Mary nodded her head in concurrence.
“Yes, you must stay here,” she insisted. “You can sleep in one of the guest bedrooms. The twin room at the far end will be perfect.”
“Aunt Mary!” I exclaimed. “Perhaps the boys would be better off in a hotel.”
Caicus and Oscar seemed taken aback, almost as though they were shocked by my disinclination.
“No,” Caicus rejected my suggestion. He cast his crystal eyes onto me now. “It’s best for us to stay here,” he repeated assertively.
Suddenly I felt dizzy and exposed.
“I think that’s very inappropriate,” I countered, trying to maintain a cool head.
Now the boys looked only at one another. Caicus’s eyebrows knotted together, and for a second it seemed as though they were communicating silently. After a moment of hesitation, Caicus returned his attention to Mary.
“So, the guest bedroom?” he prompted, evidently choosing to ignore me.
With Caicus’s eyes cast away from me, I felt normal again.
Mary, however, was acting far from normal. She blinked as though someone had shone a bright torch directly at her. “Yes, I’ll show you the way.”
The newcomers gave their first genuine smiles of the evening.
“Wait!” I made one last attempt to talk some sense into my aunt and uncle. But as I leapt up from my chair, Oscar whirled around to face me. For the first time that evening, I really saw him.
The intensity of