Happy Halloween! 🎃❤️
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The place was called Herptilian Marvel.
A one story building with a pet store at the front and a zoo at the back. I could tell why Phoebe liked it. It wasn't an ordinary animal sanctuary. It was a herpetarium.
I guess that was the one thing she had in common with her father—their obsession with cold-blooded animals. They were both herpers.
"Phoebe, you're back!" A pretty boy squealed at the sight of us the second we stepped inside, and Phoebe's face lit up at his voice.
"Hey Gunn!" She waved to the void before we approached the guy at the counter.
I had a feeling Phoebe knew her way around here the same way she knew her own bedroom.
"Nice to see you again." He smiled at her.
"I missed you!"
A certain excitement was written all over her face, and I couldn't get enough of it.
"I'm pretty sure you mean the pets." The boy pointed behind him and I remained a wallflower to their little reunion, admiring the way Phoebe simply existed.
She looked out of place, in a good way. Like an alien dropped from outer space. The hood was pulled down from her head, her hair cascaded magically down her shoulders, and her hands settled comfortably in the front pockets. She looked so beautiful, and I imagined how heavenly life would be if I could have her next to me all the time.
Before I could get lost in my own Narnia, I heard the guy clear his throat.
I glanced at him, then at Phoebe, then back at him. He held back a smile, and I felt a bit embarrassed that he had witnessed me ogling Phoebe like that.
"Um–Phoebe was just introducing you to me," He disclosed, placing a hand on his mouth as if it could hold back the chuckles that came out. "Averista, right?"
"Oh. Right!" I wanted to smack myself. Did I zone out too long not to even hear my name being mentioned? "Yeah, that's me."
"Good," He was still chuckling. "I'm Gunn Weinstein. The owner."
Owner? He looked fifteen!
Phoebe's facial expression revealed that she could sense my shock and I didn't need to voice it out.
"Okay, Gunn." Phoebe grabbed my hand. "We'll be having a brief tour around and saying hello to my scaled buddies. Hope that's cool?"
"Of course! Knock yourselves out." Gunn finally settled his laughter down. "Pretty sure those bratty serpents are excited to see you."
"Hope they'll be more excited to see my girlfriend."
A heat rose to my cheeks as Gunn looked at me in awe, like the math in his head was finally mathing. Phoebe gave him one last smile before leading the two of us into the dungeon. Well, it looked like a dungeon when we ambled through the enormous coal-black door and into a hall.
The area stockpiled a myriad of cages, harboring a profusion of diverse herptiles. For some reason, the feeling of 'home' engulfed me. Or was it just the reptile within me who had never seen a terrarium before?
"They systematized this place to mime an in character ambience for the convenience of the pets," Phoebe explained. "So don't get startled if you feel too acquainted to the atmosphere around here."
No wonder. I pondered whether the environment could pose a potential catalyst to my transformation. A shift that would provoke my monster to come out. I seriously didn't want to scare other customers away. As tempting as the idea of bringing out the triplets to say hello was, I couldn't risk it. No, not here.
"I might get addicted and want to come back here from time to time."
Phoebe smirked, making me realize I had said my thoughts out loud.
"I mean, I–I didn't know the sight of so many snakes around me could feel so–therapeutic?" I gazed intently at every captive animal as Phoebe and I maintained a leisurely stride down the aisle.
"It's because there's a sense of family when you're around your own kind. A feeling of belonging. One that you're probably not going to find anywhere else unless it's in another overpopulated reptile pet store or, of course, the wilds." She elucidated while the attention of her hands focused ardently on the glass case of a tawny-colored snake.
It came to my notice that all the vivariums had name badges. Additionally, they were arranged in alphabetical order by their names, aside from being grouped based on species.
I wondered if I could find an Averista. I strutted away from Phoebe as she pulled open a cage of one named 'Agatha' and carefully let the snake slip onto her hand.
"You cute little thing. Mommy missed you too."
I doubted if we were allowed to do that, but the way Phoebe handled the slithering thing in her arms was the most dazzling thing I had ever seen. Oh how I wished I was that darn snake.
Turning back to my business . . .
No, there was none named after me. Too bad.
"Looking for your namesake now?" Phoebe was suddenly on my side. Agatha gone from her hands. We both exulted at the question.
"I mean, why not?" I lugged farther down to search for a 'Phoebe'. I found one in no time.
"Hey, pretty baby." I grinned at the stunningly colored milk snake who had my girlfriend's name on its badge.
"I know you're eyeing my twinie!" Phoebe called out loud from somewhere in another aisle and I couldn't believe how fast she moved.
"How sightful of you!" I retorted playfully and heard Phoebe's beautiful chortle.
"You should come down here and meet my favorite twin. It's a huge ass boa!"
"How comes you get double namesakes and I get none?" I chuckled.
It had never occurred to me how much Phoebe adored reptiles until I saw her gush all over the mere existence of them. It made me a little jealous, but again, this wasn't about me. This was about her having fun with what she loved. And I had never seen her brighten up the way she brightened up at the presence of animals.
I sauntered past a row of calm corn snakes, glaring ball pythons, a 'Don't touch, Don't feed' warning sign by the wall, and followed Phoebe's voice until I found her in the 'Boa constrictors' section. She had released one of the biggest snakes I had ever seen and was sitting on the floor playing with it. For a minute, the sight of her gleeful face took me away, but in the next minute, I remembered the warning sign.
"I don't think we're allowed to do that." I pointed, as much as I wished I didn't. I could watch the gorgeous girl have fun all day.
"I know. But Gunn let's me," she replied. "He knows I can handle them well."
Delighted, I sat down next to her, despite feeling both entranced and retracted by the way the snake had wrapped itself around her legs. A beautiful rare sight that I wanted to capture with my camera.
"Besides," she added. "I've been here so many times I'm technically part of the staff now."
"A regular, I see." I took out my cell phone and snapped a few pictures.
They looked gorgeous. Both of them.
"Is that how you met Gunn? As a regular?" I asked, curious.
Phoebe beamed as if she had been looking forward to the question.
"Not really." She delicately grazed her palm over the snake's scales, and it puzzled me as to why the reptile didn't seem to mind the constant touches. As far as I knew, snakes were insusceptible to human bonding, unlike most animal pets. "Yes, I first met him here. But later on discovered that his husband is actually my father's business partner and comrade. Which means we probably have met each other before but couldn't remember?"
Oh. Wait–that kid was married??
Phoebe seemed to discern my internal panic session.
"Relax. Gunn never looks his age." She sniggered. "He's twenty-nine. Older than both of us. Shocker, I know."
Wow. The world could totally use some anti-aging tips from him.
"I know everybody says he looks like he's born last night, but it's nothing fancy. It's just his genes." Phoebe shrugged.
One lucky fucker, I guess. And a business partner? There were only two reasons someone could be acquainted to McQuinn — either they were a crazy scientist or crazy rich. I bet on the latter. Whoever Gunn's husband was, he was most likely a powerful person.
"Anyway," Phoebe turned her attention back to the boa who was all over her. "Sorry for the late introduction. Phoebe, my pet snake, meet Averista, my girlfriend."
"We're both snakes, actually." I smiled at the serpent, though my mind lingered on the fact that if Phoebe called me 'girlfriend' one more time I was surely going to kiss the air out of her lungs.
"That's even better. Maybe you and Phoebe over here can bond faster than it took me to bond with her."
"It's not as easy as you think." I moved closer to them, but flinched when my fingers lightly brushed the snake's skin. "You're every serpent's poison apple, do you know that?"
Phoebe turned her face to me. She was too angelic to be true. Words got caught in my throat as I fought the urge to ravage her lips.
Her attention remained on me for a few seconds before she turned away.
"You're born for this, Phoebe." I muttered in addition. "It's what you're called to be whether you were raised by herpetologists or not. You would've ended up here, anyway. You're our charm. The reptiles' charm."
Phoebe smiled before she leaned down and planted her lips on the boa's spine.
"And you guys are my charm." I heard her whisper into the kiss. "You're my charm, Averista."
Witnessing the action sent a shudder through my skin. Good jitters. Ones that burnt something in my lower gut.
For a moment there, my desire to be fully human almost disappeared. I wanted to be Medusa for good. Just so Phoebe could love me, pet me, and treat me like that. I lived for the glow that appeared in her eyes whenever she rambled to the cold-blooded critters, as if they could understand her. Perhaps they did.
Let me not even start with their bizarrely amazing response to her voice and touch. Maybe the brutes could tell apart between someone who had genuine admiration in them and who didn't, because whenever I was at their proximity, I could see them repel from me. I almost rolled my eyes at their behavior. I mean, did I need to re-introduce myself? I was the Medusa. Which meant I was technically the mother of all of them, in some ridiculous sense. They should learn to glare at me with more respect. The bitches.
When I got back to my senses, Phoebe had already put the snake back in its cage. The poor thing didn't look as content in there as it did on Phoebe's body. I felt a bit sad for it.
"Are we going to check the others too?" I gestured towards another entrance way which was labeled 'Amphibian Adorations'.
Phoebe didn't answer me, instead she gently pushed me back against the wall and kissed me like she had been holding back for too long. My mind went hazy when she let go.
"We'll do that next time." She tugged on the front of my t-shirt. "For now, let's go home."
I let her drag me along, even though I had no idea where she was taking me. She was the only home I knew.