Pentimento: a dystopian Beauty and the Beast by Cameron Jace

said.
    "Colton." Iris stressed.
    "The Colton?" Zoe's eyes almost popped out of her head.
    Iris nodded with a grin on her face. "He is Cody's brother. When he heard I knew something about the Beasts in the Ruins, he offered to come."
    Iris recited all that happened between her and Colton to Zoe, who'd been so excited, she thought she'd skip the birthday. But then Cody called and said he'd be late another half an hour.
    Having gossiped all they could about Colton, Zoe couldn't resist asking Iris about what she'd been searching the internet for.
    "Did you ever wonder what the Beasts really look like, Zoe?" she tried to sound uninterested, as if she were just making conversation until Cody arrived.
    "Will you ever stop being curious about them?" Zoe fidgeted, looking uncomfortable in her high heels.
    "Are you saying you're not curious yourself?" Iris's stare was sharp, piercing through whatever fake disinterest Zoe showed. Iris was sure she was curious.
    "I am," Zoe avoided her friend's eyes. "But thou shall not question the Beast." she craned her head, as if someone could have heard them.
    "We're not questioning them. We're having a conversation about them. Don't be such a coward." Iris said.
    "Alright," Zoe took off the high heels until Cody arrived. "I guess I broke all the rules today, wearing such a dress, and going out with a boy I barely know. So here is what I hear. Some students say the Beasts look like Aliens."
    "Aliens?"
    "Those green creatures who look like frogs and have antennas in their heads?" Zoe reminded her.
    "I know what aliens are," Iris mocked her back. "But how do aliens really look? I mean all that green stuff about them was only made to entertain kids. Besides, we all know that the Beasts are the aliens, whatever they look like."
    "Don't shoot the messenger. I am just telling you what I heard."
    "I don't care about what you heard, Zoe. Use your head. Tell me what you think ."
    "You want my opinion?" Zoe raised her eyebrows. "You usually never listen to anything I say. Anyways, I think they are far more advanced than us. I mean, whatever metallic technology we live in with all those hologram inventions and communication methods, they live a much more transcendent life, if I may suggest."
    "Like how?"
    "I don't know," Zoe shook her shoulders again. "I can't imagine what I haven't seen. It's just pure logic. If they are our rulers whom we never see, and all of us are obeying them, even the Council, then those Beasts are the shit." Zoe clapped her mouth with her hand instantly. "Lady Jesus, see what talking with you made me do? I have never said the S word before."
    "Lady Jesus?" Iris neglected Zoe's silly concern for uttering bad words. "You don't believe in that crap."
    "Oh, so this night is going to be full of crap and shit," Zoe said. "My mom believes in it. I don't know what to believe. I am just not as sophisticated as you. Since when do we have such deep conversations? Our friendship is built on you being the outcast who asks questions, and me being the shallow girl who saves your ass."
    "You said ass," Iris laughed.
    "Well, the train has run off the rails tonight," Zoe said. "And it's all because of you and your never-ending questions."
    "Do you ever wonder why the Beasts take only girls?" Iris wondered. "And don't say it's all about Lady Jesus again."
    "Don't worry. I won't. I even heard that Jesus is a man's name," Zoe said. "To tell you the truth, your question is the one that I keep asking myself all the time."
    "So you ask questions." Iris pointed out.
    "Of course I ask, Iris. I just don't utter them, so I won't get expelled or hurt. I have to work hard to earn a place in college and have a life. But when I lay alone in bed and I’m just about to go to sleep every night, I ask myself why the Beasts only take girls."
    "And?"
    "Maybe they are only a male species," Zoe suggested. "Or at least some weird sexless species. Maybe with all the power they have, they have that weakness that they can't