Endangered

by Dani Hoots

  “I don’t know, maybe Santa?”

  I glanced at A.J. He shook his head, not understanding either. “Who is this ‘Santa’ and where can we find him?”

  Huntley rubbed his temples. “Never mind, forget I said that. Right now most people don’t believe in a god, or they follow a different god. Rarely the Olympian gods. They have this thing called science and they believe that it answers all the questions of the universe.”

  I shook my head. “There is no way Urania could bless them with such knowledge.”

  Huntley shook his head this time. “Now it’s my turn to be at a loss. Who’s Uranus?”

  “Urania,” A.J. corrected.

  “Whatever. Who is she?”

  I answered, “she is the muse of science. She would be the one who would give humans the knowledge of science, for them to be inspired. There is no way they would have meant to inspire them to turn their backs on us.”

  Huntley nodded. “That makes sense, actually. Kind of. Not really. Anyhow, now what do you want to do next?”

  I bit my lip as I peered around. “I’m kind of hungry. What’s good around here?”

  A.J. nodded. “Yeah, I’m starving as well.”

  Huntley glanced around then smiled. “Then we should dine just as the British dine. We shall find a tea house!”

  I didn’t know what afternoon tea was but it looked delicious.

  I watched as large trays went by with pots of tea and lots of desserts and sandwiches. Even my father would be amazed. I’m surprised he has never had this “afternoon tea” before, at least with me.

  Huntley got us seats in the restaurant called Richoux. It was quaint, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, with blue walls and red flowery wallpaper. I sat down, quiet, peering around, not quite sure what to expect. The waiter, a tall man with Viking orange hair, smiled as he stepped up to our table.

  “What would you like to have?” he asked.

  I looked at Huntley, not sure what to say. He turned to the man. “We will have the afternoon tea special. Earl Grey tea. All three of us.”

  The man nodded and took the clunky leather things off the table. They had the restaurant name on them, I wasn’t quite sure what they were for.

  “What did you order?” I asked. “Did you order one of those things?” I asked as I pointed at the three-tier platters.

  He nodded. “Yup. That’s what this city and country is known for. That and beer.”

  “Oh we should try that too,” I said.

  “Uh.” He glanced at his ID card. “Yeah, I guess we can. The limit is 18 here, not 21 like it is where I was from.”

  “There is a limit to what? How much you can consume?” A.J. asked.

  “Well, yeah, that too. But I was talking about age. Under a certain age, people aren’t supposed to drink. When I died, I was only 16 and still five years under the age to buy alcohol,” Huntley explained.

  “Then how do you know it’s good here?” A.J. asked.

  “Just because I was underage doesn’t mean I didn’t drink. I just learned how not to get caught. Often, at least,” Huntley explained.

  A.J. appeared confused. “You disobeyed the king’s orders?”

  “We don’t have a king, we have a democracy. The people voted to do it.”

  “Then why would you disobey?” he asked. I swore they got in the weirdest arguments. They weren’t as bad as Mother and Father’s arguments, but they were still pretty petty.

  I missed my father, even though it had only been a few hours. I hoped he wasn’t worried and that he believed the note that we had left him. Although this was fun, I wasn’t sure yet if it was worth it.

  Huntley shrugged. “Because it’s stupid. It’s the majority voting for the minority, not to mention it means that a person can serve in a war but not be able to drink. It wasn’t fair so I didn’t follow the rule.”

  “Anyway,” I decided to intervene. I didn’t need these two to start a fight in public. It would get out of hand fast and since we didn’t fit in already, I didn’t need more people staring at us. “We should try that later then. But right now I am pretty excited about this.”

  The man brought over the pot of tea and three cups. Huntley said we had to wait for the tea to steep. Before they tea was ready, the waiter brought over the three-tier platter.

  My mouth watered as I looked at the platter. There, in front of me, lay finger sandwiches of all different types, small scones with strawberry jam and some kind of white butter, fruit cake, and a pastry. All of it looked delicious, just waiting to be eaten. I couldn’t believe that they had this every afternoon in Britain.

  I picked up the cucumber sandwich and took a bite. It was delicious.

  A.J. grabbed an egg salad sandwich and ate it quickly.

  “Hey, you are supposed to savor it, A.J.,” I commented.

  “You know, I don’t think I have ever seen you eat something so fast,” Huntley laughed as he took a scone. Now that he mentioned it, I don’t remember A.J. ever eating at all. That had to be wrong, he had to have eaten something. But for some reason I couldn’t picture it. There was no way. I probably just never noticed.

  Huntley poured us some tea after putting cream and sugar in our cups. I waited a moment and took a sip.

  It was so good. Better than any tea that I had in the Underworld. I tasted a hint of bergamot flavor in it. It wasn’t too strong, nor too weak. I decided that when I got back that I would start playing around with different teas. I never realized they could taste this good. “Maybe I’ll move here, this place is to die for.”

  “Ironically, it’s quite the opposite, isn’t it?” A.J. commented as he took another scone. “Humans die to go to your home and you wanna die to go where humans are.”

  I frowned. “It was just an expression. I didn’t mean I wanted to leave the Underworld.” I didn’t realize what I had said. I loved my home, I wouldn’t ever leave it to be here. I wouldn’t leave my father to be all alone. It was just fun because Huntley and A.J. were there with me to keep me company. That and the rush of doing something forbidden.

  I wasn’t like my mother, I didn’t hate it in the Underworld. I didn't want to cause Father pain like she did.

  “I didn’t mean it like that, Chrys.” A.J. ate another scone. He was really hungry apparently. He must not have gotten something to eat before we left. “I just thought it was funny. I know you love your father and don’t want to leave him alone.”

  “Yeah, this is just a vacation of sorts. One that no one knows about,” Huntley added. “We will get back and it will all be fine. Everything will be just fine.”

  I nodded slowly and took a sip of my tea. He was right, this would all be fine. It was just a well-deserved break. Although I knew I should have waited to ask my father’s permission before traveling to Earth, it was too late now. Sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, right? Didn’t mean I felt okay about it though.

  We finished the afternoon tea and headed back out into the city. As we stepped onto the sidewalk, Huntley clapped his hands together. “Now where to?”

  I glanced around. There was a store right by us that looked interesting. I pointed at it. “What’s that place?”

  He looked over. “Fortnum and Mason’s. I’ve heard of it, I think it’s a fancy store, where all the posh people go.”

  “Well, that’s definitely not us. Let’s find something more suitable to our liking.”

  Huntley laughed as he put his arm around my shoulder, guiding us towards were he thought we needed to go. A.J. followed, a little bit annoyed that Huntley and I were getting along so well.

  We found a punk store down the street, a tiny little shop with band shirts and jackets. I think I actually squealed when I found an Oomph! hoodie. They even had shirts for bands like Cute Is What We Aim For and Jack Off Jill. This is what I imagined Earth to be like, though it was just a tiny store in a back alley.

  It was interesting to see how different humans could be. A.J. for instance didn
’t really like the music Huntley and I liked, nor did he care for the leather jackets and vests that they offered. I decided we should go somewhere after to shop for him, that way he wasn’t wearing the same thing for the few days we were here.

  I tried on a few jackets but decided I definitely wanted the Oomph! hoodie. It was one of my favorite bands after all. As I put away the other two jackets, Huntley tried on leather jacket and it made him look…

  Sexy.

  I bit my lip as he checked it out in the mirror. It fit him perfectly. It was definitely something he should keep and wear, like every day. He wrinkled his nose as he looked at it.

  “Not sure.” He turned to me. “What do you think?”

  I straightened up, trying not to appear like I was gaping. “Looks fine. Up to you though.”

  “Buy it,” the woman working at the store said. “She can’t stop looking at you in it.”

  I blushed as Huntley smiled. “Well then, I guess I must.”

  I could feel my cheeks turning bright red now as Huntley went to pay for my shirts and jacket, and his leather jacket. I couldn’t believe she said that. But I shouldn’t complain, that meant he would wear it more, knowing I thought it looked good on him. A.J. stepped up next to me.

  “You really are interested in him aren’t you? He’s just a punk human. He doesn’t understand anything of what our world is like.”

  This was the first time we had this conversation in a long time. I wondered why he thought now was the appropriate time to talk about this. “That’s not true. He understands.”

  A.J. let out a brief laugh. “As if. Hades only lets you keep him around because he makes you smile. You know he should have been left to roam the rivers until Charon found him.”

  “Is it a bad thing that I saved him? If he makes me smile, then why do you have a problem? I would say jealousy but we both know that isn’t the case. You had your chance, you didn’t want me.” I hadn’t brought it up in centuries, as it wasn’t that important. It was for the best if A.J. and I were just friends. But the way he hated Huntley, there had to have been something more to it.

  “What, is he a replacement for me?”

  I turned to him, frowning. “No, he’s just something better that came along.”

  We both held each other’s gazes for a moment, until Huntley came with the bag full of clothes. He saw the tension between us two. “Uh… Did I miss something?”

  The two of us shook our heads. “No.”

  “Okay…” Huntley pulled out two strands of knotted threads. “Chrys, I got us these.”

  “What are they?” I asked as he handed me the purple, white, and black one. He kept the red, black, and white one.

  “They are friendship bracelets. You wear them on your wrist and don’t take them off until the thread wears through. It’s a symbol of our friendship.”

  I blushed. I couldn’t believe he would get such a thing. He knotted mine around my left wrist, A.J. rolling his eyes.

  “Here, now put mine on.” I tied his together and he smiled. “Now we will always be friends.”

  I blushed and nodded. This was the best present anyone had ever given me and I had no idea how to express it. I stood there, silent.

  “So then you two ready?” Huntley asked.

  I nodded and smiled. “Yeah, we are.”

  We left the store and I saw a group of teens walk by. They appeared to be the same age as Huntley, and the age A.J. and I appeared to be. They were all wearing the same looking clothes.

  “Why are they all dressed the same?” I asked. “Are they part of some kind of cult or following some type of god?”

  Huntley laughed. “No, they are just in school. Though, to some people, that could be considered a cult.”

  I bit my lip, thinking it through. Schools were like tutoring, but with other people, all of them wanting to learn. At least, that’s what I gathered. “What’s a school like?”

  “Horrible. Teens go to boring rooms where old people tell them how to think. There’s a bunch of groups, cliques, it’s awful.”

  I turned to him, smiling. “I wanna go! Take me to a school!”

  Seriously? We were doing this?

  We stood in some high school administration office, I had no idea what the school was called, I didn’t want to be there. Chrys seriously wanted to see what a school was like. Out of all the things in London she could possibly see and do, this is what she wanted to do. I tried so hard to talk her out of it, but she insisted. A.J. didn’t care, he was apparently just along for the ride.

  I felt like banging my head against the wall. This was so not what I wanted to do today. Or ever.

  She thought her mom was a slut, just wait until she met some of these high school girls.

  I had no idea how we were even going to get into the school. Our IDs said we were over eighteen, we didn't have any guardians, any residence in the area.

  But then I remembered; she was a goddess.

  She could apparently talk humans into doing anything here. It made me wonder if she ever used that power on me. Probably didn’t ever need to, she was a pretty girl with a gorgeous smile, I would do anything she asked. That, and her father was Hades and could send me to Tartarus once he caught up with us.

  Chrys smiled to the administration woman. “We would love to join this school. What do we need to do?”

  The administration lady gave her a look. “It’s not that simple, miss…?”

  “Oh, my name is Chrys, short for Chrysanthemum.”

  I turned to her. I actually didn’t know that was what her name was short for, she always went by Chrys. I let out a brief laugh. “Really?”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Shut up.”

  “Well, miss Chrysanthemum, we don’t just allow walk-ins. You must have residency, guardian signatures, and from what I can tell you aren’t even the right age.”

  Chrys smiled. “Well then, I guess we will have to figure out something, huh?”

  Chrys got her way. She changed our ages on the IDs and somehow convinced the lady that we lived there and that her parents had already come in to deal with the paperwork. There suddenly was paperwork on the table for all three of us. Amazing, she could use her power to get into lots of trouble, but instead she uses it to enroll in high school. Maybe I didn’t rub off on her as much as I had thought.

  It would only be for a couple of days, I knew, but it still wasn’t how I wanted to use my time with Chrys. London was a fun city, there were a lot of clubs we could hit up, but now our IDs said we were underage. I supposed that she could easily change them back so we could go at night.

  As for A.J., he seemed relaxed about everything that was going on. I thought that this could bring attention to us, as Chrys had been using her powers out in the open, that if there were some kind of Greek god or nymph or whatever, they could see what she is doing and start questioning things. He said not to worry too much about it, that there weren’t that many beings out there, and that a high school would be the last place they would look. I supposed he had a point, but it still made me worry.

  Chrys appeared to be happy, though, and that was all I could ask for. She needed this to get her mind off of home and so I stopped fighting the idea of going back to school. This was a British school, it had to be better… right?

  School wouldn’t start until the next morning and we needed to find a place to stay. I knew this wouldn’t be a problem as London was huge with a lot of hotels and hostels in the area. We would find something.

  Wait, we had money. We could stay somewhere nice.

  I looked forward to staying at a nice hotel. Seemed silly though, since I now lived in Hades’ palace. Nothing could compare to that, but the idea of staying at a really nice hotel was always a dream of mine.

  And then trash it.

  I wasn’t sure if I would actually trash it, as A.J. probably wouldn’t let us. I knew Chrys would want to right before we left to go back to the Underworld. Mister “Do-Right” A.J. always cramped o
ur style.

  “What do I need for school? Do I need different clothes?” Chrys asked as she looked inside the bag.

  I shook my head. “No, that school doesn’t have a uniform or anything. We probably need some pens, a calculator, and a notebook, to fit in. In the end we really don’t need those things since we won’t have to take tests or do homework.”

  “Where do we find those things?” A.J. asked.

  I glanced around. “Not sure. An office store I guess. We will keep an eye out for one. Also, we need to find a place to stay. I was thinking a nice hotel since we don’t have to worry about money.”