Sacrilege |H. S.|

14. lesson learned

I may have forgotten what south London looked like.

Months I've been stored away in that manor, and though large, it was secluded. With nothing around but grass and trees and ponds and shrubs. It felt like years had gone by since I last saw a skyscraper, a street crowded with people and a double deckered bus slowly trailing among the rest of the cars waiting in line to go about the city.

To say the least, I felt kind of estranged, out of place. Don't mistake this feeling of alienation as something new and transitory, because it isn't. I'd been benched and cornered a good part of my life, but this time it wasn't because of my notoriously mutated witch gene or the way I was immediately linked to the infamous coven my dad was a leader of. This time the feeling of trepidating over society and it's members came from the fact that I'd literally been surrounded by vampires for months.

It was almost surreal to look around and know the people surrounding you aren't blood-hungry, medieval and eternally vacant. It may sound silly, but I could almost feel the life, the warmth and the human that I'd been missing out on.

"We didn't need a map." Harry groans, momentarily glaring at the smiling kid who'd just handed me one as we made our way down one of the main halls.

"Not all of us memorize the land work, brother." Vera chimes, slowly picking the map from my hands and unfolding it, eyes surveying the shiny printed paper from behind her pitch black sunglasses.

Out of the three of us, Vera was definitely the one most integrated and blended amongst the tens of dozens of tourists and local Londoners who took advantage of today's relatively clear skyline and forgivable weather to visit the Kew Gardens. She was remarkably comfortable and confident anywhere, whereas her brother seemed much more dissociative and defensive, just like always.

Vera's red scarf was thrown over her shoulder as she intently tried to figure out the map, which was just a lot of shades of green and a few circled numbers.

"Okay, I can't I find it."

"Let me try." I offer, having somewhat of an experience with pieces of paper telling you where to go. "Hm, it's not on here."

"Well, you two are absolute geniuses." Harry scoffs, carefully moving to stand next to me. "Of course it's not on the map, what were you expecting? A big, red arrow pointing out where there's hidden aconite?"

"Aconite? Didn't the government make that illegal?" I blurt out.

"There's an explorer train down this little street-"

"Train? I don't like trains." His sister contradicts, arms crossing over her chest.

"Not an actual train, Vera-"

"We should walk." Harry's obviously a little displeased at the suggestion, but I find myself nodding, realizing that if I get to be out in the real world today, I'd at least make it for as long as possible.

"Walk? You do know we're headed to the Great Pagoda, right? That's on the other end of the park." His clarification isn't directed to his sister, rather he looks straight at me.

"Plenty time for you to explain to Lia what she'll be doing." Vera grins, swiftly turning and beginning to walk further inside the park.

"She's probably gone off looking for fairy rings." He complains, looking like he wants to sprint out after her. "They're massive, so at least she won't have a hard time."

"Tom Hare is that way," I point behind us, where determined parents and anxious children were headed. "She's gone to The Hive."

"If you knew your way around the gardens, why did you take the map?" I consider my knowledge to be basic, I've been in here only a handful of times, I knew the direction of the main attractions, beyond that, I'm useless.