“Why can’t you not provoke them?”
Amaryllis pulled her letter from her pocket and held it up in front of her when Harry shut the door.
His eyes widened, glancing back to the door he shut and stepped forward. “They didn’t see it?”
Amaryllis snorted. “Of course not. Dudley was paying too much attention to you that I shoved it in my pocket before they noticed. Whatever it is, they think only you got one. They were the same right?”
“Yeah. Just our names were differently.”
“I’d hope so.” Amaryllis turned the letter over, being able to read her name before everything jumbled into a mess. Her eyes glared at the envelope, willing the letters to stop, but they didn’t answer. They never did.
Harry’s voice came out careful and soft. “Want me to read it?”
She couldn’t get mad at him. He knew how tough it was on her and how angry it made her. To feel incapable to not do something as simple as read even a sentence herself without a struggle.
“That’s odd.”
Amaryllis tried to see what he saw but nothing popped up besides the words. “What is?”
“It says our address, but also says what room we sleep in.”
“That’s creepy. Maybe we should throw it out instead.”
She hated to admit it, but maybe Uncle Vernon was right for one.
The thought instantly wanted her to puke up the little she ate a few minutes ago. “Scratch that. Open it.”
Harry gave her a dubious look before he opened the letter. The contents he pulled out appeared older and more brittle than the paper she used for school. The edges were slightly frayed and darker than the rest, giving the feeling it would crumble in Harry’s fingers if he pressed any harder.
Impatient, Amaryllis couldn’t help the excitement that overpowered the cautiousness that had previously coursed through her. “Whats it say?”
“It says… that we, well you, have been accepted into a school. But…”
“But what?”
“It says your a witch, Amaryllis. And if this is the same kind of letter I got, we both were accepted. What does this even mean?”
“A witch? Don’t be ridiculous, Harry. Don’t tell me you can’t even read now?”
Harry glared at her. “I’m not joking, Lissie. It’s obviously a fake letter. Maybe even Dudley put someone up to it.”
Amaryllis’s lips curved into a smile. “So, it wouldn’t hurt to respond to it, right?”
The fact Dudley hadn’t outed that she had a letter didn’t matter. Maybe he wanted her to get punished for keeping something they shouldn’t have, but she’d have the last laugh if she had anything to say about it.
“Lissie. You could get into a lot of trouble for whatever your thinking.”
“As if we don’t already. What’s the rest say?”
“It gives a list of school supplies for classes I’ve never heard of.”
Amaryllis nodded. “Makes sense. Dudley would never be able to make up something like that. He’s got what, one friend that’s smart enough to pull it off?”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Oh, yes, Harry.” Amaryllis giggled as she hopped one spot to the drawer at their nightstand and pulled out a piece of paper and pen. She held them out to Harry with a smile.
Harry sighed, but gave in and grabbed the paper and pen from her. “Alright. What am I supposed to write?”
“Well, that we accept their invitation, or whatever. And yes, we, Harry. You got one too and there’s no point in making two letters.”
Harry glared at her with his brotherly hate that she only smiled back in return. “You’re a nuisance.”
“Oh. I love you too, dear twinsy.”
“We’re fraternal.”
“Still twins.”
“Whatever,” Harry mumbled. “Let me write this.”
Amaryllis stayed silent as he wrote, attempting to read what he was writing, and only got the gist of it overall. He seemed to be trying hard to make it sound like something an almost eleven-year-old wouldn’t write, but an adult. She didn’t see how it mattered when she doubted the actual contents of the letter itself.
“And where do we send this back too? I didn’t see an address on the envelope.”
“Huh. I didn’t think of that. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter since tomorrow is Sunday. We can’t send it out until Monday.”
Harry placed the letter into an envelope they had lying around and set it inside their nightstand.
“Here. You can hold onto this.”
Amaryllis stared at the letter. “What am I supposed to do with that?”
“I just thought…” Harry ran his hand threw his hair. “It’s the first letter you’ve received, even if it is a prank. I thought you’d want to hold onto it. Because what if it isn’t a prank?”
Amaryllis didn’t want to get her hopes up on something that was more absurd sounding than Uncle Vernon beginning to care about them. She wanted more than anything for something like what the letter talked about to be real. A place that was named just as absurd as everything she saw. Somewhere far away from this house and the people she hated in it. It was the thought her brother had that counted. And the wishful dream it brought. “Thank you.”
“Want to read something? I took out one of those Greek books from the library when I saw them get it in.”
Amaryllis’s eyes lit up and she had to hold in the excitement that filled her. “Yes. Yes. A hundred times over, yes.”
“Sit down.”
Grabbing her pillow from the top bunk, she hopped onto the bottom and settled against the back where the bed was pushed against the wall. Harry got comfortable at the head, with the book nestled on his lap.
The cover had intricate designs that swirled and letters that didn’t look English, but the longer she stared at them they became easier to read.
Harry opened his mouth to read the title as he normally did, but she had beat him to it.
“You can read the text?”
Amaryllis leaned over to the the title, finding the words float from the book, but she could make out what it said. Though the text above was bold, unmoving, and easier to read than that below it.
How is that possible? Amaryllis swallowed the lump in her throat, and glanced at her brother. Could she tell him? He had never doubted her before.
“I can read the inscription above it. I don’t know how, but it’s like reading a regular paper that the letters don’t move.”
“I’m not even sure what language that is, Lissie. But I can’t even read what that says, though what you said it the same as the title I can read.”
A shiver ran down Amaryllis’s spine at what that meant. She wasn’t normal, by any means.
“Hey. Just because you’re different doesn’t mean your not my sister. You always will be and I’ll always be here for you.”
Amaryllis gave her brother a halfhearted smile. “Thanks, Harry.”
“What are brothers for?”
Amaryllis cracked a smile at her next words. “To annoy the life out of their sibling?”
“Shut up,” Harry said, shoving her away from him.
“Alright, alright. Read, please.”
“Myths are stories made up to explain what was impossible to explain. Their stories are vast and wide spread amongst those who still carry the beliefs. As Zeus would reign over the skies. His brothers, Poseidon reigned over the Sea and Hades the Underworld. Yet, they all had something in common with many of the other gods—their love for mortals.”
Harry continued on, reading up on histories of some of her favorite gods that she knew all about, and the children that had come from their love with a mortal woman or man.
“Wouldn’t it be cool if it were real?”
“What?”
“To be a child of a God? Or goddess. To know how cool your parent is and become a hero?”
Harry shook his head. “I don’t know. Kinda seems like they went through a lot though.”
“I mean… yeah, but it would be better than being here.” Amaryllis laid on the bed and closed her eyes. She imagined a place with people just like her that were children of the gods.
“Maybe. Maybe there’s somewhere like that for us.”
Amaryllis hummed as Harry continued to read. His voice barely above a whisper floated around the room, painting a picture of another world she dived into every night.
Some place to escape the cruel reality they had to live. To some place her and Harry felt wanted by family. To feel cared and loved by them as if they had known them their whole life.