Hope

Chapter Nineteen

“Alright, that's it for the day,” Nick says as he throws me a bottle of water.

I don't answer- I'm too busy gasping for air. When Nick said the workouts will get harder he wasn't kidding.

“Great,” I finally say.

He packs the equipment and throws the bag over his shoulders. “Do you know how big this country is?” he asks as we walk down the green path that leads to the mansion.

“No, I don't really listen during Prasinophy,” I say. Prasinophy is the subject I'm forced to study- along with Animalistics, Herbography, and History of Prasians. Prasinophy is the study of the country- it's minerals, how it differs from the human countries etcetera.

“Well than, let's take a walk,” he says.

“Is this part of the workout?” I ask.

“No... but it is some sort of workout. Where we're going isn't so far.”

I stay silent as we walk past the pathway that leads to the mansion and I stay silent until the mansion disappears from view.

“You said where we're going isn't far,” I say to him.

“If you look up you'll see that we're here.”

I look up and see a market, surprisingly with stores and all. There are stores that sell clothes, books, there are even restaurants and supermarkets.

I look at Nick in disbelief. “Is that a coffee shop?”

He grins.“Yeah. Prasinis isn't as ancient as you think.”

-

“Do you pay with, like, real money?” I ask as he hands me a smoothie and takes a sip of his.

He rolls his eyes. “No, we pay with monopoly money.” I don't why I'm surprised when he gives the waitress actual money.

“Your currency is Euro?” I ask, still in disbelief.

“You're one of us too, you know. Yes, our currency is Euros. We're situated in Europe, between London and Denmark. You should really start listening in class.”

To be honest, I expected him to trade in a liter of milk for the smoothie. I'm still surprised he owns a wallet. I shake my head as I take a sip of the really delicious smoothie.

We stay silent until Nick notices my eyes lingering on a couple a few tables down longer than necessary. What caught my is that they look completely different, and I admire how they seem to be so in love. Another thing that caught my is that the girl's skin is green and her eyes are too bright gold to be normal. I remember learning about something like that in Animalistics- if a parent was bitten by a powerful Juga and he or she bears a child, the offspring will be deformed in some way. And a similar thing in History of Prasians- long ago Prasians bitten were unable to bear children in the unlikely event that they lived. Only recently did they find a cure for that but it has flaws...

Nick turns to see what I'm looking at. He turns back to me rolling his eyes.

“What?” I ask him.

“I just don't understand. I mean, why would you fall in love and marry a person you know there's no long term future with?” he says.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, since her mother or father was bitten by a Juga, she won't live past thirty. You learned about it in Animalistics.”

My blood instantly turns cold. I missed that. “She won't?” I whisper.