“Hello, Harry isn’t it?” I ask the old man. He was so frail looking that I thought he might just break. Just to prove my point he stumbled, and I steadied him with an outstretched hand.

“Hello son... yes, Harry’s the name. And Jane’s my wife... she’s comin’ back soon.” He slurs.

“your wife?” I mumbled, I thought back to what Thalia said about him, his wife painted it that colour before she died, and even after ten years he refuses to repaint it. And I think I started to understand, in his mind he was still waiting for him wife to come home, his wife who been dead for so long. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but looking into his eyes, despite the lack of reality that reflected back in them, he was happy. He was under the constant impression that his wife was coming back. Maybe he couldn’t deal with the fact that his wife would never return, but I couldn’t even attempt to shatter that happy illusion.

“Here,” I offered him two of the apples I’d brought, I wouldn’t be eating them anyway- it was just for show. “one for you and one for your wife when she returns.”

“Many thanks son. My wife loves red apples.” He smiles at me, his wricked face distorting into a toothless grin.

I nodded back at him and followed Thalia down the next road.

“That was very kind of you. Not many people would have done that.” She comments.

“I just couldn’t bring myself to break his illusion, even if it could never be real.”

“People have tried very forcefully to make him see that his wife is dead, but even after people throw stones at him and call him names, he forgets the next day, and he’s the same cheerful old man waiting for his wife to come home.”

“How did she die?” I asked.

“A vampire got her. Half starved to death in the blood depletion that happened back then; it went crazy and attacked her.”

“Is that why people hate vampires around here?” I ask.

“Hon’ people hate vampires everywhere. But yes, in this town Mary’s death is the main reason for all the hatred.”

A vampire. It had to be didn’t it? The way these people talk about us there had be some underlying reason for it. But even after blatantly using his tragedy to funnel their hate, I couldn’t understand how they could still treat him the way they did. And she said ‘it’ as if they were some alien species from space, I wonder if my name would be reduced to an ‘it’ if she found out what I was.

Why do they hate us like that? “so do you hate all of them because of what one crazed vampire killed someone? Aren’t there human murderers too?”

We’d stopped walking, her expression turned dark, and she took me by the shoulders, “Shion, you’re talkin’ dangerous now. I know you’re just curious, and that wherever you came from you led a sheltered life. you’re naive and ignorant, but some of these people around you right now are thick. They will see what you’re saying as sacrilege, and you’ll never hear the end of it. You’ll be labelled for life.”

“Labelled for life?” I repeated faintly, was the relationship between humans and vampires really that bad? So maybe my father wasn’t so far off- expecting another war that is.

“Now, enough of that. We should go to the library next.” So again, I followed her around the streets, trying desperately to remember the street names and directions, but the time we reached the long two story brick building, I was so spun around, I’m sure I couldn’t have made it back alone. You see, the streets of the town were inconsistent, some were short and curved, while others were long with dead ends, where only hidden back alleys were the way out. It wasn’t at all as if it was big- the vampire city was a lot larger than that- it was just that they were so chaotic that I couldn’t keep the map in my head. The library was one of the few bricked buildings in the town, it had two large wooden doors at the front, and large glass windows running the length of the building where large rays of light illuminated the inside. The appearance seemed out of place in this old wooden town.

Without a second thought, she skipped up the steps and pushed the double doors open, without waiting for me to follow, she disappeared inside.

“These books...” I stared at the long titles and ran my finger across the top of them, the rows went all the way up to the ceiling, and titles that without my vision, I wouldn’t have been able to make out.

“Yeah, they’re books, what about them?” she asked questioningly.

“They’re all written in English?!” I study the names and find that I could barely make out the pronunciations. I guess that’s what I get for having a vampire as a tutor.

She held back a laugh, “And what language were you expecting?” she watched me as I pulled out the nearest book and mouth the sound of the titles. “Wait, you seriously can’t read this?”

“I can a bit... but... no I cant.”

“What language have you been reading if not English? You’re not secretly Spanish or something are you?”

“No I’m not Spanish. All my father’s books were in Latin.”

“Latin. Wow. Okay. Your dad sounds like an interesting guy.”

“That’s one interpretation.”

“So you’re a math genius but you can’t read English?”

I gave a sheepish look, what could I say? I couldn’t exactly give an explanation for it.

She laughed, “I cant wait to tell Jacob about this!”

“What? Why? Is it so strange?” I asked, alarmed at her reaction.

“Strange? It’s frickin’ weird. And I was so mad at you for being able to solve that equation, and you can’t even read!”

I feel like I’m being made fun of now.

“Don’t look so depressed. I’ll get you some books that are easy to read, and maybe we can help you from there.”

My fingers twitched with anger, she was belittling me- I could tell, all because I couldn’t read her language. Fine, I sighed, looking at the glee in her expression. I guess its to be expected, I did trample on her hard work- I’d be angry if I tried so hard to do something and someone else just walked up and finished it in a couple of seconds. So, I decided not to be angry at her, and swallowed my pride. It would be useful to be able to read English in the human towns anyway.

“Ok Thalia. Help me out.” I say, and before long, I had a pile of thin book in my arms that almost reached my eyes. I ignored that fact that they were mostly children’s picture books with a dictionary balanced on top.

The librarian gave me a dodgy look when we went to the checkout desk, but Thalia paid no attention as if she was totally oblivious; after we left the library, I asked her about it.

“Hon, if you pay attention to all the weird looks you get, you won’t have any energy left for anything else.”

“Are you saying I’m weird, or are you talking from experience?”

She gave me a look, “I don’t know what’s normal from where you come from, but you’re pretty strange.” She commented, then added “says the daughter of hairdresser and an undertaker” with a mutter.

“You’re father’s an undertaker?” I ask.

She looked up, as if she forgot she spoke out loud. “Yeah, just hope you’ll never meet him because it would probably be in a casket.” She laughed cynically. “so we’ll drop those books and food off at your room, and we’ll continue you’re tour.”

The sunlight burned my eyes as we once again stood out in the daylight, but this time I was weighed down with tons of books and Thalia didn’t wait for me. I blinked a few times and squinted away from the sun; when my eyes focused, I found that Thalia had made it down the steps, and with her brisk stride was already halfway down the road.

“Wait up!” I yelled at her, juggling the books she had piled into my arms.

“Come on Shion, if we hurry, we can catch Jacob while Uncles sleeping, and I won’t have to give the rest of this tour solo.” She pulled along the road, and I almost dropped the books balanced on top, but I caught it with my knee. Tutting, she takes it and balances it back on top, “If you damage them, it’s on my head.”