Girl of Gold «ᴢᴇʀʀɪᴇ»

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“Ooh, this is so exciting!” Jade squealed. I had to admit, it definitely was. I had a weird feeling in my stomach—was this normal? Leigh-Anne was smiling; she must be enjoying it, too. Jesy, however, looked like she was going to be sick.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Jesy said, moaning slightly. I guess I was right.

“Aw, it’ll be okay, Jess,” Leigh-Anne assured her. “It’s just the nerves in your stomach, that’s all.”

Jesy nodded. Maybe that was happening to me. Maybe there were nerves in my stomach like Jesy. I just didn’t know if they were from excitement or fear.

“So, we go through the door, and we’ll be in the human world?” Jesy asked. I nodded. “Ena told me it leads to the top of Big Ben, which is a building in London.”

“So we just go through the door,” said Jesy.

“Yep,” I said, popping the ‘p’.

“Straight through it.”

“That’s right.”

“Right th—”

“Oh, gosh, Jesy, just go!” Leigh-Anne urged, pushing Jesy through the threshold. Jesy was now inside the mortal world, but we could still see her. Knowing Jesy, she should probably be freaking out. What Leigh-Anne, Jade, and I expected of Jesy never happened. We expected her to squeal, and probably vomit, but she didn’t. She just stood completely still.

“It feels the same,” Jesy shrugged. “I don’t know why I was so nervous in the first place.”

“That’s good, because I’m going in!” Leigh-Anne declared. She literally jumped through the door opening, and she laughed. “This is so cool!” Jade quickly stepped through, and she gasped. “Look at all the food places! Jesy, we have to go get food!” Jade gasped.

“Jade, we don’t have any money,” Jesy said in a monotone.

“They accept Euros, right?”

“I think so,” Leigh-Anne shrugged. “I don’t think they accept drachma, though.”

“Oh, that’s good, ’cause I only brought Euros,” Jade sighed in relief. “Now, Jesy, let’s go buy me some sugar cubes! Karl won’t let me eat them anymore. Ooh, pretty clouds!” Jade was rambling on and on about pointless things, and Jesy rolled her eyes.

“I wonder why,” Jesy said sarcastically.

Lastly, I stepped through the threshold, and I looked at the view. We were at the top of Big Ben, and we could basically see all of London from here. “Oh, my gosh,” I breathed. Everything was different here. There weren’t any columns like in Olympus. There weren’t any cabins. It was one giant city. People were walking down the streets everywhere. There were tall and short buildings basically attached to each other. It wasn’t at all what I expected—though I have to admit, the human race is really advanced—but I was overwhelmed with excitement. Jade, Leigh-Anne, and Jesy were really excited as well.

“What’s a tattoo?” I heard Jesy ask. She was looking at a small building that read ‘Tattoo Parlor’ in big letters.

“It’s like the things the Romans have,” Leigh-Anne said. “It’s like permanent ink on your skin.”

“That sounds pretty cool… I’m going to get one!” Jesy smiled. I smiled at the green-eyed girl. Turns out, the one who feared the human world the most was already doing a human thing. “I’ll get some, too!” Leigh-Anne said.

Jade groaned. “You guys are leaving me alone!” she pouted. “How am I supposed to go to the bakery without you? They’ll see me!”

“You do realize that you look perfectly human without your wings, right?” I asked, almost skeptically. She looked at me, her deep brown eyes taking in everything. “Oh,” Jade said in a small voice. “If it helps,” Jesy offered, “you can wait for us at the tattoo parlor, and we’ll go to a bakery after.” Jade gave Jesy a big smile, and nodded.