A Greek God In Harlem (7 page)

Chapter Five

Percy closed the door behind him and mouthed, "Nice..."

Aisha smiled mischievously, "Impressed?"

The tall Greek nodded slowly, "Very."

Downstairs, Tanya forced herself to continue reading the book Perseus despite wondering what Percy was doing in Aisha's office. She had this nagging thought it had nothing to do with school materials like she wanted to believe... after all, she saw the way the principal's daughter gave Percy lingering looks in the hallway.

The question is, why do I care so much? She asked herself. I've known this new teacher for less than a week!

She turned the page a bit too forcefully and folded it, "Damn it," she whispered. 

One student looked up from what he was reading and frowned at her. 

She smiled back apologetically and immersed herself in the book once more...

Perseus peered over the rock he was hiding behind and saw her once more. With her head hung low and her braided hair cascading down her naked body, she looked as if she was slipping into the unconscious.

The young warrior panicked and looked up at the skies, "Father! Zeus! Give me the strength to face this monster..."

The strength to defeat the serpent. Sure, he had just cut off Medusa's head, but Perseus knew that this monster was another task altogether, and he didn't want Andromeda to get hurt in the process.

He looked up and the clouds started moving really fast. Was his father, Zeus, answering his call?
He then heard it. The serpent was huffing loudly and writhing its beastly head around. It had emerged from the water once more.
 

It was angry.
 

Perseus squinted his eyes not believing what he was seeing. There, were Andromeda had once been tied, was nothing. No one. Just broken chains.
She had disappeared. Had she escaped?

His eyes widened as he looked around frantically. The serpent was doing the same, searching the sea for a sign of its victim.

When Perseus looked up at the skies once more, a thunderous voice said, "Son. It is too late now. She has been banished to a place far, far away... another time."

Perseus he shouted back, "It cannot be! This is not how it's supposed to be! Where is she?!!"

Zeus replied, "This is your punishment for your failure to be brave. You will search the ends of the earth for Andromeda and travel across periods of time. Once you find her, you will be half mortal. It is up to you... how the story goes from there..."

Perseus was now panicking, "Father! No! I don't understand! What about mother? What-"

"I am sorry son... but the mortal world awaits you...you will find her someday," Zeus replied sadly, from his throne in the skies.

Perseus looked down at his sword which he slowly dropped to the ground in shock. The serpent had re-entered its waters, and the Nile River was now calm.

He had failed his mission, and now he would search for Andromeda for the rest of eternity, losing his immortality as time passed by…

Tanya stared at what she had just read. She was an expert at Greek legends and she had never heard of a story that ended like this. The rest of the pages were blank, as if the story was unfinished, or unprinted.

She closed the book and examined it. It had no publisher, no dates, and no author. She frowned. She hadn't noticed all the missing detail before, but it certainly worried her now.

So according to this strange book, Perseus was now roaming the earth looking for Andromeda. 

Tanya gulped as she remembered how the new teacher Percy, had called her just that, the day they met...

She looked up and her students were now packing their things to go home. On the way out, one girl, whom Tanya knew as one of Donyelle's friends , stopped by the teacher's desk and told Tanya smiling, 
"That Greek teacher is sooo into you. Have you noticed?" Tanya smiled back shyly and shrugged the girl away.

She looked back down at the book and stared at the cover title 
Perseus
.

"So what do you think? You like it?" Aisha asked shyly.

Percy nodded slowly once more as he held the vase. 

"Is this straight out of Greece?" he asked almost disbelievingly. The tall woman nodded proudly, "I got all this stuff when I went on a trip to Athens with my dad...when I was little."

By all this stuff, Aisha meant the massive collection of ancient Greek artifacts that now adorned her office. From vases, to paintings, to miniature statues, to parchments. She seemed to have it all. 

Percy was frankly in awe at seeing these things for the first time in a long time. Tanya would 
love
 this.

He turned the black vase around examining it. It had just enough chips and scratches to be the real thing. On its surface, its copper-colored characters told the story of two ancient Greek lovers.

He set it down and picked up a painting of a beautiful woman.

His eyes glazed over and he ran his hand over it. Queen Danae...

He looked up at Aisha with swollen eyes and smiled, half ashamed at his emotional reaction, "This- These are beautiful Aisha."

Aisha wondered why he was so overcome with emotion but smiled back anyway, "I know. My dad has even more, back at his home. He's a closet Greek freak, just like I am."

She stood up straight from the desk she had been leaning back against and walked towards him in her royal blue dress, "I think now, I'm ready for the real thing..." 

She deftly took the painting out of his hands and stood before him, "You didn’t comment on my dress."

Percy looked down at her body. It was covered in a dark blue satin minidress that displayed ample cleavage. He looked back up at her face. She was beautiful despite the layers of light brown makeup she had on.

He started to apologize, "Aisha I- Tanya's waiting for me downstairs. She probably thinks I'm here to pick up a teaching schedule..."

Aisha ignored the pang of jealousy she felt when she heard that name and ran her finger down his sinewy arm, "I really want to get to know you Percy..."

"...and so do I." 

Both Percy and Aisha turned to the door to hear who had just said that in a forceful tone.
Tanya was standing in the doorway, holding the book. 

Chapter Six

"Donyelle there's no easy way to say this..."

"Babe we just don't"

"Donnie you know I love you but..."

Morris tried to think of a better way to say what he was going to say to his girlfriend. 

He was standing in front of the mirror, trying to think of the best face, the best pose, the best words.

And his mind had drawn a blank.

What he really wanted to do was punch the mirror and grab his reflection by the neck and possibly strangle it to death.

His phone vibrated. He opened it and it was a message from Julianna, 

Hey dude.

You rushed out of class today and didn’t even kiss me goodbye. Are you still thinking about Donyelle? Better yet, are we still on for that movie? You know how I love Denzel. Text back or it's over :)

Your chica(if you want her), Julianna. Xoxoxo

His eyes lingered on the message and he finally pressed 'DELETE'. He didn’t know why he had just done that, but it seemed like the best thing to do right now.

He then scrolled down his phone list until he came to her name. Instead of the name 'Donyelle', was his pet name for her, "Indigo". It was an inside joke about the makeup brand she loved. Morris always told her she looked the same with or without it- always gorgeous. She always rolled her eyes at him before getting into an explanation about the wonders of makeup.

Morris smiled at the memory. He clicked on it and rang her number.

After a while, the phone was picked up on the other side, "Hello?" her voice was slightly groggy.

Morris asked worriedly, "Donyelle? You okay? You sound a bit... I dunno..."

"Pregnant?" Donyelle replied with some attitude. 

Morris chuckled nervously, "Huh. Yeah... that's what it is. Are you okay otherwise babe?"

There was a pause on the other end. She hadn’t bothered answering. 

Morris trudged on, "Look. I wanna' come over. Can I come over?"

There was an even longer pause from her end. He crossed his fingers.

"Only if you bring me a tub of ice cream..." she replied with some humor. 

Morris smiled with relief, "Strawberry flavor and chocolate chip cookies?" It was her favorite.

The groggy voice from the end yawned, "That's the one. Hurry up though because my aunt's gonna be back in a couple of hours. And she feels a certain way about you now, ever since I told her you didn't want to take care of the baby." She said the last bit in such a matter-of-factedly kind of way, it was almost chilling.

Morris tried to clear it up, "Donnie I never said "

"See you in an hour. I can't wait to hear what you have to say." Donyelle interrupted him, before hanging up the phone.

Morris looked at the phone then up at the mirror where he had been practicing his break-up line with her.