Tickling the Giant Squid and other Grand Adventures

35. Karou

 I lifted my trunk onto the carriage, bundled up tightly against the wind in my black cargo pants and long black coat with a blue and grey scarf almost covering my eyes. The snow was thick, and I boosted myself into the carriage, watching the doors as I waited for Avila to come trudging down the stairs. Before she arrived, I saw Farid making her way down the steps. Her jeans were soaked to the ankle and she was wearing the most hideous yellow jacket I had ever laid eyes on. She looked like a bumblebee.

I jumped down, running over to meet her and lifting the edge of her trunk as she walked towards the carriages.

"Thanks," she muttered. Her eyes shifted about suspiciously, like she was looking for someone.

"No problem," I replied, just before slipping on a patch of ice. I landed flat on my backside and dropped the trunk on top of my hand. I gasped in pain as I cradled the appendage.

Farid smothered a laugh, still holding her end of the trunk. I rubbed the gloved fingers, glaring half-heartedly at her. A pairs of hands lifted me up from behind and set me on my feet.

"Careful there!" Castor said, clapping me on the back. "I want you on the team next year, so don't do anything unforgivably stupid while the two of us are gone, okay?"

I nodded and hugged him. "Where's Marissa?" I asked, stepping back and looking around. I couldn't see her through the crowd around the carriages.

"I don't know," he said, picking his own trunk up. "I'll see you later, ok?"

I waved, trying to ignore the disappointment that I felt at not being able to say goodbye to my sister. When I looked to find Farid, she was gone into the snowstorm.

I blinked, trying to find her. "Farid!" I called. No one responded. I sighed. It didn't look like I was going to get to say bye to anyone before Christmas.

"Karou!" Avila called. I turned to see her waving at the top of the stairs. Even though I couldn't see her face, her obnoxious plaid shirt gave her away.

I ran up the stairs to meet her, careful to place my boots on ice-free steps. She held out one arm and I went to hug her, soaking in her warmth before going to grab one of the several backpacks in her hands.

"Why didn't you just use the trunk?" I asked, starting down the steps with her.

"Too much work," she called back as the wind picked up. "We better hurry. Where's the carriage?"

"It's that way." I pointed, wiping snow from my eyes as it flurried around us. Together, we hurried through the flurries and put her bags in the compartment with my trunk, then hurried to the seats. As soon as we were settled, we started to move.

We would have had a cover, but all the carriages that had them were occupied by the time I got there, so we suffered the short ride in cold silence. By the time we touched down in Hogsmeade, the two of us were turning blue at the lips.

Avila grabbed the bags and my trunk, dragging it onto the train while I went to inform the conductor that we were there. He was standing near the front of the train, sheltering as best he could from the wind. I waved at him as I approached.

"Montgomery, Karou and Winchester, Avi- Joanna," I told him, hastily correcting myself mid-sentence. He check our names off the list and nodded to me. "Thanks!"

I ran into the train, checking compartments as I walked. Avila was at the very back, struggling to push my suitcase into an overhead compartment. I jumped on the seat and pushed the other end, and the two of us managed to get the trunk into the compartment.

I collapsed on the seat with a gasp and shook the snow out of my hair. The yellow stripe dangled in front of my eyes as my white-haired friend sat across from me, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Nervous?" I asked after several tense moments of silence.

"Kinda. Your dad seemed really nice, though. That helps. It's just gonna be him over break right? Not his whole band?"

I wiggled my hand in a so-so gesture. "Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. Don't worry about it, though. I'm generally allowed to do my own thing as long as Mum's up to speed." I threw my boots up onto the bench, curling into a sleeping position and cushioning my head with an arm. "Farid left without saying bye," I said softly, looking out the window.

"Oh." Avila turned to the window silently. "I'm sure she's just stressed about her family. Isn't this the first time since she got sorted that she'll talk to them?" she pointed out.

"Face to face?" I turned my head to Avila, forehead wrinkled in thought. "I think so. I mean, she might have owled them, but I'm not sure." After a pause, I said, "Do you know her parents' names?"

"I don't think she ever owled them, but her brother did. Remember the howler?" She gave me a sad smile. "And no, I don't know their names. If she ever told us, I've forgotten. Why?"

I fiddled with my scarf "She hasn't told us anything, really." I sighed. "I guess I just wish she'd open up to us more, you know? Not be so afraid to say what she thinks." I caught myself from rolling off the seat as the train pulled out of Hogsmeade towards London.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She sighed and glanced around, as if getting ready to admit something. "It might take a while. I don't like talking about my family either."

I wrinkled my nose playfully as I smiled. "It's whatever. Oh, oh! Have you tried these candies from Honeydukes?" I pulled out a handful of hard candies wrapped in shiny foil and sat up, leaning against the window.

"No, gimmie!" she said playfully, reaching her hand in a grabbing motion like a baby.

"I haven't either," I admitted. "Aaron- you remember, the Ravenclaw who took our pictures- gave them to me the other day and I forgot about them." I picked one out of my palm and tossed it to her, hitting her right in the nose. She bent over to retrieve the candy from the floor as I started laughing. I unwrapped one as she inspected it and popped the opaque white sphere in my mouth.

It burned like fire on my tongue and I doubled over, eyes streaming as I continued sucking. Avila put a hand on my shoulder as I coughed. It melted in my mouth like a sugar cube and was gone a few seconds later.

"Are you okay, Karou?" she asked, looking worried.

I ran my tongue over my teeth. My mouth felt strange, like there were a million fine needles jutting from my gums, which felt hard as stone. My tongue felt like there were two of them, which was both difficult to process and made no sense.

"My mouth feels funky," I said, turning and opening it for Avila to see. I wiggled my tongue at her. "Does it look okay?"

"HOLY MOTHER OF HELL!" she screamed, jumping back. She'd gone a little pale, and her eyes were wide.

"What? What happened? What's wrong?!" I asked excitedly.

"Yo-you... your mouth... it's made of... needles! And marble! What the heck? How can you talk?"

My eyes lit up. "No way!" I stood up and looked in the window, opening my mouth wide; Avila was right. Thousands of teeth fine as needles descended from grey gums with large green veins. My lips had turned as purple as Mom's red wine and the whole of my mouth- cheeks, tongue, and all- was white as the snow outside the window. My tongue looked like it had split in two and the tastebuds had disappeared. Experimentally, I wiggled my tongue. The two halves made alternating wave patterns, moving separately from each other. I turned to Avila, grinning like a madman.

"Oh, this is insane!" I snapped my teeth together and was rewarded with a sound like clashing blades, only quieter. "I'm like a fucking shark!"

"That is so cool!" I hear her say. Then I heard the sound of a candy being unwrapped, and silence. I turned to her hand saw her holding the candy in her hand, this one orange, and she was reading something on the wrapper. "It says that the effects last for 10 minutes." she said. Then she put the candy in her mouth.