Funkefae School of Monsterology and the Mythical Arts

Chapter Seven: The Train

It was. Just.

Even Nichola, who had the patience of a saint, and seven plus years of experience of packing for a school year had trouble managing. But they did though, and now the two girls  followed her through the Great Victoria Street Station to find their platform and to send them off. Emma nervously glanced about, her eyes tracking every other person she passed to check if they were looking at the trio oddly. She wouldn't have been surprised, they were two eleven year olds dragging massive carts carrying age-old trunks through a semi-modern train station. People should have been staring, why weren't they staring?

            "Nichola? D-doesn't this look a little odd to other, you know, not magic people?" She stuttered, trying to be as quiet as possible while still allowing her question to be heard. Nichola glanced back at her.

            "Sweetheart, this is Belfast. They won't question anything, trust me. They aren't looking closely enough to notice anything, and even then, they think they've seen it all before." As if the universe was proving her point, a group of seven men walked past, all garbed completely in one of the seven colours of the rainbow. They had even painted their hands, necks and faces. No one batted an eye.

The three continued on through the station, Emma with her head down, still trying to avoid people's eyes. She felt it was fair, considering she was walking behind Beth's wheeling trunk which had a yowling cat basket riding on top. Her own rattled gently and a small cloud of smoke puffed out of between the lid and base. She patted it comfortingly, trying not to look too suspicious to Nichola or the Carminibi.

            "Come on now, this way." Nichola shuffled the two girls into a payphone box, trunks and all. Emma watched as Nichola tapped her talisman to a series of numbers. 42 42 664. Before she could question the older witch, the floor beneath her began sinking, lowering the three of them and all their luggage to another level. Emma didn't even know there was another level, but she supposed that was the point of hiding it.

When the payphone settled itself on the floor, Emma pushed open the door and was met with a wave of smoke that stung her eyes. This wasn't dragon smoke, she was used to dragon smoke. This was steam. Rubbing her eyes to rid them of the stinging, she was startled by the shrill whistle and looked up. A gorgeous, sleek steam train sat on its rails, like a greyhound at the starting track, eager to be off as it perched on its haunches. The deep royal blue contrasted with the red brick of the station as Nichola shuffled them along the platform towards the carriages. Beth groaned at the awestruck look on her friend's face.

            "I forgot how much you like trains." Emma turned to her, mouth agape and eyes sparkling.

            "Beth." Her voice was full of reverence. "Beth, we're taking the train. We're taking this train."

            "I know."

            "B-but Beth, it's, i-it-it--"

            "I know, Emma. It's a lovely train." Emma gasped out a happy screeching sound and clapped her hands to her face before clapping them together in excitement. "Grab your trunk and off you go, you loon."

Emma shrieked. Legitimately shrieked as she dashed towards the marvellous beast, dragging her trunk behind. The poor thing was whipped forward so quickly Beth and Nichola feared the small wheels would catch fire. She bumped into two dark haired boys as she rushed for the train, one scowled at her and the older one rolled his eyes. She also almost knocked over a rather tall fifth year who jumped back at the light brown blur that whizzed past faster than a racing dragon. He shook his head at her too, but with a smile on his face at her excitement. He expected her to look around or ask for help with hefting her large trunk on to the train, but his jaw went slack as she easily picked it and lifted it on top of her shoulders, carting it on to the train before dashing down the corridors in search of empty seats. Well that's not something you see often.