Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 18

Once Alexandra looked up, she saw a triple-decker, violently purple bus which had appeared out of nowhere, with gold lettering over the windshield spelled The Knight Bus.

      She quickly pocketed her wand back in her robe when a man in a purple uniform appeared at its door. And so he started reading off a card in his hands,

       "Good evening and welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. I will be your conductor tonight, so how may I help you?"

      He then put the card back in his pocket to finally look down at Alexandra, who was staring at him amusingly.

      "I — er — I wanted to get to Georgian town, Richmond Green. It's a town in London, I think," she said.

      "Well, that would be eleven Sickles," said the conductor, "but for thirteen you get hot chocolate, and for fifteen you get a hot water bottle and a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

       Alexandra nodded and then dug back into her robe's pocket, handing the man eleven Sickles before getting up the bus and boarding it.

      She started looking around her in awe and saw that there were no seats; instead, half a dozen brass bedsteads stood beside the curtained windows. Candles were burning in brackets beside each bed, illuminating the wood-paneled walls. Other than Alexandra, there were only two weird looking warlocks at the end of the Bus who were playing a game of cards on the bed set for them, smoking a weird looking pipe.

      Alexandra had never been on the Knight Bus, but she had heard of it numerous times from others at school. None of them who had boarded it before said that they liked it. But Alexandra was finding it very amusing as she looked around her.

      Although she soon came to understand why everyone who had tried it hated it so much when there was another tremendous BANG, and the next moment she found herself flat on the bed, thrown backward by the speed of the Knight Bus.

       Alexandra tried to pull herself up by the force of her elbows, trying to clench onto the headboard of the bed to prevent herself from falling each time the Bus made a sharp turn.

       When Alexandra looked out of the window, her eyes widened when she saw that they were passing the cars, people, and houses with the speed of light, and it came like quite a shock to her how the Bus wasn't crashing into anything else.

       But after long minutes of clutching to the headboard for dear life, Alexandra let out a loud yelp when the Knight Bus came to a sudden stop, causing her to hurtle forward and fall off the bed.

      Panting heavily to catch her breath, Alexandra tried to get up to her feet and maintain her balance when the conductor announced, "Georgian town, Richmond Green."

      "Th-thank you," Alexandra said shakily, making her way out of the Bus. The moment she stepped out and into the street ahead, the Knight Bus disappeared out of sight with another loud BANG.

        Alexandra shook her head to snap herself out of the daze before looking around her. The town stood in the darkness of the nights, everything quiet. Not many people were out and about, but the few that passed sent Alexandra a questioning glance, probably because of the weird way she was dressed.

       But trying to ignore them, Alexandra started walking on, searching for the house she knew Mike lived in.

       She had never gone to visit Mike in the past, but in numerous occasions he had sent her a letter with his address, telling her to come and visit him for the holidays, though her grandfather had never allowed her to.

       As she walked through the narrow or big alleyways to find the house she was looking for and stopped every once in a while to ask someone directions, Alexandra had her hands in her robe's pockets to have a hold on her wand, just in case.

      But at last, after long minutes of searching, she finally came upon Mike William's house. Her heartbeat picking up, Alexandra went forward and so with one last deep breath, she rang the doorbell.

      She waited impatiently behind the entrance door, looking around nervously. She felt bad for going there without a beforehand notice, and the longer she waited there, the more she thought of stepping away again and leaving.

      But just then, she saw the door open, revealing a woman behind it. She had blonde hair and looked to be in her late 40s. But before she could greet Alexandra or say anything at all, her eyes fell on the dress she was wearing, which probably wasn't normal for a Muggle.

      But then realizing that this girl probably belonged to Mike's world, the woman smiled at her. "Can I help you?"

      "H-hi..." Alexandra started nervously. "I'm sorry that I came here without invitation — and I know this is a bad hour — but — but I was wondering if Mike was home?"

      "Oh, you're Mike's friend, are you?" she questioned amusingly.

       "Yes." She nodded. "I'm Alexandra Starling."

       "Alexandra, huh?" By that, Alexandra saw the smile on the woman's face widen and an excited flicker flashed through her eyes. "Please, come in. I'll go and call Mike down. Make yourself comfortable."

      "Right... thanks." Alexandra gave her a feeble smile and walked in, closing the door behind her.

      "Mike! Mike! Get down here!" the woman yelled as she walked halfway up the stairs.

        Alexandra heard a door upstairs open and then a familiar voice groaned in annoyance and yelled back, "What!?"

      "Someone's here to see you!"

      "You've finally called a doctor to take me to an insane asylum, have you?" She heard Mike say as he was walking down the stairs.

      But when he got down and caught sight of Alexandra, his eyes widened and a grin crept through his face.

      "Alex!?" he exclaimed happily. "What the devil are you doing here!?"

      "Now, now, Mike, that's not a way to treat a guest," said his mother, smiling. "Specially not the girl you couldn't stop talking about for the last five years."

      Mike gasped, turning to face her with a warning look. "Mum!"

        Alexandra giggled. "It's all right. Look, Mike... I'm sorry I've showed up here out-of-the-blue... but things aren't really going too well at home..."

      "Oh..." Mike's face fell in realization. "Well, you can stay here for as like as you like. Right, Mum?"

      "Well, of course she can." Mrs. Williams nodded earnestly. "I think I can dig up something comfortable for you to wear that are too small for me. How's that?"

     "Thank you. Thank you so much." Alexandra smiled in appreciation.

      "Well, c'mon, Alex," said Mike with a grin, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, "I'll show you to my room."

      "Mike!" Mrs. Williams scolded.

      "Just kidding! I meant the guest room." said Mike defensively, but then turned to wink at Alexandra, making her chuckle.