Station || Variable six

Normally, Hyssop’s driver took the westernmost road to quickly drive through the city, but the train station was on the eastern side of Owlway, so a detour was necessary.

The train station was built at the foot of a fairly tall hill. The top of the hill was flattened and turned into a commercial area with plazas and gardens, while a residential area could be visible on the mountainside beyond.

Many tunnels were built inside the mountainous region to provide access for the train to come into the city. On the southern side, the train tracks came out from a tunnel built under the hill, while on the northern side, the tunnel was built inside a steep mountain range.

The driver stopped right in front of the train station, and stepped down to open the door for Yew, who quickly jumped out of the carriage and said, "thank you, sir."

"You’re welcome, lad," the driver responded politely, slightly bowed his head, then closed the carriage door before heading back to his seat.

From an open window, Hyssop wished her brother good luck, and he thanked her. Before the carriage got too far away to see it, she leaned out the window and waved to her brother, who waved back.

As Yew's hand returned to rest by his side, his heart began filling with an odd emotion of fear, which comes from loneliness. He realized that it was his first time being alone in the city of Owlway.

However, he didn’t allow himself to panic. It would be nothing but an embarrassment to cry until someone contacted his parents. Thus he gathered all his fortitude, and approached the timetable for the trains.

He saw that the train to the city of Sheepcrown was coming next, and was glad that he didn’t have to wait for a long time. He wasn’t sure whether Hyssop scheduled it that way, or was it just a lucky coincidence, but he liked this outcome. He wanted to quickly get onboard in order to calm down in a seat by a window.

He refused to use the benches at the train station, afraid that he might not have enough courage to stand up, if he were to sit down.

From the side pocket of his backpack, he took out the ticket, which his father had bought him last week. He checked whether the train label matched. It did, so it certainly was the train, which he needed to board in order to get to the school of Hecate.

He showed his ticket to the guard, when he walked through the gate onto the platform, where many people were gathered, waiting for the next train.

Before Yew had time to take a better look at his surroundings, he heard the train whistle in the distance. The sound was coming from the northern tunnel. It echoed through the mountain walls in an eerie, hazily magical pitch, and it made Yew feel more excited than scared. All at once, his anxiety was transformed into anticipation at the prospect of something wonderful awaiting him at the end of his journey.

"The train is approaching. Please DO NOT stay close to the tracks," a voice warned the passengers through a loudspeaker.

Some people obeyed the instructions and moved away, while others went against the rules, and moved closer to the tracks, as if they were worried that the train wouldn’t stop for them, unless they endangered their lives.

The train, colored lemon green at the top, and azure blue at the bottom, shot out like a bullet from inside the tunnel. With its long continuous car devoid of any doors, it looked more like a caterpillar than a train.

Even though it had an amazing speed, it came to a perfect stop right at the station. Those, who had never seen this train before, were often surprised at both its appearance and its ability to come to a sudden stop regardless of its speed. However, Yew had already seen this unique magical train, so none of it surprised him.

In less than a second after its instantaneous halt, the train’s sidewall had disappeared, revealing the interior of the train. Only one thin crevice separated the concrete platform from the polished wooden floor of the train’s hallway.

Passengers began to casually board the train. They passed through the luxurious high-class hallway into elegant cozy compartments, which were big enough to accommodate up to eight adults.

Yew was among the last to board the train. He would have never guessed that one day the train, which was built by the graduates of Hecate, would take him to that very school.

He walked along the hallway, looking through the windows of narrow compartment doors in search of an available spot. Many compartments were full, but some had one or more empty seats. Yew decided to check all sixty compartments, before selecting the best place to sit. But he didn’t check them all, because he had encountered a completely empty compartment. Instantly, he was overjoyed at the prospects of having a compartment all to himself, and immediately he went inside.

The compartment’s seats were soft and comfy. There were free blankets on a long flat shelf above the seats, but it was too high for Yew to reach them, so he would either have to do without them, or ask someone taller for help. Luckily, it was summer, so he didn’t need a blanket, although he wouldn’t mind an extra cushion for his head to lay down on.

He settled by the window, and looked outside at the platform, which was tucked beneath the steep cliff.

Soon afterward, the sidewall of the train reappeared like a transparent glass turning opaque. And the train began to move, mostly in silence with some occasional squeaks from the tracks.

Yew took one final glance at the city of Owlway, knowing that he wouldn’t return for at least two months, if not longer. He felt anxious and wished to go back home, but this state of his mind didn’t last for more than two moments.

The train rushed headfirst into the tunnel, heading south. The scenery outside flipped into total darkness, and the compartment turned pitch black.

Yew’s longing for home shifted into confusion. Was he supposed to turn on the light himself? How could he turn on the light now, when it was so dark? Did other compartments have lights on?

When the lights finally lit up on the ceiling, Yew was no longer alone in the compartment. A teen couple was sitting across from him, hugging and kissing each other.

Yew’s eyes grew bigger in surprise at the unexpected visitors, but he didn’t know what to say without awkwardly announcing his presence.

The gal was the first one to notice him. She pushed her partner away, and beckoned her chin toward Yew. The guy looked to his side, and Yew looked right back at him.

With an embarrassment painted on their faces, they hurriedly apologized and soundlessly teleported out, leaving no trace of their presence.

Teleportation was an ability, which required either a magical talent or a magical item. Since the couple used it without an item, it was logical to assume that they were students of Hecate, on their way back to school.

Some time passed with Yew contemplating the scene, which he had just witnessed. He wondered why adults did something as disgusting as kissing.

Then the door to his compartment was opened by a guy, who was a year or two younger than previous visitors. He stepped in and gave Yew a questioning look. Yew didn’t react, so he stepped out, looked above the door, then once again at Yew.

"Can you read?" he asked. His long cyan hair was tied with a ribbon behind his back, but he didn’t look feminine at all. He had a very masculine build, and his voice was unexpectedly deep for his age.

"Huh?" Yew was taken aback by the question.

"You know, this is compartment twenty one," the guy spoke in a condescending tone. He wore expensive clothes decorated with gold, and flawlessly tailored to his body. His attire reminded Yew of a fairytale prince as often portrayed in picture books.

"So what?" Yew raised an eyebrow, equally confused at the topic of their conversation and at the visitor’s behavior.

The guy blinked twice at the oblivious boy’s response. Then he looked left and right at the hallway, as if he was checking if anybody saw him, before he entered the compartment.

He moved his long hair to the side, as he sat by the window across from Yew. He took a small pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, pulled one out, and carefully put it in his mouth, as if he was trying it for the first time. The cigarette lit up on its own, and he smoked for a while, before he spoke again. "First year, right?"

Even if the guy was a fellow student of Hecate, Yew still felt uneasy talking to an older student, who was acting like a delinquent. He wavered before he shyly answered, "yeah".

"Your parents didn’t tell you?" the guy half-stated, half-asked.

"Tell me what?" Yew got riled up after hearing poorly masked derision in the guy's tone.

"About compartment twenty one." He exhaled some smoke toward the boy, but it didn’t reach across the seats. "The rumor has it that whoever rides this compartment will never graduate from Hecate. My mamaw said that a gal from her class once rode in compartment twenty one, and died in an accident two days before graduating."

"But you’re also riding it," Yew pointed out, skeptical about the story.

"I’m here only for a moment," the guy said. "Teachers always check other compartments, so this is the safest place to avoid them. This doesn’t count as riding it."

"How old are you?" Yew asked, wondering if the guy in front of him was older than he looked, because why else would he be smoking?

"Fifteen,” he answered. “And you?” A bit of ash from his cigarette dropped to the floor, but as soon as he snapped his fingers, it was magically gone.

"Ten," Yew answered, then courageously added, "and you’re too young to smoke."

The older student looked at him, and moaned mockingly, "I’m so sorry, mammy, I won’t do that again." Then he held out the cigarette pack toward Yew, and explained in a disinterested tone, "but the funny thing is I don’t smoke. I took this from my father, when he wasn’t looking. I wonder why he likes them so much."

Yew looked at the title on the pack, which read «Herbal Puffs: Relax and Think», before he waved a hand over his nose and complained, "it stinks."

"Then go to another compartment. If you go now, maybe you won’t flunk Hecate," the guy responded.

"Or I can call a teacher over here," Yew suggested with a smug grin.

The older student gave him a cold stare, before he got up and sat down next to Yew, who ended up squeezed between him and the wall.

"If you start picking fights with your seniors, then even without compartment twenty one, you won’t graduate from Hecate," he threatened. Then with the tip of his cigarette, he lightly seared Yew’s cheek.

"Tst… Ouch." Yew jolted away from the burning sensation, and in consequence he banged his head on the wall.

The older student got up. He spun the cigarette in the air turning it into smoke, which dissipated in less than a second. Then he clapped his hands, causing all the smoke to vanish, refreshing the air and leaving no proof of his misconduct. He put the cigarette case back into his pocket, before he addressed Yew with a wide grin.

"By the way, my name is Cypress Robellini Saman Sea. If you want to have a great time in Hecate, don't make me dislike you."

Yew didn’t respond. Instead he kept massaging his cheek, ignoring the pain in the back of his head.

After several moments of silence, Cypress stepped out and closed the compartment door, leaving the boy alone.