William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I. Aik Iskandaryan

by the fact that normal statues didn’t have a habit of scaring people, so he had nothing to be ashamed of.

      «Even though they are carrying their carriage at full speed, they never leave their niche,» Nymus pointed at the pedestal below.

      «It would have been nice to get a warning BEFORE peregrining!» he was still staring at the unusual sculpture. «What are they made of?»

      «Common stone,» the mailmage replied casually.

      «Yes, but stone has immobile nature, as far as I know. Or are you going to say otherwise?»

      «No, I am not!» Nymus smiled. «Wizards have a way of treating stone, Master Calhoun! They are capable of turning it into anything at all. Long time ago, when demits were still in close contact with wizards, this skill made demits call wizards stonemasons. It is no secret that many sculptures of demits were made by wizards.»

      «No secret for whom?» even though William got used to Nymus with his strange stories, but sometimes he had to struggle not to go mad from some of them. «Fine, forget it!»

      He looked around. The Waiting Hall of the Cabstation was at least several times larger than those of demits. It looked like a giant building with stone slabs on the floor. Perhaps those slabs or perhaps something else gave this rather spacious hall a subtle resemblance to a medieval dungeon where they tortured people. A huge statue depicting a carriage pulled by three giant white elks, which stood in the middle of the Hall, made the atmosphere even gloomier. Stumping their hooves, yet not moving from their spot, the elks were tirelessly pulling the black carriage. But the walls were the most remarkable feature, they had dual nature and kept changing their appearance all the time. William was enjoying the view of the soft ground on the walls that surrounded the Waiting Hall completely when they started to change their colour to darker ones, right before his eyes, until they had completely changed into dark-blue waters of the ocean. Moving from one state to another, the walls filled the Waiting Hall with relevant colours, creating semi-darkness at one point, and submerging it into the ocean at another. William found it most remarkable when the shiny white humps of the elks were lit by blue flares of the water reflected from the walls. The elks seemed so life-like and realistic at that point, that if he’d met them at a zoo, he’d have had no doubts they were alive. His mixed feelings, caused by indescribable fear of the first seconds after arriving to the Cabstation, and now the incredible fascination with this building, were soon replaced by open delight. It was the delight that filled him as he looked around, examining large clocks on tall poles. There were so many of them he couldn’t have counted them all from the first attempt even if he wanted to.

      «The mother of all London stations!» Nymus said. He was pleased to see the delight of his master at seeing the majestic Waiting Hall.

      «But who built it all, Nymus?»

      «Wizards! They are really good at installing such things in buildings,» he pointed at the changing walls made from living nature elements.

      «This is incredible!» William cried out, giving the walls another look. They had just submerged the Waiting Hall into semi-darkness by turning into ground. «And this is merely a Waiting Hall! I can only imagine how more important wizard buildings look like!»

      «Much more majestic and impressive!» Nymus assured him.

      «And what are those clocks on poles? Their arrows move in the opposite direction.»

      «They are supposed to be moving in the opposite direction, Master Calhoun. They do the countdown of all arrivals and departures. This clock,» Nymus pointed at the one nearby, «has arrows moving in different directions! For those waiting for this trip it serves as an indication that the trip was moved to a different time. And this one,» he pointed at the clock next to it, «is ours. It shows that three minutes are left until the arrival of the Six O’Clocker. So we should better find our way to the platform.»

      «Where’s the platform?»

      «Come!» Nymus headed to the window in the far corner that was located right in the wall made of living nature element. William followed him.

      There were long benches all around, enrolees sitting there with their parents who had come to see them off to the Ball. Of course, William didn’t know any of them. For a moment, he felt really uneasy because he actually didn’t know any wizards at all. «But at least he had Nymus!» he kept saying to himself. He’ll have time to make friends with wizards. It was too early to fall into despair.

      They walked past the endless rows of benches and finally reached the window, with the cashier sitting beyond it and reading a newspaper. William saw the name of the newspaper «Informed Wizard’. Nymus knocked on the window. The same moment the elderly wizard put his newspaper aside and gave the newcomers a questioning look. Nymus bent over William’s ear and whispered:

      «Your invitation ticket! You need to show it to pass.»

      William quickly pulled out the invitation from his pocket and handed it to the elderly wizard in glasses. He took the ticket and touched it with his feather. The invitation vanished from this touch. After this, the elderly wizard said politely:

      «Please, step through, Mister Calhoun!»

      At this, Nymus took William to the wall, which reflected them now. The water suddenly parted, revealing an oval oak door. They opened the door, stepped through and found themselves on the platform.

      «Nymus, so the water wasn’t real, just an illusion?» William asked when they were standing on the platform among other wizards waiting for the Six O’Clocker.

      «No, why? It is real, like the ground that replaces it regularly. It is a security system – only those that have the ticket may pass. Those who try to reach the platform without the ticket will simply step onto the ocean floor and drown… Excuse me!.. Make way!… Thank you!… Please, sir… What a lovely child… let us pass,» while explaining all that, Nymus was holding William with one hand and used the other hand to push through the crowd. «If the walls are in their earth shape at that moment, the frauds will bury themselves the moment they make a step.»

      «But you’ve managed to pass somehow,» William noted, «and nothing happened to you.»

      «Master Calhoun forgets that I am a mailmage! Mailmages do not need to cheat to get anywhere, because they have a special pass to all places. We can peregrine anywhere we want without breaking the law. However, it is prohibited to take our wizards where they are not supposed to be or they need a pass for. It is a blatant violation of the Post Office Code, and for this violation… Allow me the doubt of whether you have chosen the right place on the platform, Miss… For this violation we will never see letters again!»

      After passing through the last row of wizards, they came to the front of the crowd.

      «There! Now nothing will get in the way for Master William to enjoy the sight of the arrival of the Six O’Clocker!» he said in a satisfied voice and folded his arms on his chest.

      They were standing in a gloomy dense forest. The only source of noise here were the loud voices of wizards, who, judging by the thickening crowd, were still arriving, and it was becoming hard to move. Instead of the rails William had expected to see he only saw a path leading from one part of the forest to another. When he turned around, he didn’t see the towering building of the Cabstation behind the crowd. He actually didn’t see anything towering there. Only the trees.

      «If it has not been for the crowd, Master William would have seen a shabby hut, no longer than ten feet. It’s for diversion!» Nymus explained seeing his confusion. «Demits often come here, and the large building of the Cabstation in the middle of the forest would have caused, let us say, some degree of misunderstanding.

      «But there’s a forest here! Besides, there are no rails. There’s actually nothing here except for the forest.»

      «Rails?» Nymus looked surprised.

      «Of course! We’re taking the Six O’Clocker,