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

does not need me today, I shall come tomorrow with the first letters of the Post Office – at 06:17!»

      «Great! This is the time Hoggarts leave for work!»

      Nymus was already going to peregrine, when he suddenly asked an unusual question:

      «And where do Hoggarts work?» the mailmage’s right eyebrow shot up.

      «Er… I think in the sphere of public relations!»

      «Curious…» Nymus said, rubbing his beard, «very curious…»

      «No, they aren’t mailmages!» William assured him with a smile.

      But Nymus seemed to be thinking about something completely different. William noticed it and ushered him:

      «Nymus! You need to go! See you tomorrow!»

      «Green Monogram!» Nymus snapped out of his reverie. «That is right, I need to go! I do not want Master Calhoun to have problems because of me! Good Mail, Master Calhoun!» With that, he disappeared with a sound as if somebody crumpled some thick paper noisily.

      There were steps and soon a knock on the door. Then the door opened a bit, revealing Mrs. Hoggart’s head to William.

      «Hello, Mrs. Hoggart!» William tried to sound natural. «You’re early today!»

      «Hello, dear!» Mrs. Hoggart entered the room and gave William a kiss on the forehead. «Yes, the day turned out surprisingly easy and I came home earlier! What was this noise in here? I thought the bed collapsed! Are you alright?»

      «Yes, I’m great!» William was searching for an explanation for Nymus’s noisy peregrining and finally found one. «I wanted to move the nightstand a bit, I always stumble on it when I enter the room.»

      «Strange! It seems to be standing on the same spot…» Mrs. Hoggarts walked to the nightstand and started thinking hard on where to move it so that it wouldn’t get in William’s way, but he hurried to interrupt her:

      «That’s because I’ve changed my mind and moved it back! No matter what, it’s the best place for it!» he said and hurried to change the subject. «And when is Mr. Hoggart coming home?»

      «Alright!» Mrs. Hoggart continued her line of thought. «Let it stay here for now, but I’ll tell Edward over the weekend to do something about it. He’ll be home any minute! He called from work and said that he would finish earlier today as well. So, I’ve decided to make an excellent chicken pie, so start on your homework to be done by the time dinner is ready!»

      «Great!» William nodded. «Then I’ll start on it right away!»

      «Yes, yes. I’m going! I won’t bother you, dear!» – Mrs. Hoggart was going to leave when she suddenly turned and asked: «Is everything alright at school?»

      «Yes… yes…» William muttered, «it’s great!»

      «Wonderful!» she kissed him again and left the room.

      William spent some more time thinking about today’s events. After talking to Mrs. Hoggart it seemed that this whole story with the mailmage and wizards was nothing more than a dream. And now he was awake and his life became like it used to be. William liked his life. Firstly, he was lucky to have such parents, even if they were foster ones. And secondly… Secondly, he was already saying a mental good-bye to his old school. He took his textbooks out of his backpack and hid them deep in the wardrobe. Tomorrow, he was going with Nymus to register his magic feather, after which he hoped to be enrolled in the Preparatory Course for a MUni.

      The feather! William had just remembered about it. He took the box from under the bed, which he had placed there when Mrs. Hoggart was heading to his room.

      As he opened the lid, he was happy to see that it was still on its place – though, at first it grudgingly pushed at William’s fingers with its hairs when he tried to take it, but after him whispering «Obnoxus’, the feather became friendlier.

      «I wonder what you can do?» William was thinking aloud as he stared at his feather, white with black dots. He pointed the Feather at the bed and ordered: «Bed! Unmake yourself, I want to sleep!»

      Nothing happened. Then, slightly disappointed, William put the feather back into the box and then into his backpack, not to forget it in the morning.

      «Fine, I’ll need to learn how to control you!»

      He unmade the bed in a traditional way, climbed under the blanket and immediately fell asleep, completely forgetting about dinner.

      Chapter four

      Magic Post Office

      Early in the morning, William was still in bed, fast asleep. The first rays of sun still hadn’t shown, when there was a loud sound of «crumpled paper’. William jumped up, but calmed down right away after hearing a familiar voice.

      «Master Calhoun, Good Sunrise!»

      «Nymus!» William rubbed his eyes. «Listen, could you appear without so much noise next time? Hi!»

      «The mailmage from the Nymus kin did not want to scare his Wizard!» Nymus sounded hurt.

      «Alright, alright! No offence! What time is it?»

      «Exactly 06:17! Mailmages are never late!» Nymus’s cheerful voice wasn’t very loud, but somehow it filled the whole room.

      «Do mailmages sleep at all?» William asked.

      «Mailmages?! Sleep?! Never!»

      «Really?»

      «I am telling you the truth! It is one of the most truthful truths that can ever exist in the sphere of truths, Master Calhoun! Besides, we cannot be late for the Magic Post Office! They are open for public until nine a.m. Then the Post Office Meeting begins! We need to hurry!»

      «Fine! Give me two minutes!»

      William jumped out of the bed, washed his face quickly, pulled on his jeans and a clean shirt, and took his backpack.

      «I’m ready! Shall we go?» William said, then he realized that he had no idea how they were going to get to the Magic Post Office. «And how are we getting there?»

      «We are peregrining! Take my hand!»

      Squeezing his backpack tight with one hand, William grabbed Nymus with the other. He felt familiar dizziness, but not as bad as the first time. Besides, Nymus’s hand gave him the feeling of protection. Everything was over in a few moments.

      They were standing in the middle of a large hall covered with piles of letters! William couldn’t even make out what the floor was made of and what colour it was. Letters hid almost everything in here. They were everywhere! The floor, the windows, the walls – everything was covered with letters! Besides, the letters were alive! They were either flying from one end of the hall to the other or they moved at a very high pace back and forth.

      William saw an endless number of mailmages rushing in all directions, as they were trying to find and to pick up the letter they needed. They used their large hands to sort piles of letters on the floor, on the tables, and on the windows of the giant hall.

      «We are in the Correspondence Hall!» Nymus explained, sensing William’s confusion. «Several million letters arrive here every day, waiting to be sent!»

      «Nymus, wouldn’t it be more convenient to store all the letters in a special place so that it is easy to find the required one?»

      «A special place?» Nymus repeated. «The building of the Magic Post Office is that special place – it was created for that!»

      «Do only London wizards send so many letters?»

      «The Magic Post Office, Master Calhoun, is the only one in the world. And it is located in London. Letters come here from everywhere. We are the heart of the world correspondence. That is why serving at the Magic Post Office is such