Maggie didn’t know all the technical ways a Ley Station worked, but as far as she could gather there were the magical Ley Lines which crisscrossed all over the world and were essentially mana pathways. Mana being the energy used in magic. Well, some Einstein of the wizarding world had learned how to tap into those lines and bring two points together and yada yada yada you could step instantly from one place to another if you had proper clearance to go there. She was somewhere in Massachusetts right now, but if everything went according to plan by the end of the day, she would be stepping out somewhere in Oregon. Hells yeah.
The attendant at the Ley Station could charitably be described as a hairless ball sack. All skin and folds and yeah, completely hairless. There were eyes somewhere in those folds and a mouth she assumed because as she walked up to the man, person, thing? It said, “Student Identification Card,” in a deep gravelly voice.
Maggie handed him her card and it reviewed the card briefly before placing it on the table before him in the center of what appeared to be some form of magical inscription. The inscription lit up and he removed the card and offered it back to her. “Destination?” It queried.
“Um, Pacific Northwest? Oregon if you have a location there, Washington State if not?”
It fidgeted with something under its desk and then a wrinkly hand revealed a wand that it swooped around in the air in front of Maggie and produced a translucent map floating before her eyes. “These are the locations that meet your criteria. Please select one in green, as those are the ones open to public traffic.”
“And the red and yellow ones?” Maggie asked out of curiosity.
“Red is restricted to only those of the highest order and yellow ones are generally those belonging to a specific wizarding household. You’d have to be family or have prior authorization to use those Ley Ways.”
“Got it, um,” Maggie said, eyeing the map. “I guess the closest would be…” damn what are the odds they had one of the Ley stations smack dab in the middle of the town she was trying to get to? Sure enough, several bright glowing lines intersected there. Myrtle Creek, Oregon. “Here,” Maggie said pointing. It wasn’t where her family's property was, but it was damn close.
The dude, yeah dude was a species neutral term, right? then directed Maggie to which doorway she would step through and offered her some words of advice about how to handle the transition feeling. She wasn’t too concerned with it because she had never gotten seasick or car sick so she would be fine, probably.
“Hey, I never caught your name,” she said before leaving him.
“Oh, uh I’m, well actually, folks around here just call me Walnut on account of,” and it gestured to its wrinkly body. “But my real name is Weatherford.”
“Well, thanks Weatherford. I appreciate all the help.”
“Anytime young miss,” it responded and then it fished around under its desk again and produced a small volume and offered it out to her. The title read ‘Introduction to Ley Lines and Traveling, by S.V.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“For me?” Maggie asked.
Weatherford nodded. “A loaner, be sure to return it to me some time,” he rumbled out.
“You got it,” Maggie said with a big smile spanning her face. Just goes to show you, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
She approached what she could only describe as a swirling vortex of doom and inhaled a deep settling breath. Then she entered. And then, she vomited. Someone had amazing foresight however because immediately through the portal into the next room there was a large metal bucket where Maggie vacated her stomach. Still better than trains, she thought, as she spit lumps of chewed up food from her mouth.
-Break-
For the second time in one day Mugwart had a young girl sitting in his office. Of course, he knew Celeste, quite well in fact. It was to his great shame that he had to manipulate students the way that he did. In the days before the veil was pulled off of the world, when the two worlds remained separate, he would’ve taken a more direct approach to those rogue witches and wizards who stirred up trouble, but now, now it was all public relations and with the mundanes forming their own policing force, this, Supernatural Victims Unit, well, they had to be ever more cautious. If a child was caught up in one of these incidents, that could be explained away due to their lack of experience, or children will be children, but the last thing this school needed was its headmaster caught up in a plot.
“So, he took the bait then?” asked Mugwart.
Celeste nodded behind her cup of tea. “Yeah, he took it, right to the chest too.”
Mugwart smirked at that. “Good girl.”
Between the pair, on Mugwarts desk, lay the charred remains of the blasting rod Celeste had used in her battle.
“Not good enough though, given that he got away,” Celeste said with a pout.
“Still though, you did well. And this too may even be to our advantage. There are lessons to be learned in both failure or success,” Mugwart supplied.
“And the other girl, Maggie?” Celeste asked, changing the topic.
Mugwart gave her a considering look, “As I said before, she unenrolled from the school.”
“Did it rattle her that badly?” asked Celeste.
“I am not certain. Perhaps it did, or perhaps she had other motivations for not wanting to be here.”
“But you felt it right? Her mana was so… dense?”
Mugwart smiled, “I’m glad to see your scrying lessons are paying off.”
“I didn’t need to scry to feel it. When I touched her, when I took her hand, it just… came. Like a dam breaking. I thought I was going to be swept away. I don’t know, headmaster,” and she gestured to the rod on the desk, “it just ate right through the rod.”
That had surprised Mugwart, true the rod was only that of Journeyman quality but still, an Apprentice level witch and a witch not even ranked should not have been able to supply enough mana to damage the thing, let alone ruin it completely.
“Your concern is duly noted, I will keep an eye on Miss Rainbolt, and you, well I have other tasks to occupy your time.”
Celeste’s eyes lit up, “Advanced Combat Magic?”
“Diligent note taking,” Mugwart countered.
Her smile died.
When Celeste departed Mugwart remained seated at his desk. When had he gotten so good at manipulating his students? He supposed his own master’s lessons had paid off. Prophecy was a powerful tool when properly used. The trick was to know which students would believe it and charge ahead full steam to fulfill the prophecy and which students would buck against the system and prove the prophecy wrong. Celeste was the former, he of course was of the latter, his own Master had laid out a vision for him of his desire for power overtaking him and leading him down dark paths and conducting dark deeds, but now he was headmaster and a far cry from the evil wizard the prophecy would have painted him as. In the end we are what we choose to be, he mused.