Alexandra Quick and the Lands Below

Stormcrows

Alexandra didn't get another opportunity to leave the apartment until the following week, when the Charmbridge bus came to take her to the Goblin Market. Her mother actually waited with her in the parking lot that morning; bleary-eyed, still wearing a bathrobe, and drinking a cup of coffee. Alexandra had heard her parents arguing again the previous night; her mother wanted to move back to Sweetmaple Avenue, but Archie thought it would be too expensive. This argument had been going on all summer.

"I'm surprised they don't send a larger bus," her mother murmured, as the short yellow school bus with 'Charmbridge Academy' printed on its sides pulled into the parking lot.

Actually, it's a magic school bus, and it's the size of double-decker inside, Alexandra thought, and she almost said it out loud. She wondered if her mother would choke on her coffee if she did.

Tabitha Speaks, the Charmbridge bus driver, opened the door to the bus and smiled at Alexandra and her mother. "Good morning, Miss Quick! Hello, Mrs. Green. How has your summer been?"

"Great," Alexandra replied, while thinking, Horrible.

"Hot," replied her mother. She smiled tiredly at Mrs. Speaks. "So, you'll be returning around six, right?"

"That's right, Mrs. Green. Hop aboard, dear."

Alexandra turned to her mother. "See you later."

Her mother patted her on the shoulder. "Behave yourself. Don't spend all the money Archie gave you if you don't have to." Alexandra nodded, and boarded the bus.

As soon as she stepped inside, the true dimensions of the bus's interior became apparent: it stretched far beyond its exterior length, and to the rear, there were stairs to a second level, where the high school-age students sat. Instead of normal bus seats all facing forward, there were rows of comfortable booths on either side of the center aisle, with tables, so students could sit together facing each other. Towards the front of the bus were eighth and ninth graders. Alexandra walked past students wearing everything from suspenders and bow-ties to leather vests and buckskin breeches. Some girls wore old-fashioned prairie dresses, others wore long witches' robes and pointed hats. She saw one boy in a formal jacket and dress white shirt, with a high-collared black cloak wrapped around him as he sat on the bus seat, looking like a small blond Dracula. Across from him, a ninth grade girl was wearing a stiff corset and puffy skirts that barely fit under their table. There were Old Colonials, New Colonials, Radicalists, and members of Druidic Orders, but as usual, Alexandra saw only a handful of kids like her who dressed like Muggles.

She gave a tight smile to a pair of eighth grade boys, Stuart Cortlandt and Torvald Krogstad, who were engaged in their usual pastime of trying to hex each other without being caught by Mrs. Speaks or the senior chaperones. They both grinned at her, and Torvald called out, "Hey, Troublesome!"

The nickname she'd earned last year generated snickers and stares from the older kids. The Rash twins, a pair of Ozarker boys in denim trousers and long-sleeved shirts, looked at her as if she were tracking dog poop down the aisle. She saw Larry Albo, a boy two years older than her who'd been her nemesis all last year, sitting with his friends Ethan Robinson and Wade White. Larry just gave her a little sneer, then turned his attention back to his friends, and Alexandra likewise passed him by without comment.

Her fellow seventh graders were towards the rear. Here, she found five girls already sitting in one booth, and her face broke into a smile.

"Alex!" squealed a small Chinese girl. Anna Chu jumped out of her seat and embraced her roommate.

"Hi, Anna. How've you been?" Alexandra hugged her back, embarrassed but happy. She couldn't help noticing that she'd gained at least an inch on the smaller girl over the summer.

Two girls who looked like mirror images of one another, with pale blue eyes, identical Ozarker dresses, and blonde hair tucked beneath old-fashioned bonnets, smiled at her and said in unison, "Hello, Alexandra."

"Did you have a good summer?" asked Constance Pritchard.

"We missed you terrible," said Forbearance Pritchard.

Alexandra grinned at the twins. "I missed you too, all of you."

Even you two, she thought, looking at the last two girls, one of them pale-skinned, with round cheeks and wavy black hair, and the other dark-skinned, with her sleek black hair tied in a knot on top of her head. Both of them were prettier and much more elegantly dressed than anyone else at the table. "Hi Darla, Angelique."

Darla Dearborn and Angelique Devereaux smiled at her. "Welcome to the seventh grade," said Darla officiously.

"What did you do this summer?" asked Angelique.

Alexandra slid into the booth next to Anna, across from Darla and Angelique. "Not much."

"My family and I went to the North Pole on an Aurora Borealis cruise," sighed Darla, barely waiting for Alexandra's reply. "It was so romantic! I met the most wonderful boy on the cruise, he goes to the Blacksburg Magery Institute, and he's four years older than me -"

"And she hasn't stopped talking about him since." Angelique sounded a bit exasperated. "Really, what's a junior doing dallying with a seventh grader?"

"He wasn't dallying with me," Darla huffed, looking offended. "We had a lot of long, interesting conversations! And there's nothing wrong with an older boy recognizing that some girls are more sophisticated and mature than other girls her age!" She turned up her nose haughtily.

"What's that got to do with you?" Alexandra snorted. Angelique and Anna burst out laughing, and the Pritchards looked down to hide their smiles.

"I went to summer school at Baleswood," Angelique volunteered, filling the gap before Darla could sputter an indignant comeback. "I learned a lot of spells Charmbridge doesn't teach in the seventh grade."

"Like curses, you mean?" muttered Darla.

Angelique frowned and shook her head. "Dark Arts are prohibited at Baleswood, just like everywhere else. I did learn some counter-curses, though."

"Aren't counter-curses just curses you throw back at people who cursed you first?" asked Anna.

"No!" Angelique protested.

The Pritchards, as usual, were sitting quietly and listening to everyone else talk, much too modest to interrupt. But they smiled when Alexandra asked about their summer.

"Well, we pitched in on chores, 'course," began Constance.

"There was doxies and anger-nettles to slay, and gnomin' to do," Forbearance continued.

"And we two chased off a Nogtail all ourselves!" Constance declared proudly.

"One of our older brothers usually would'a done it, but we spied it in our pens..." said Forbearance, and both girls drew their wands as Constance finished, "...and gave it a spellin' and a hexin' that sent it squealing into the next holler!" The two girls made identical, dramatic slashes with their wands to demonstrate.

Alexandra didn't even know what a Nogtail was, but she grinned appreciatively. "Awesome!"

The Pritchards smiled bashfully, until Darla sniffed, "So you spent the summer getting rid of magical pests? That doesn't sound like much fun."

Alexandra rolled her eyes at her, but Constance replied, "We wasn't just clearin' out varmints."

Forbearance shook her head, then leaned forward, and added in a low voice, "We went with the Grannies to take cuttings."

"Black oak and white oak," whispered Constance.

"They didn't let us cut none, 'course," said Forbearance.

"But we got to watch how they done it."

"Great-Grandma says if we'all is patient and got the knack, maybe we might become cutters ourselves someday."

"What's a cutter?" Alexandra asked, baffled.

"It's part of wandcraft," Anna murmured. "That's really advanced magic."

"Difficult, too," remarked Angelique.

"I've heard you have to be a little crazy to be any good," said Darla, almost dismissively. "You'd have to be, to spend weeks just crafting one wand."

The Pritchards gave Darla a look that was almost, but not quite, a glare.

"Our Great-Grandma is a cutter and a crafter," Constance informed her.

"She hain't skilt as her ma," Forbearance added.

"Great-Great Grandma was one of the finest ever there was," Constance agreed.

"But Great-Grandma was a'feared it'd be lost in our family, 'til now," said Forbearance.

"Grandma and Ma weren't no good at it, and our two eldest sisters hain't got the knack neither."

"But she thinks we might."

"Wow." Anna sounded impressed. "All I studied this summer was magic ideograms and old scrolls." She sighed. "It was boring."

Alexandra slumped a little in her seat. She felt envious. All of the other girls got to learn magic over the summer, or at least do something cool, like go on a cruise to the North Pole. Who in Larkin Mills wouldn't be awed by that? She had no desire to even try to explain the concept of Vacation Bible School to her friends.

She was quiet for a while, as Anna talked about ideograms, Angelique described Baleswood (which Alexandra gathered was deep in an alligator-infested swamp somewhere), and Darla turned the conversation as often as she could back to her Aurora Borealis cruise and her handsome boy from Blacksburg. With each retelling, their moonlit walks became longer, and their conversations became deeper and more meaningful, until by the time the bus came to a stop again, Alexandra half-expected Darla to announce that she was engaged to be married.

They looked out the windows, and saw a large, industrial city which was not Chicago. Distance wasn't the same on the Automagicka as on Muggle highways, so Alexandra guessed they were in Detroit. This was confirmed a moment later when David Washington came walking down the center aisle, nodding and waving to a few of the kids he recognized. Then his face lit up as he saw Alexandra and the other girls.

"Hey," he greeted them cheerfully. "Just like last year."

"You mean you want to sit at a table full of girls again?" Angelique asked. "Won't the boys put up with you?"

David's grin faltered, but then Angelique winked, and Alexandra snorted.

"Don't mind them none, David," Constance chided. "'Course you can sit with us."

The Muggle-born boy hesitated, then slid into the booth next to Alexandra, across the table from Angelique.

"Yeah, tell us about your summer." Alexandra scooted over, glad that at least one other person at the table had been trapped in the non-magical Muggle world.

"My folks made me enroll in summer school, 'cause they thought I wasn't learning enough math and science and English at Charmbridge," David grumbled. "So now I have a bunch of independent study guides I'm supposed to be working on in my spare time while I'm at school. Like my parents think all I have time for is studying." He rolled his eyes, then looked around the table. "So what's up with all of you?"

"Darla's been telling us about her boyfriend," Angelique drawled.

"It's very romantic." Alexandra nodded. "I'm sure she'll invite you to the wedding."

"Very funny!" Darla snapped, as David looked confused and the other girls laughed. "You're all so immature!"

That earned Darla more teasing, as Angelique and Alexandra both began imitating Darla, batting their lashes and waxing rhapsodical about handsome boys and moonlit walks, in nauseatingly syrupy voices. Anna was turning red from laughing so hard, and even Constance and Forbearance couldn't help giggling. Finally, they took pity on Darla, and changed the subject. Darla, by now, was fanning her face and flushing furiously.

"What electives are you going to take?" Alexandra asked the others curiously. Seventh graders got to choose one elective, and she still hadn't decided on hers.

David answered first. "P.M.E. for me. I'm hoping to get on the Quidditch team."

"I'm taking Introduction to Astronomy and Astrology," said Darla. "It's a prerequisite for Divination."

"You want to be a fortune teller?" David asked.

"Divination isn't fortune telling," Darla retorted, with another disdainful look. "Honestly, David, you're such a Muggle sometimes!" David just smirked.

Angelique's forehead wrinkled. "My parents want me to take something useful, like Arithmancy or Geomancy." She didn't sound enthusiastic. "I'd rather just take Practical Magical Exercise, though, or something else easy. Maybe I'll take Astronomy and Astrology with Darla." Darla didn't look flattered.

"What about you two?" Alexandra asked the Pritchards.

"We chose Muggle Studies," they replied together.

Everyone raised their eyebrows at that. "Muggle Studies?" Darla repeated.

"Why would y'all be interested in Muggles?" asked Angelique. "Er, no offense," she added, with an apologetic look at Anna, Alexandra, and David, all of whom had Muggle parents, and all of whom were now glaring at her.

"We thought witches oughter know more about 'em," replied Constance.

"And we felt plumb ignorant last year in Chicago," Forbearance admitted.

"Well, most of the sixth graders on that field trip were plumb ignorant," Alexandra commented, earning her a grin from David, a small smile from Anna, and glares from Darla and Angelique.

"But if you want to know about Muggles, why don't you just ask me and Alex?" asked David. "We can tell you anything you want to know."

"Really?" asked Constance, eyebrows raised. "Well then, what kind of critter is a hot dog?"

"And where do they raise 'em?" asked Forbearance.

"How do Muggles get skyscrapers to stand up without magic?" Constance asked.

"Why do they leave their electricity lights on all the time?" asked Forbearance.

"Don't they get cold dressed half-nekkid in the winter?"

"If they gots more than one airplane flying over a city, how do they keep 'em from crashin'?"

"How do they protect themselves 'gainst sorcery?"

Alexandra and David stared at the two Ozarkers, and then just shook their heads.

"All right," David conceded, "maybe you should take Muggle Studies if you want to know all that."

"Maybe you oughter take Muggle Studies if you don't know all that," suggested Constance.

David snorted, and then took out a cell phone. "Check it out," he boasted, as he flipped the case open. "Bet you won't get to use these in your Muggle Studies class."

Everyone, especially the Pritchards, found David's phone fascinating, but Anna was the first to point out: "It won't work here, or at school."

"I know." David nodded, pushing buttons on the phone with his thumb, and frowning. "But I want to figure out why. Everyone says magic and Muggle technology don't mix. You ever wonder how many wizards have even bothered to try?"

"I'm sure you're not the first to think of it," Anna said.

David grinned. "Maybe I'll be the first to figure out how to do it."

His attempts to do anything with his cell phone on the bus were unsuccessful, though. Alexandra was secretly pleased, even though she knew it was petty. She was quite envious of David's cell phone, which looked like a pretty expensive model.

They continued talking about their classes and electives, then about the nervous-looking sixth graders in the back of the bus, all the way to Chicago. Alexandra still didn't know which elective she intended to choose, and she knew she had to decide because they were supposed to buy textbooks that day.

She was still thinking about it when they reached a run-down neighborhood in downtown Chicago, where Mrs. Speaks parked the bus and ushered all of the students out. They stood lined up in the parking lot in front of Grobnowski's Old World Deli, while Mrs. Speaks gave them the same speech as last year: sixth, seventh, and eighth graders had to stay with their chaperones, while ninth graders and above were permitted to do their shopping on their own, and everyone had to be back in front of Grobnowski's by four o'clock.

The chaperone for the seventh graders was a senior boy named Vance Wilson, who looked bored and barely spoke to the younger students at all. Everyone filed into the Polish deli, past the cases displaying both Muggle and 'wizard-raised' meats, and Muggle and wizard cheeses, and through the door in the back that opened into the Goblin Market.

As they stepped out into the wizard shopping district, Alexandra was once again dazzled by the magic, the enchanted storefronts, the flying, bouncing, jingling, flashing, charmed trinkets, and the variety of outfits worn on the street. An extremely large, round witch drifted past wrapped in a multilayered robe that shimmered in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors. A thin, dour wizard wearing a coarse black wool cassock scowled darkly at the children as he passed by. A wizard in a red and black uniform rode past on a gray winged horse, earning admiring "oohs" and "ahs" from the students. Alexandra saw a couple of house-elves tagging after some of the more richly-dressed wizards and witches, and she thought there were a few more Clockwork golems in storefronts than last year.

"Vance." She spoke up reluctantly. The older boy had his hands stuck in his pockets, and was watching the nearby sixth graders as they stared, open-mouthed. Alexandra guessed some of them were Muggle-born, too, or perhaps were like the Pritchards, who had never seen the big city before they came to Charmbridge Academy. Vance blinked and looked down at her, annoyed.

"I only have Muggle money," Alexandra told him. "I need to exchange it."

He frowned. "You're Quick, aren't you?" And then, before she could answer, he said, "Aren't you on a scholarship? What do you need money for?"

"For stuff that my scholarship doesn't cover," she replied stubbornly. Last year she hadn't been able to buy much of anything other than what was on her required list of supplies. She still had money left from what Archie had given her the previous week, though, and this time she intended to pick up a few extra books and things.

Vance sighed. "Fine, any other Muggle-borns who need to go to the bank?" he demanded, looking at the other seventh graders. No one raised their hands. Alexandra looked at David, who shrugged. His parents, she knew, had probably sent a check and received wizard money in exchange already. She envied him his wizarding world-aware parents.

"Follow me," Vance ordered, and set off down the street, forcing all of the younger kids to hurry to match his long strides, and giving them no opportunity to pause and window shop. They passed a new broom store, which was probably doomed to go out of business soon, with the huge Chicago Broom Megastore down the street, and a boutique with 'This Season's Potions and Notions for the Stylish Society Witch.' Darla and Angelique both slowed to a halt in front of the boutique, then sighed as they sped to catch up with the other kids.

"CBNW or Gringotts?" asked Vance.

"What's the difference?" Alexandra asked. She'd never actually been in one of the wizard banks before.

"Gringotts is run by goblins. CBNW isn't," Vance explained impatiently.

Alexandra thought she'd like to see goblins, so she said, "Gringotts."

She had only ever seen Gringotts from the outside. It was one of the larger buildings in the Goblin Market, with white marble columns at the top of its marble steps. All of its exterior signs were carved in stone.

"Behave yourselves," Vance warned all of them. "Goblins don't like children."

Everyone looked a bit nervous at this, though Alexandra suspected Vance was just making that up. When they entered the high-ceilinged lobby of the bank, though, they saw that the counters towered over the human customers inside, and peering down at them from above were small, dark-skinned creatures with long, pointed ears, prominent noses, and disapproving expressions. Some of the goblin tellers seemed to be baring their teeth as the seventh graders walked in. But the goblins who were engaged in transactions with adult wizards didn't really look any friendlier.

"Go on," said Vance, giving Alexandra a push forward, so she stood in line by herself, occasionally glancing back at the other seventh graders. Most were looking around curiously. Constance and Forbearance seemed nervous, and Darla and Angelique just looked impatient.

At the front of the line, Alexandra had to crane her neck up to see the goblin leaning over the counter to stare down at her.

"Well?" demanded the goblin.

"I need to exchange Muggle money for wizard money," she said.

"Do you have an account with us?" the goblin snapped.

"No."

"Well, then you'll have to pay a surcharge."

Alexandra frowned. "What if I open an account?"

The goblin wrinkled his nose, studying her. "How much Muggle money do you have?" he inquired.

She pulled out her bills, and counted them. "Umm, seventy-six dollars."

The goblin grimaced, and showed teeth as he spoke, very slowly. "We are not a piggy bank, little girl!"

Alexandra could see why Gringotts didn't leave out any cards inviting patrons to comment on its customer service, like she'd seen at Muggle banks.

She left with two Lions, six Eagles, and two Pigeons, and a vague suspicion that she'd been cheated, though since she didn't really know what the exchange rate was, she couldn't be sure. Still, she liked jingling the gold coins in her hand.

"Finished?" asked Vance, in a dry, sarcastic tone, which Alexandra thought was completely unnecessary, since she obviously was. She just nodded, and he gestured and led everyone back out onto the street.

They didn't have as much shopping to do this year, as everyone already had wands, and most of the seventh graders had familiars, as well as other essential supplies like cauldrons and gloves. They did stop at Hoargrim's Wands and Alchemical Supplies to get the potion and alchemy supplies they'd need for the coming year. Then it was Boxley's Books, where they bought their textbooks. They all bought their required books from the 'Young Wands' teaching series, but this time Alexandra added the book about magical beasts she hadn't been able to buy the year before. She also felt quite smug when she added a book of hexes and jinxes to her stack, and walked out of the store with it. Their chaperone last year had been more officious, but Vance wasn't even paying attention to what the kids were buying.

Alexandra noticed that Constance and Forbearance had only purchased one Muggle Studies textbook between them (Why Do Muggles Do That? An Introduction to the Fascinating World of Muggles for Young Wizards and Witches), and like last year, most of the books they bought came from the 'used' shelf. Darla had her Astronomy and Astrology textbook, and was complaining about its thickness, and the fact that it seemed to contain a lot of information about memorizing heavenly bodies and their positions and movements, and not very much about how to read your love life in the stars.

Alexandra looked down at the armful of books Anna was carrying.

"Geomancy?" she asked.

Anna shrugged. "My father wanted me to take that or Arithmancy."

"What do you want to take?" Alexandra asked.

"P.M.E., if I had a choice." Anna shrugged again. "What are you taking?"

"I don't know."

The other girl frowned at her. "Well, if you don't buy any textbooks, you'll have no choice but to take P.M.E., or else use a borrowed book."

"Whatever," Alexandra said. This was a useful expression she'd learned this summer (it was, in fact, the expression that had gotten her grounded in July, when directed insolently at her stepfather), and she didn't want to admit to being indecisive, when usually she was anything but.

Darla and Angelique begged Vance to let them stop at a designer clothing store with fancy, frilly, formal robes in the front window.

"You won't be going to any balls in the seventh grade," Vance told them.

"But they have Clytemnestra Kirk!" pleaded Darla.

"And Jean Tuckahoe!" Angelique said breathlessly.

At the older boy's blank look, Darla and Angelique tried to give him a quick lesson on the year's hottest designers. He rapidly lost patience.

"You want formal robes, buy them at Grundy's," he growled.

Darla and Angelique looked as if Vance had suggested they dress like house-elves, but he was unmoved. The two girls were sulking and fuming all the way to Grundy's.

"Do you actually have the money for a Clytemnestra Kirk original?" asked Anna.

Darla and Angelique both looked reluctant to admit that they did not, but Darla complained, "We can look!"

Alexandra and Anna rolled their eyes together.

Grundy's Department Store was the largest building in the Goblin Market. Alexandra had found every floor fascinating last year; they sold everything from clothing to brooms to potion supplies to Clockwork golems. They even had a wand department, though it was said that only those who couldn't afford better (or who were too magically inept for it to make a difference) bought their wands at Grundy's.

Vance led the way through the large double-doors into the department store. A pair of shiny gold mechanical men (wearing magnets on their chests that said, "Get service like this at home, too! Tockmagi ® Clockwork Golems") opened the doors for them. As soon as Alexandra and Anna stepped across the threshold, they collided with an invisible barrier, and stumbled backwards. Anna yelped in pain and rubbed her nose, and Alexandra was about to do the same - it felt like she'd walked face-first into a wall. Then she heard howls of laughter from just inside, and saw Larry, Ethan, and Wade all standing in the entrance foyer of the store, doubling over and pointing with glee.

"I told you!" Larry snickered to his friends.

"Bright as gnomes!" Ethan sneered.

"Hey, Troublesome, why don't you run at it really fast?" suggested Wade. "That's how Larry got in!" All the boys began laughing harder at that.

"What the heckfire was that?" demanded Vance, looking at the two girls, annoyed, and then he turned to glare at the ninth grade boys. "And what are you three doing?"

Larry and his friends stood up and tried to reply to the older boy with straight faces.

"Looks like Troublesome and her friends forgot they've been Barred," said Larry.

Alexandra gritted her teeth, while behind her, David groaned. All of them had been kicked out of Grundy's last year, following a brawl with Larry and the Rash twins. Alexandra hadn't realized that when they said she'd been barred from Grundy's, they meant magically.

She glared at Larry. "He was Barred, too!" she said to Vance, pointing at the other boy accusingly.

"How'd you get in?" Vance demanded.

Larry smirked, but answered, "Got a manager to let me in. They'll undo the Bar, if you promise to behave." He grinned triumphantly at Alexandra, before he and Ethan and Wade walked away.

Vance turned and scowled at Alexandra. "You were Barred?"

Why is he only looking at me? Alexandra thought resentfully, as she muttered, "It was last year."

"We'll fetch the manager for you, Vance," offered Darla. Angelique nodded.

"Fine." Vance waved them through the door, and Darla and Angelique both giggled and looked a little smug as they dashed inside.

"Don't you never mind those boys, Alexandra," said Forbearance, while Vance paced around and muttered, "Troublesome," under his breath.

David offered an apologetic grin. "Thanks for walking through first." Alexandra and Anna glared at him, unamused.

"You oughter be grateful, David Washington," scolded Constance.

"Considerin' you was the one who started that ruckus last year," Forbearance pointed out.

"Actually, it was your boys who called me a Mudblood first," David retorted.

Constance looked offended. "The Rashes hain't our boys."

"Benjamin an' Mordecai are runctious an' mean," said Forbearance, "but you lit into 'em 'fore they raised a finger."

David looked like he was about to become indignant again, but Constance pleaded, "Can't we let be? I'm sure if everyone stays mannersome, there won't be no new fractions."

Alexandra scowled, and waited sullenly for Darla and Angelique to return with a manager who could lift the Bar. She hadn't been planning to start any fractions!

"Don't worry, Alex," Anna whispered to her. "We'll just ignore Larry this year, all right?"

Alexandra nodded, but suspected Larry would be just as hard to ignore as last year.

---

Fortunately, they didn't see any sign of Larry and his friends, including the Rash twins, while they wended their way through Grundy's multiple floors. Alexandra was starting to wonder if Vance had been assigned chaperone duties as a punishment, since he clearly didn't think much of having to supervise a bunch of seventh graders. After they purchased their required new school and workshop robes, Darla and Angelique wanted to visit Bath & Body Charms, David wanted to price brooms, and Anna wanted to pick up some owl treats in the Familiars and Pets Department. Under their relentless pestering, Vance told them to go ahead and look around, but warned them not to leave the store, and that he'd better not have to go looking for them after lunch.

The seventh graders passed by a demonstration of Quote-Quills and Spell-Checked Pens, scribbling away by themselves as a saleswizard hawked them to the students. Alexandra was bored while Darla and Angelique compared floral hair charms, wand-activated bubble bath potions, and Everlasting Soap Bars in the Bath & Body Charms Department, but she was as interested as David in brooms, though it was clear that the price was much more than she could afford, even for the most basic model. In the Familiars and Pets Department, Alexandra saw cats and puppies and rodents, frogs and turtles, lizards and a few snakes, but Grundy's didn't seem to stock birds. Anna picked up her owl treats, however, and Alexandra noticed the Pritchards looking wistfully at them, obviously wishing they could buy some for their own owls. Alexandra didn't see anything at all for ravens. She suspected Charlie would happily eat owl treats, so she bought two packages, with the money she'd converted at Gringotts.

By now it was past lunchtime, so when they went down to the cafeteria in the basement, they were all hungry.

The Grundy's cafeteria contained a large number of tables in the center of a huge room, surrounded on all sides by buffets and deli counters. The serving lines were staffed by a combination of humans and Clockworks. There were a lot of other Charmbridge students already there - including, Alexandra noticed, Larry and his friends. By now the Rashes had joined him. Constance and Forbearance ducked their heads, as if hoping not to be noticed by the Rashes, but the older Ozarker boys had noticed them, and were already scowling in their direction. Alexandra and Anna led everyone to a table far from the boys. Vance followed indifferently.

Alexandra's eye was on the Muggle-Fried Specials section, wondering just what wizards thought 'Muggle-Fried' meant, but then she heard Darla let out an excited little squeal. She turned to see what the other girl was fussing about now, and noticed for the first time a group of six teenagers sitting at a table to themselves, all wearing blue and silver military-style uniforms, with dark blue cloaks lying neatly folded on the benches next to them.

They looked like they were probably juniors or seniors, but they definitely weren't Charmbridge students. There were four boys and two girls. They sat erectly in their seats, barely seemed to notice the other students and adults around them, and ate together in a stiff, almost synchronized fashion.

"Stormcrows," said Vance.

"Huh?" Alexandra turned to look at him. David was also puzzled.

"BMI students," Anna told them, and when David looked at her quizzically, she elaborated: "The Blacksburg Magery Institute. The students there call themselves 'Stormcrows.' It's like their school mascot, or something."

"Do they all wear uniforms?" asked David.

"And what are they doing here?" asked Alexandra, but then Darla let out another squeal, this one much, much louder and higher-pitched. Then she practically screamed, "Martin!"

Heads turned all around the cafeteria. One of the BMI boys looked up, startled, as Darla ran over to their table.

"Martin, oh-my-stars-above-what-are-you-doing-here?" Darla squealed, in one breath, and then, just barely slowing down enough to be comprehensible, said in a rush, "I just sent an owl last night and I was hoping maybe you'd sent one when you got back home but you never told me you were going to be in Chicago and I can't believe you're actually sitting here in Grundy's I could just die right now what are you doing here I'm so happy to see you isn't this wonderful!" She was clasping her hands over her heart, looking delighted and smitten. (And ridiculous, Alexandra thought.) One of the uniformed teenagers, a good-looking, dark-haired boy with narrow eyes set in a round face, stared at her. The other five Stormcrows were also looking at Darla, with expressions ranging from bemusement to scorn.

Alexandra and her friends wandered over, with Vance following a few paces behind.

"You know this girl, Martin?" asked one of the other boys, with a smirk.

"Yeah." Martin cleared his throat. "She was a kid on that cruise my family took this summer. Hello, Darla."

Darla beamed. "Did you get my owl?" she asked eagerly.

"Probably not, if you just sent it last night," Martin replied.

"I meant the one I sent last week," she said.

"Oh. I might have. I've been pretty busy."

Darla's smile wavered, but then returned. "So why are you in Chicago? And why didn't you tell me you'd be in Central? I would have asked my parents to let you come visit, or we could have met -"

Alexandra noticed that all of the BMI students looked bemused, except for one, a tall, handsome, broad-shouldered boy with straight hair as dark as Martin's. He was studying Alexandra and the other Charmbridge students next to her, rather than staring at Darla, who was still babbling.

"Are you MASE Program students?" Vance asked, interrupting Darla.

The Stormcrows nodded. "Our year to come to Charmbridge," said one of the other BMI boys, a dark-skinned young man with his head shaved almost bare, who looked older than the rest.

"Oh my stars above!" Darla exclaimed, looking as if she were going to swoon. "This is wonderful! Why didn't you tell me, Martin?"

Martin looked quite embarrassed by now, and even more so when one of the uniformed girls purred, "Now I see why you didn't tell us about your summer romance, Martin."

All of them laughed. Martin rolled his eyes. "Nothing like that!" he snorted.

"I knew you liked brunettes," smirked the other girl, whose blonde hair was pulled back away from her face in a neat, tight bun, "but not that you liked them so young!"

The Stormcrows were all teasing Martin now. Even the serious-looking boy who'd been studying the other Charmbridge students was smiling. Vance was laughing, too, while Darla looked confused.

"She's just a kid," Martin demurred. "Followed me around like a puppy on the cruise."

"Martin!" Darla exclaimed.

"She seems to have a crush on you," remarked one of the girls. "That's so sweet." Her smile wasn't very sweet.

"You know how the girls love me." Martin winked at the two girls sitting next to him, and they snickered.

The quieter, dark-haired boy interrupted them. "It's almost fifteen-hundred. We need to get back,"

"All right, Max." Martin smiled patronizingly at Darla. "See you around, Darla." The BMI students rose from their seats as one, and put on their cloaks, fastening them over their shoulders.

"Martin! Don't you... I mean, wouldn't you like me to... to show you around Charmbridge, or - where will you be staying while you're in Chicago?" Darla's expression was piteous. All of the older kids, including Vance, now looked thoroughly amused.

"I don't need little girls following me around at school," Martin admonished her, as if speaking to a much younger child. "It was cute on the ship, but you need to run off and play with your friends now, all right?" He winked at her, and then the Stormcrows all marched out of the cafeteria together.

Vance looked down at Darla, and shook his head. "You going to get something to eat or not?" he asked the seventh graders.

They did, except for Darla. She sat at the table, looking down at her hands, with tears welling in her eyes. Angelique brought back some Muggle-Fried Chicken and blue ice-milk, and tried to share it with her roommate, but Darla shook her head and refused to eat.

"He's obviously a jerk," Alexandra declared, bringing back a peppermeat sausage and fire-corn combo, and a bottle of Fizzy-Pop. Anna nodded in agreement as she sat down next to Alexandra. Across the table, the Pritchards were opening the lunches they had brought for themselves, while David sat down with a plate piled high with various appetizers from the buffet line.

"He's too old for you anyway," David said bluntly. "You didn't really think a high school dude wanted to be your boyfriend, did you?"

Angelique and the Pritchards glared at him, and then Darla burst into tears.

David looked flustered. "I just meant -"

Constance cut him off. "What you meant's plain enough."

"Don't mean you ought to've said it," said Forbearance.

Alexandra washed the fiery taste of her peppermeat sausage down with some Fizzy-Pop, while she watched Angelique and the Pritchards try to soothe Darla. She agreed with David, and thought Darla was being silly. Why did she care about some stupid boy that much anyway? As annoying as Darla could be, though, Alexandra wouldn't have wished a public humiliation like that on her.

Boys could be cruel, she thought, and gave David a narrow look. He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow, then shook his head, and popped a crispy fried batwing into his mouth.