The eve of her departure for Ilvermorny had arrived. Melody waited until her house had gone quiet, and then crept out with Leftie to meet Steph. The last few days had been a fun bit of getting the chores done twice as fast, pranking her step-siblings, and messing with Angela when she'd had too much wine.

Steph snuck out beyond the stretch of the back porch light of her house. "Hey, guys. You ready to roll?"

Mel gave Leftie a side glance. "Guess so, yeah."

"You worry too much." Steph took a few steps over to Leftie and set an arm around her neck. "We're under control here."

Leftie imitated her actions. "Yeah. We've got things here. Go have fun."

Steph smiled, flaunting her mild overbite. "See?"

Leftie started off toward the Chateau de Quill. "I'll take care of things here. You should get going. The train will be along soon."

Steph climbed up the ladder and disappeared into the treehouse. Mel's old gym bag poked out a few seconds later. "Look out below."

Melody stepped back and watched her things hit the turf. She knelt next to it, and pulled the invitation from its side pocket. "B & O roundhouse station."

"Yeah," Steph said on her way off the lowest step. "That's a bit of a hike across town." She tapped the bag with her foot. "So, we need to get you moving."

Mel stood, tossing the bag's long strap over her shoulder. "Point made."

Steph's lower jaw quivered. "Be (sniffle) be careful up there."

Her arms clamped around Mel like a bear trap. "I'll be fine."

Her pal pulled away, wiping back the tears. "Write me, or whatever they do?"

Mel giggled. "Of course. We'll figure it out."

Steph crept to the Thompson's picket fence line. "Guess I'll see ya around Christmas?"

Mel nodded.

"Off to school with you, then."

They shared another apprehensive chuckle.

Mel started down the leaning row of fence posts.

"Now, I know how my mom felt on my first day of Kindergarten."

Her trek through town went with little excitement. She passed two log trucks on the two-lane road on their way to the lumberyards in the neighboring town. A herd of deer galloped along through a field in her direction on the other side of the First Methodist Church. The town was too small for a sheriff's office. No worries there. Not so much as a passing car as Melody rounded the corner in front of the drugstore and followed the iron rails behind the Community Center.

"Not much going on tonight." She stepped onto a rail and held her arms out to either side.

Up around the next bend, the roundhouse and its small platform came into view. Two other figures stood in the station, one a foot taller than the other.

"Please, don't be maniac hobos. Please, don't be maniac hobos."

As she got nearer to the platform, Mel realized she could relax. What sort of maniac would stand at an abandoned train station wearing a dark blue suit and jacket?

The shorter figure had black curly hair down to her shoulders, a skirt, and a small suitcase. A girl.

She turned to face Mel as she strode along the concrete platform. "Here for the train?" She sounded a tad nervous.

"First year, too?" The taller boy kicked a stray pebble off into the high weeds.

Mel nodded.

The girl's big hazel eyes lit up. "Me, too!" Her brown fists pumped. "I'm so excited to get to Ilvermorny." She extended a hand. "I'm Trish," Mel shook it, "Hanlon, and that's my brother, DaeShawn. He's a third year."

"Melody Quill." She tried to look inside the roundhouse. Dirt on the windows, lots of cobwebs, but little else. "We're at the end of the line, right?"

Trish nodded.

"I don't see anything big in the roundhouse." She turned and glanced back up the rails toward town. "Where's this train, then?"

DaeShawn laughed. "It'll be here in a bit."

Trish shook her head. "I tried to make sense of it earlier."

Mel angled in and whispered. "No luck?"

"Nope." Trish crossed her arms. "Said we'd find out soon enough." She looked Mel up and down. "You from around here?" Haven't seen you before."

Mel nodded. "I live across town."

"Public school?"

Mel rubbed the nylon strap on her bag. "Yup. This all sorta fell in my lap."

DaeShawn walked in behind them. "Our family's a legacy at the school. Our four greats grandmother went there."

Melody returned his smile. "Cool."

He rested a hand on the girls' shoulders. "Get ready. Here comes old Rolling Thunder!"

Snaking tendrils of fog rose from the grass, and congealed several feet in the air in front of the roundhouse. They swirled and grew into billowing clouds alight with streaks of light.

Mel felt a small hand grab hold of her wrist. I feel ya, girl.

The curious storm expanded into a hole the size and shape of a railway tunnel. More blue bolts forked and snapped across the phantom gap. A rumble. Low at first, but it grew in Mel's ears until the black steel cowcatcher of the steam engine peeled through to this plane of existence. A warm blast of wind blew Melody back on her heels as the long line of cars eased to a gentle stop.

HIIIISSSSS

Jets of white steam puffed out from under the wheel casings. The mere presence of the old steam train brought the station back to life. Everywhere she looked, Melody found newness, freshness, and people.

"A common enchantment," DaeShawn said, meandering toward the front of the short line of passengers. "What No-Majs don't find out, the better for all of us."

Trish took her suitcase in one hand, and dragged Mel by the other. "Come on. Let's get some window seats in the same car."

The girls wove around a few sets of parents imparting their last words of wisdom for this term onto their impatient children. A short man in a blue uniform with gold stripes down the sides of his slacks stepped off the train. The dark red rectangle over the brim of his round cap read: Conductor. A patch of rust-colored hair surrounded his mouth and nothing more.

The conductor pulled a lined card from a breast pocket. "All aboard! Old Number Nine. Rollin' Thundah! Fastest, and only, enchanted train this side o' the Appalachian Mountains." He lifted an overstuffed suitcase onto the train car's top step. "There you go, young sir." He motioned the bag's owner aboard, and strolled a short distance down the platform. "That's right, folks! You might of heard several old yarns spun about an eerie ghost train that haunts various parts of the States." His belly jiggled with his chuckles. "You're about to ride her for yourselves." His meaty hand showcased the train. "So, all aboard! Next stop, Mount Greylock and the Ilvermorny School o' Witchcraft an' Wizardry."

Trish spun around on the top step of the train car, her mouth agape. Mel stood below her, wearing the same bewildered expression. "Let's go before all the windows are taken."

Mel scrambled to keep up with her new friend as she slipped and bounded around chattering clusters of older school children.

"This way," Trish said, motioning Mel over to the left side of the next car. "I found some."

She excused herself around an upper-class girl, and plopped in the window seat across from Trish. "So many people."

Trish bounced in her blue plush seat. "I've been waiting years for this, Melody. Years."

She could feel Trish's energy radiating in their compartment. Outside their windows, the Conductor made his final boarding calls. A pair of boys and one more girl occupied the remaining seats in Mel's compartment. The blond boy pulled a magazine from his backpack, and buried his lean nose in it. The boy beside Mel was his near polar opposite. He had light brown skin, brown eyes, black curly hair, and sat lower in his seat. On the other side of him, sat a tall girl with light brown complexion, long straight brown hair, and a steely grey gaze.

The short boy next to Melody extended a hand. "Hey."

She detected a foreignness in him.

"I'm Ellie-uh-serr Gooz-man."

She shook his warm hand. "Come again?"

He chuckled. "You can just call me Ellie. Everybody, well except my mom, call me that."

She nodded t still trying to make sense of it. "Melody Quill. Nice to mdet you, Ellie."

He sat up as straight as he could, wearing a suave mug. "I am from Puerto Rico." The R's rolled off his tongue like a purring cat.

"That's Trish Hanlon," Mel said. "We're both from near here."

Old Rolling Thunder hissed as she puffed down the magical line northward. The blond boy swayed in his seat. Mel, Trish, and Ellie stared at him in silence.

He peeked his blue eyes up over top of his magazine. "What?"

"Just curious who you are," Trish said.

The boy closed his magazine, and set it in his lap. "I'm Simon Stillwell. I got on back in Washington."

Trish's brow popped. "D.C?"

Simon laughed. "No, state. Seattle to be more precise."

Melody glanced out their window at the countryside speeding past. "That's a long ride."

Ellie huffed. "Meh, I got on in Orlando. This thing goes all over North America."

Simon cleared his throat. Mel sensed a nervousness in his rigid body. "You guys new?" They nodded which helped Simon's muscles relax. "Me, too."

Trish leaned against the big window. "First years just like you."

A loud blast outside startled all of them. All except the brown-haired girl on the other side of Ellie.

She crossed a long slender leg over the other knee. "No need to get spooked. We're passing back through to the other side."

Ellie brushed off the lap of his slacks. "Who's spooked?"

Mel slid her bag under her seat. "Are you from Puerto Rico, too?"

The girl gave her a sideways grin. "Nope. I'm Cherokee. From Tennessee."

"Sorry." A warm flood washed up Mel's face.

"I'm Ginger Whitehead." She gathered her shiny mane of hair over one shoulder. "No need to be. My family's a legacy at the school."

Trish nodded. "Me, too. The Hanlons go back a long way."

Ginger hummed. "You don't say. Interesting."

An uncomfortable silence hung in their compartment until at last, Melody broke it. She pointed to Simon's lap. "What's that about?"

He held up his magazine. "This?" Mel nodded. "Astronomy Today. Last month's issue." His face sagged. "It'll have to do, I guess."

"You like that kind of stuff?" Mel shifted in her seat. "Science, I mean."

Simon's head bobbed quickly. "Ten thousand."

Mel glanced around the space. The others didn't follow either. "What?"

Simon flipped his magazine open to an article and pointed to it. "We've discovered at least ten thousand exoplanets to date. It's only the beginning."

Trish's shoulder popped up. "Sounds neat."

A cart wheeled up to their doorway in the hall. A tall, clean-shaven man set its brake with his foot. "All right, folks. We've got trading cards, chocolate bunny eggs, and milkshake shakers." His weathered blue eyes scanned their compartment. "Who wants what?"

Trish popped up from her seat. "Chocolate bunny egg, please!"

Ginger held up her finger. "One here, too."

Simon and Ellie shuffled to the cart to peruse the wares. While they did that, the gentleman passed out the other orders. "Two eggs." His eye fell on Melody. "And, for you miss?"

She stuffed her hands in her pockets, looking for cash she knew she didn't have.

Trish patted her knee. "Don't sweat it. All students at Ilvermorny have a bank account of some kind."

The cart man drew a tiny leather booklet from his hip pocket. "Let's have a look." He glanced at Mel. "Name?"

"Melody Quill." Her eyes fell to the dust at his feet. If there's nothing there, this will look sooo bad.

He flipped through his booklet and stopped with a triumphant, "Aha! Quill. Yes, of course, Miss Quill. You have a long-standing account with the Greylock Savings and Loan. Like anything?"

The sparkle returned to her green eyes. "A chocolate bunny egg, please."

Ellie selected a crinkling pack of cards. "I'll take these."

Simon nabbed a wax bottle of pink liquid. "A strawberry Milkshake shaker for me."

"Very well," the cart man said. He unlocked the wheels and pushed it along. "Excellent choices."

Trish peered up from peeling the foil off her egg. "Hey, bro."

DaeShawn waved a hand. "Hey, guys. Settled in?"

Trish nodded, plucking a hunk of the chocolate shell from her egg.

Her brother nodded to Ellie. "Which ones did you get?"

Ellie thumbed through his latest additions to his growing collection. "Algibert Fontaine."

"Meh." DaeShawn leaned against the doorway.

"A Draco Malfoy and a Hermione Weasley."

"Nice." DaeShawn wagged a digit. "I'd hang onto those."

Mel opened her egg and broke off a portion of its shell.

"I'd be careful with those," DaeShawn said.

A minute solid chocolate bunny peeked its sniffing nose over the edge of Melody's egg. One paw followed by the other. Then, in a flash, it hopped onto her lap and ran up her arm.

DaeShawn sighed. "They tend to run all over the place."

Ellie's cards flew out of his hands. "Easy, Mel. He's on your shoulder." He snuck in next to Mel, and cupped his hands over her left shoulder.

"Don't hurt it."

Trish harumphed. "You realize you're meant to eat it, Mel."

Ellie's agile hands encircled the bunny as it sniffed the collar of her shirt.

"Ha!" His hands came down like a trap over the sweet bunny. "Cup your hands, and I'll lower mine on top to make a ball."

She moved her hands toward his. Ellie placed his own on top and covered the bunny in a finger tent.

Melody giggled as her treat hopped around her palm. "It tickles." She cracked two fingers for a look. "Aw. He's too cute to eat."

Simon bit the top off his wax bottle and swigged its contents. "You know that it's enchanted choc -" His body began to shake in his seat. "Ch-ch-ch" The shaking intensified. "O-o-o-o-co-la-a-a-a-te!"

Ginger laughed so hard that she doubled over.

Mel must have looked like she wanted to say something because Trish cut her off. "Milkshake Shakers. Can't do them. Motion sickness."

Simon laughed so hard the part of the bottle in his mouth fell out. "Mmmm! S-s-strawww-berrry." Once the candy's spell had worn off, he popped the wax back into his mouth. "What a rush."

Trish turned her attention back on Mel. "You'll love it once you try it."

Ginger recovered from her fit. "You guys are too much."

The bunny darted out of Mel's slack grip, and leaped into her open mouth.

Ellie laughed. "No choice now!"

She finished her treat riddled with reluctance. To Melody's surprise, its bitter shell gave way to a creamy ganache center that was, "Delicious."

Trish downed her own bunny. "My favorite part."

Mel curled up in her seat and watched the farms and hills zip by in blurs. "I wonder what it'll be like."

Ellie pocketed his cards. "I've heard that you get sorted into houses. They bring you up one at a time, and you draw the name of your house out of a Sorting Hat."

Trish's head tilted back against her headrest. "I dunno about any hats, but my brother told me a little about the houses."

"What are they like?" Mel closed her eyes and drifted.

"Well," Trish said. "There's four houses: Horned Serpent, Pukwudgie, Wompus, and Thunderbird."

Ginger propped her head upon her right hand. "That's what I heard, too."

Trish nodded. "They choose you – the houses, I mean. DaeShawn told me that sometimes more than one house picks you, and that's the only time you get a choice."

Simon's eyes widened. "I'll bet I get picked by two, no, three of them!"

Mel sighed. "Sounds amazing. What kind of stuff do we learn?"

"Probably spells," Ginger said, "potions, and the like. Don't know for sure."

The train's intercom squelched. "Attention all passengers, attention all passengers. We will be arriving at our destination momentarily. Please place all refuse in the proper receptacles, and gather all personal belongings. Thank you again for your patronage aboard the Rolling Thunder!"

Melody felt the pistons slow under her. The Thunder's brakes engaged, slowing her to a whining halt in the Mt. Greylock station. Once it had come to a full stop, Melody trailed behind her new companions out onto the platform. A passerby could pick out all of the first year students with ease. They craned their nimble necks, trying like crazy to take it all in.

Melody counted herself among them. The antique street clocks sat on their iron posts; their unusual hands bent and curved to tell the time. Mt. Greylock station towered over its wooden platforms – three in all.

A bent form hobbled up to the front of the line of children. He dragged a gimp right leg in the gravel behind him. "This way! Don't have the time to repeat myself. So, listen up the first time." He swung the dead weight of his bad leg around, bringing it alongside his good one. "I'm Constable Krain, Head of Security for the school." Krain ran a bony hand through his fluttering grey hair. "Welcome, or welcome back, to Mt. Greylock. "If you all will kindly grab your belongings and follow me, I'll escort you up the mountain."

Trish jumped in place, clapping her hands. "Whee!"

Mel slung her gym bag over a shoulder and fell in beside the others.

Constable Krain pointed to a cluster of glowing lights in the nearby valley. "Over there's Dellton. Nice little town. Shops, restaurants, and such." He limped up an incline in the direction of a large gazebo. "More on that later."

Melody shuffled along next to Simon and Trish in the loose white gravel.

"Holy moly."

Mel followed Simon's finger up to the humongous structure atop Mt. Greylock. Golden light warmed many of its windows and spires. Clusters aof pines guarded either flank.

"Right now," Krain said, stopping beside the gazebo, "we need to get you a ride to the top."

A small army of hooves rumbled up the gravel path from around a gentle curve. Dark carriages pulled by a translucent pair of blue ethereal horses rolled up to the gazebo and stopped. A porter in coattails and a powdered wig stepped out from the first coach.

Krain cleared his throat. "No need to push or shove. We've got enough rom for everyone."

The crowd thinned out in groups of eight. Once the front carriage had departed, the next in line took its place. At last, Mel and her new friends climbed into their coach. It had cranberry red leather seats, and smelled like her grandpa's shoe closet. She took up a seat next to a window, and set her bag on her lap. Trish, Ellie, and the others filed in, plopping down in the dim space. A lone lantern next to the coach's door stood watch over the growing darkness.

Ellie sniffed the air next to Melody. "Kinda creepy, if you ask me."

Ginger looked at home in the rolling carriage. "I think they're beautiful."

Simon poked a nervous eye out between the wooden spindles on his window. "Ghost horses, creepy carriage rides, and sleepy old towns?"

Mel watched the sparse shrubs on the hillside float by as their carriage rolled to a halt before Ilvermorny's front gates. She stepped down out of their coach, and joined the gaggle that stood before a set of gilded gates. At the top of each one sat an iron three-pointed Gordian knot encased in a circle.

The left gate swung open on rusty hinges. A motherly figure emerged from the other side basked in the yellow glow of her swaying lantern. "Good evening, students. I am Professor Hill." Her studious blue gaze found Melody's. "If you will all come with me inside, we have a rather fancy welcome wagon awaiting your arrival."