Chapter 5
"What are you saying, Carrie?" asked Mr. Grey.
"I'm in town!" Alice's aunt grinned. "I'm staying with your parents! I got in yesterday!"
"Carrie, don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?"
"I came for Alice, of course! You don't think I'd let your daughter get on a plane by herself, do you? Especially after all that's happened?"
Alice looked at her father. If possible he looked more confused than she felt. She got in yesterday? Alice looked at the clock. 8:00pm. So it was definitely still the same day she'd gone to London to see Mestra off to school. How long had her parents been planning to send her away? "Dad?" she asked softly.
"Carrie, I don't know what's going on here, but..."
"Well, you *did* want her to come stay with me for a while, didn't you? Uncle Jim said-"
"Uncle Jim called you?"
"Yes. Didn't you know? He said that you and Cass had been talking to Aunt Emily about sending Alice over here. He said Emily wasn't sure how to reach us, so he offered to call and... Did I misunderstand him?"
Mr. Grey shook his head. "No, no, this is something Cass and I have been considering for some time," he glanced at Alice, "but it wasn't until today that we made the decision..."
"Then I have it right? I'm so glad. You know I've never been to England before. Everything's just so... British, isn't it?"
Mr. Grey laughed uncomfortably. "I suppose so."
"And I've had so much fun showing Beth and Jake their heritage. There's just so much more history here, you know? You never really think about it living in the States, but everything here is just so... old!"
Alice giggled.
"You what?!?!?" Alice heard her mother yell in the other room. Something crashed.
Her father stood up quickly, "Er, I'd better go see what's happened. We'll get back to you, alright Carrie?"
"Of course, Tom. It's been great talking to you, Alice! I can't wait to meet you in person!" There was a pop and Carrie's head disappeared. Alice and her father rushed to the other room where Mrs. Grey was pacing more energetically than before. The room was full of smoke. At first Alice thought her mother was actually fuming, but glancing at the fireplace she noticed what used to be one of her mother's pitchers among the sopping ashes. Her father rushed to his wife. Placing a hand on her arm, he stopped her and turned her towards him. "Cass! What happened?"
"I can't believe she- the nerve of- what was she- how could she- what can we- I never-"
"Cass..." he gently put his hand on the side of her face and tilted her chin up. "Honey, what's going on? What was that noise?"
"Your mother!"
"What?"
"She- I didn't- this never should have-" Mrs. Grey pulled away and sank into a chair. "How did we get this far?"
Alice stepped farther into the room and tripped over the tray her mother had used to carry the pitcher and glasses (which were now turning an interesting shade of brown in the hearth). "Alice? Honey could you leave your father and me alone for a moment? We need to talk."
"But Mum-" she started to protest.
"Alice."
"Yes, Dad," she backed out of the room and closed the door, making sure to leave it open just enough for her to hear everything. For the next half an hour her father tried to get straight answers from her mother, with varying degrees of success. Piecing together the story, Alice discovered that Mrs. Grey, over the past few years, had been confiding in her parents about Alice's problem. Apparently Grandpa Jack was more embarrassed by his granddaughter's lack of skill than he let on to her. He and his wife had called Grandma Emily and told her that Alice's parents wanted to send her away "to broaden her horizons". "I never told them to call her!" her mother was yelling now. "This is going much too quickly. I wanted to break it to her myself and now- that was Caroline in the other room? Does she know? I won't have her sent away to be treated like a freak!"
"Now Cassandra, you know my cousin won't do anything of the sort. Why, Alice would seem stranger to her if she could do magic..."
"Then you really think that we should do this?"
"That is why you came in here, isn't it? To call my mother about sending Alice to America? All that's changed is that that has been done for us. She will still be safer with them. There'll be less pressure, and who knows? Maybe she'll like it."
"Maybe she'll hate it."
"Maybe she won't. We can't know until we try. She'll only be teased if she stays here. She won't be able to go to school with her friends... the other kids love her now, but when they find out..."
Alice thought her father was giving her too much credit. Most of her friends had already begun to look at her strangely. They were only a year away from starting at Hogwarts. Not to have shown any skill by now was unthinkable. Her best friend, Ashley Morgan, had kept her first magic a secret for a whole month. Even though they both knew something should be happening to them soon, Ashley had been scared. She had hidden it, feeling out of control, until her mother accidentally walked in on her levitating in the bathroom. Mrs. Morgan had thrown a family party. A week later Alice had told her friend that she had woken up floating above her bed. In actuality she had rolled off the bed during a bad dream, but she was too ashamed to admit her insecurity to Ashley. The other girl had congratulated her as if she had finally joined a sacred club. Lately though, even Ashley seemed to doubt Alice's skills. The other kids were talking behind her back. It was only a matter of time before Ashley realized that Alice had been lying to her. Then she would have no friends to go to school with anyway. Alice suddenly realized that her parents were probably making a decision right now that would affect the rest of her life. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her way back into the room.
"Maybe she'll-" her mother began.
"Maybe you should ask her what she wants," Alice interrupted.
"Alice!" cried her mother, "I thought we asked to you to wait in the other room."
"Don't you think I should have a say in this? It is *my* life after all."
Her father looked at her seriously, "Perhaps you're right, Ally. What do you want to do?"
Alice nodded and straightened her shoulders. "I want to go to Massachusetts."
A week later, Alice was making her small bed in the room she now shared with her cousin Elizabeth. She had arrived in the States over the weekend and was about to start her first day at an American Muggle school. So far she really enjoyed living with nonmagical people. Her parents had told the Jenkinses that they wanted her to learn about a different culture first hand. They also told them that as the new head of the Department of Muggle Affairs, Mr. Grey would be helping Wizard/Muggle relations by starting an exchange program with his own daughter as an ambassador. Thinking back on the explanation her parents had given; Alice wondered what would happen if she actually told the Muggles here that she was a wizard's daughter. They probably wouldn't believe her - so much for Muggle/Wizard relations. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins hadn't told their children much about Alice's family. If Beth or Jake thought she was a little strange, they marked it down to her being British. Today she was going to join a fourth grade class in Beth's school. Beth, being a year older, was in the fifth grade, and Jake was a second-grader.
"Alice, Beth?" called Caroline from downstairs. "Come, on, honey, you've got to eat a good breakfast before you leave."
"We're coming, Mom!" Beth called from the hallway. She stuck her head back into her room on her way down from the bathroom. "Alice? Oh, leave that, we'll do it later. Come on, let's eat." Grabbing Alice's arm she dragged her away from the bed. They ran down the hall and scrambled down the stairs, skidding into the kitchen just as Caroline was putting bowls, cereal, and glasses of orange juice on the table, with a little help from Jake.
"Whoa! Girls! Slow down!"
"Sorry, Mom!" Beth giggled as she jumped into a chair.
"Alice, did you sleep well?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I thought we'd settled this ma'am thing, Alice? Call me Carrie."
"Yes, ma'am... err Carrie."
"Alright. We'll work on it. For now, eat up, or you'll miss the bus."
Alice smiled and dumped some cereal into her bowl.
"Mo-om! Jake kicked me!"
"Did not!"
"Did so!" Beth kicked Jake hard under the table.
"Oww! Moooom!"
Alice giggled as Carrie rolled her eyes. Turning from the counter where she was buttering toast, Mrs. Jenkins gave each of her children The Look. "Kids, behave."
"But Mooooom!" Beth and Jake chimed.
"Ok. That's it. Breakfast is over. Come on, up. If you're not going to eat, you may as well get to the bus stop, you're late as it is."
"But Mom! I... we... Alice hasn't even finished yet!" Jake whined.
"Well, then you'd better apologize to her, Jake, because she's got you to thank for it. Now up!" Alice jumped up and grabbed her backpack. Jake and Beth got up somewhat slower and shuffled toward the door.
"Alice, come here for a second," Carrie asked. "You two, keep going; she'll catch up." Jake and Beth gave each other extremely angry looks and pushed each other out the door. "I'm sorry about that honey. You've got a little more time, if you'd like to finish your breakfast in peace."
"I think I'd better go with them..."
Carrie smiled. "Alright, if that's what you want. Here, take some toast with you." She handed her two slices in a napkin.
"Thanks," Alice grinned as she rushed after Beth and Jake. Her cousins were waiting for her just outside the door.
"What'd she want?" asked Jake.
"It's none of your business, now go on, I want to talk to Alice." Beth shoved her brother ahead.
"Cut it out! I'm going!"
"Well, go then!"
"I didn't want to hear your dumb old conversation anyways!"
When Jake was a suitable distance ahead of them, Beth turned to Alice. "Sorry about him. He's so stupid, doesn't know when to quit, you know? You don't have a brother, do you?"
"No, I've an older sister though."
"You're lucky. A sister must be so much more fun than an annoying little brother."
"He can't be that bad..."
Beth looked at Alice as if she'd lost her mind. "You're kidding, right?"
Alice was saved from answering by the arrival of a large orange vehicle. Six other kids were lined up by the side of the road, and Beth led Alice to the end of the line. Jake stuck his tongue out at them from his place four people ahead of them. Beth rolled her eyes. "That's the bus?" Alice asked.
"Yeah... haven't you ever seen a school bus before? How did you get to school in England?"
"I walked. We lived quite near the school." Alice looked at the bus curiously. It was much larger than anything she had seen in Muggle London. She was beginning to notice that lots of things were bigger here. Over the weekend Carrie had taken them shopping at a mall. They'd ridden in the Jenkins's SUV for twenty minutes to get to the long building with hundreds of stores and restaurants inside. Alice wasn't sure it had taken her that long to walk from Kings Cross to the Leaky Cauldron. Soon they were clambering up the stairs into the bus and looking for a free seat. Luckily Beth and Jake's stop was one of the first on the route, so Beth and Alice quickly found an empty bench near the back. "Only the dorks sit in the front," Beth explained as she led Alice to the very back.