CHAPTER IX: CHOICES, CHOICES

Considering it was a large hunk of metal flying by at over 500 miles per hour, Evergreen was surprised that the boxcar did not shudder nor lurch. In fact, if it wasn't for the American desert flying past their window at a dizzying pace, he wouldn't have even known that they were moving at all. It was like being on one of those monorail bullet trains, only perhaps a little more steampunk than cyberpunk.

Evergreen noticed, despite their swift movement, that they somehow seemed to be picking up even more speed. It wasn't long until they heard the same voice from earlier, shouting more fervently this time to "hold on!", as the meeting of the boxcars was imminent. Looking over, he noticed another track, southbound, with a massive locomotive flying past their window.

Seta held on to Evergreen, and all three kids held on to the table, white-knuckled, as they looked through the back door's window and saw the other boxcar suddenly switch tracks to be right behind them. Gathering speed, the boxcar abruptly smashed into the back of their boxcar at 600 miles per hour! Somehow, miraculously, no one seemed to be hurt, and nothing seemed to be damaged. The children themselves experienced nothing but a single jarring bump, quickly righting themselves and releasing the table. The train just continued, seemingly oblivious that it was now one boxcar heavier. Evergreen all at once recalled the accident that he and Dad had gotten into. Similar magic must have protected them back then as protected the train's passengers now.

The train continued, passing through more desert. Evergreen saw countless horses and what seemed like hundreds of churches as they passed through Texas. Soon, the desert became cultivated land, and they were greeted with large green fields of corn, tobacco, and various squashes.

"This looks a little more like home." Evergreen said, relieved as they passed right through a large cattle homestead.

"You're telling me." Link replied. "Too much desert and I'd lose my mind."

"Me too." Andie mumbled. "I like the rain."

Not a lot of time passed, and they were suddenly in the deep south. It was maybe Alabama or Louisiana, Evergreen was guessing. They received word of a second boxcar meeting, and they soon went through a similar ordeal as before, clutching desperately at the table, experiencing the violent jarring sensation, and quickly righting themselves. The train then picked up speed, and as it did, the children noticed it was getting dark. They then received word that they would meet the two last boxcars just outside of Washington, D.C.

As they met the two last boxcars, coming from the East Coast and Newfoundland, respectively, it had just started to get dark. It was a welcome announcement when they were told that their next stop was Adams Station near Mount Greylock, according to the same announcing voice from earlier. At this point, they were instructed to get into uniform. Andie waited outside the booth while the boys changed into their shirts, ties, and robes, and they returned the favor when they were finished.

The boys' uniforms consisted of navy slacks, navy sweater vests, and golden neckties beneath navy robes lined in cranberry red, with a golden patch on the front right side of the chest. Andie wore the same uniform, except she wore a navy skirt that fell to her knees instead of slacks, and black stockings.

"So, it's official." Andie mumbled.

"What's official?" Link inquired.

"We are going to the most magical place in America for the school year!" she exclaimed with a grin. The boys' grins matched hers, and they eagerly gathered their things in preparation to disembark.

It wasn't too much longer before they were pulling into the station. The three sixth graders tried in vain to get off the train swiftly but were overwhelmed by how many upperclassmen there were and by how tall they were. Eventually, however, they managed to get on to the platform.

Looking around, Evergreen saw countless upperclassmen greeting old friends. Some were hugging, but others were engaged in far more amorous activities. Gross. He gazed back upon the train they had just disembarked. The forest green engine and the first boxcar labeled Ilvermorny Pacific led the charge, followed by the next boxcar, painted a brilliant cranberry red and labeled Ilvermorny Mountain, followed by the corn yellow Ilvermorny Central. This central car also sported the name Ilvermorny Express in beautiful cursive script above the car's name. The light blue Ilvermorny Eastern and the navy-blue caboose, the Ilvermorny Atlantic, brought up the rear. Staring at the patchwork of colored boxcars that made up the train brought to mind the different colored buildings of Underhill, and Evergreen thought to himself about how wonderfully colorful the magical world was.

"Sixers, this way!" Evergreen heard a familiar voice call.

"That is one big woman." Link whispered to Evergreen as they approached the nearly-7-foot-tall Professor Habitatio.

"That's Professor Habitatio. Her daughter is our grade." Evergreen responded. "I met them when I was shopping in Underhill Market. Speaking of the devil… hi Maggie!" he called to the girl, who had suddenly made an appearance, out from behind her mother.

Maggie smiled at him as the rest of the sixth graders gathered. Behind Professor Habitatio, Evergreen saw that mean man he'd run into, Swab Capital, glaring at him from an area far off, near the woods. He ignored the large wizard. Link noticed the cold look and turned to Evergreen questioningly, but Evergreen just shook his head and told his friend not to ask.

"Gather round, gather round," Professor Habitatio began once they'd all gathered. "Welcome to your first year at Ilvermorny. I have been given the special privilege to accompany you to the campus for the first time. Now, if you follow me and Mr. Swab Capital, our Pukwudgie minder, we will head toward the meadow, where first years always fly to the castle."

Evergreen's breath caught in his throat. He had no idea how to fly and thought worriedly that, even if he did manage to get off the ground, he would have no idea how to stay in the air. He glanced over at Andie, who had also begun to look a little green.

If this was some kind of test, Evergreen resolved to face it, no matter how queasy it made him feel. So, he and the other sixth graders quickly followed the tall, fair-haired professor.

They came upon the meadow and, as luck would have it, the meadow was occupied by at least a dozen hot air balloons. Evergreen was relieved that they wouldn't need magic to get up in the air. All the balloons were, in wizarding fashion, some of the brightest, most vivid colors they had ever seen. Each basket looked like it could hold at least a dozen kids, and each was manned by a single creature. The creatures were about three feet tall, had pointy ears, gray skin, and hair that looked more like porcupine quills than hair. They were all dressed in black jumpsuits and were standing on the edge of each basket.

"Link, are those g-goblins?" Evergreen whispered, though he knew that that guess couldn't be correct, as these creatures looked quite different from the ornery bank keepers, he had met in Underhill Market. Perhaps these were a different species of goblin?

"No, they're pukwudgies. They're related to goblins, but an entirely different race altogether. My mom said the school grounds were covered with them."

"Are they friendly?" Evergreen asked. Link turned to him with an amused smirk on his face.

"Are goblins friendly?"

Evergreen shuddered in response. "Good point. I'll keep my distance."

"Good idea."

They advanced in a small group toward the closest basket. As they filed in, Andie let out a squeal. When Evergreen turned, he saw Andie embracing a blonde girl who was a little heavier and shorter than Andie. They were laughing and joking, and, gaily, Andie turned back to the boys and introduced the girl as Glade Rodomontade, an old friend from Andie's elementary school days who, unbeknownst to Andie, had actually come from a long line of magic users.

Evergreen soon found himself in a basket with Link, Andie, Glade, and a few others he didn't know. Swab Capital and Professor Habitatio each got into separate baskets and, once everyone was in, Swab's voice called out to the pukwudgies to take off, glancing over at Evergreen briefly with a scowl. Then, they lifted. Evergreen had never been in a hot air balloon, so he didn't really know what to expect.

It was amazing! They were soon flying hundreds of feet above the ground in mere seconds, and then began moving laterally. Pretty soon, they had cleared the canopy of the thick, dark forest and flown up into the late summer sky. The evening star, Venus, Evergreen had noticed, was shining brightly overhead, which he noted aloud to Link. Link told him that, according to common divination beliefs, the appearance of Venus during the day was an omen of a random act of passion. Link was, however, quick to add that very few wizards remained in the world who believed in divination anymore, dismissing it as mere superstition. Such "superstitions" were usually reserved for "crazy" diviners, xylomancers, and centaurs.

Suddenly, the whole grandeur of Mount Greylock came into view. The mountain was no Mount Hood, being only about a third of its height, but it was still imposing. The tops of the mountain were covered in a few haphazard light blue glaciers and, there at the summit, partially obscured by dark, misty fog, was a massive castle. Countless towers, bridges, and courtyards made up the citadel, and there appeared to be some kind of sports stadium nearly obscured, just barely glimpsed behind it. Flickering lights illuminated nearly every window in the entire castle.

All of this was a breathtaking and absolutely astonishing sight, but Evergreen's excitement soon turned when the wall of the basket that Evergreen was leaning up against gave way. His feet left the floor, and he started falling immediately. His head was spinning, and he was so shocked by it that he didn't even consider screaming or calling for help. He closed his eyes and put his fingers around his wand, hoping that some magic would come to his aid.

Then, he felt a jerk at his back, between his shoulder blades, and everything stopped moving. He realized at that moment that he was being pulled up by three small, yet sturdy ropes. He looked up to see their balloon's pukwudgie and Seta reeling in the ropes connected to Evergreen's back. They were sprouting out of the end of a black and green crossbow that matched their pukwudgie's outfit.

Link and a few others helped pull Evergreen back into the basket and Seta gave him a look that asked if he was okay. Evergreen was freaked out but managed to smile weakly.

"I'm f-fine really. Thanks f-for the help, Mr. P-pukwudgie."

The little gray humanoid figure squinted his eyes as he finished reeling in the rope, disconnecting the barbed arrows from Evergreen's robe. It was an ingenious device: shooting barbed arrows connected to long ropes, kind of like a harpoon, and Evergreen noticed happily that the little arrows had left no holes behind in his new robes.

"Other wizards call me Waldon. I don't want any of that 'mister' business."

"Waldon then. Thank you."

"Hey Waldon," Link asked the pukwudgie, "Any idea what happened?"

"None," he grumbled back. "These balloons are protected by and held together by magic. It would take some pretty tricky magic… or some pretty dark magic, to get through it enough to do any damage."

So, it had been no accident then, Evergreen thought to himself worriedly. If these balloons were enhanced by magic, and only some extremely powerful ー or dark ー magic would have been able to affect them, then… perhaps the darkness that Evergreen had been warned about was already at Ilvermorny. He shuddered at the thought, before idly looking around to distract himself from that terrible thought. He then happened to look over at Swab's balloon, suddenly wondering whether the man had had something to do with the near-accident. His gaze was met with a hostile one in return. Surely, no matter how much Swab disliked him, an employee of the school wouldn't have gone out of his way to harm him! Though he doubted the overall intelligence of Swab, he would not have been surprised if he was someone else's dark minion. Evergreen resolved to be wary of him, and to see what he could do to find the perpetrator behind his near-fall, for his own safety.

Not long after the drama of the almost-fall, all the balloons landed gracefully in a huge courtyard that had a rushing fountain in the center. The courtyard was surrounded by a large, covered walkway, and standing inside the fountain's center was a marble statue of a man that Evergreen didn't recognize. The group all left their individual baskets and gathered before three exceedingly long stair steps that led to a tall double door, in front of which Professor Habitatio was waiting.

She adjusted her pointed hat and smiled warmly at the students.

"Good evening sixth graders, and welcome to your first night at Ilvermorny! My name is Professor Georgia Habitatio, and you may one day choose to take my class, Infusion. It is my responsibility tonight, though, to lead you into the commons, where you will be sorted into one of our four houses: Pukwudgie, Horned Serpent, Thunderbird, or Wampus. After your sorting, we will all be seated for dinner. Now, the famed wand ceremony will not take place until tomorrow afternoon, and it is a requirement for all sixth graders to attend at least the opening act. Many of you who haven't yet gotten your wands will want to stay until the very end. Others, who already have their wands, will be permitted to leave early. But first things first. Once in the commons, I will call your names in alphabetical order and, once sorted, you will take your seat at your house's table."

What sort of ceremony was this sorting? How could Evergreen make sure that he and Link would get into the same house, so they would be together all year? As he was panicking, the double doors opened, revealing a long corridor lit by amply candled chandeliers. Professor Habatitio quickly turned on her heel and began striding quickly through the corridor, and they hurriedly shuffled off in her wake. Evergreen noticed that there were a few paintings on the walls, and they were all moving!

One painting depicted a group of beautiful ballerinas, all giggling at each other annoyingly. One showed an old wizard with a long beard writing on a long, curling scroll, who kind of reminded Evergreen of Mr. Draconite from the wand shop. Another had a very stern-looking witch with a long, glowing staff. It was amazing; it was like each painting was some kind of interactive television.

Pretty soon, they had all filed down the hallway and up a short flight of stairs, coming into a large room that was easily 10,000 square feet on the ground and had an impossibly vast ceiling. In the misty darkness above them, there were a few strange, silvery shapes that floated about, some moving swiftly, others a bit slower.

"Evergreen, do you know what those are?" Andie asked him, gripping his arm.

"I have no idea, but if I had a guess, I'd probably think they were ghosts." Said Evergreen, with a shudder.

"Ghosts are real?" Glade whispered, gripping his other arm, startling Seta who had been sitting on his left shoulder.

"I guess s-so." Evergreen replied, watching the ghostly figures swirling about overhead.

They pressed on, Evergreen wearing a sheepish grin because of the two girls who were clinging to him as if their lives depended on it. They must have really been scared of the ghosts, although Evergreen didn't see any reason to be. The dead, after all, could only hurt the living if the living granted them power over them. At least, that's what the films Evergreen had grown up with had taught about wandering spirits. He hoped it was true. If the ghosts had decided to suddenly get close to Evergreen and his friends, he would likely have been kind of unsure about them, but it seemed that they were keeping to themselves, harmlessly.

Stopping for a moment at the other end of the room, the sixth graders looked up at the stately double doors, which were easily 50 feet tall apiece. There were strange icons, maybe letters, and other designs hand carved into the oaken surface. Evergreen tried to memorize some of the symbols to possibly research later.

Once they entered the room, presumably the place that Professor Habitatio had referred to as "the commons", they were greeted by hundreds upon hundreds of other students ranging from ages 12 to 17. At the far end of the room was a long table, where three dozen teachers sat, illuminated by the last red lights of the summer sunset, shining through a great stained-glass window to their backs. Before the professors' table was a large mural painted upon the stone ground, of the massive Ilvermorny seal, depicting the four house beasts, with the Thunderbird on top, Wampus on the bottom, Horned Serpent to the left and Pukwudgie to the right, and the gordian knot in the center. Looking up, there were also four statues of the house beasts perfectly equidistant from one another, standing around the seal. It was an impressive setup.

The idea was that each student was to stand in the center of the seal upon the great gordian knot and wait for one of the statues to react to them. The Horned Serpent had a great jewel upon its head that was supposed to glow, the Wampus would let out a roar, the Pukwudgie would raise its arrow, and the Thunderbird would flap its wings. Sometimes more than one could react, and then the student would have the opportunity to choose where they'd like to end up. The sixth graders all surrounded the seal just shy of the statues and Professor Habitatio stood just before the professor's table with a large scroll.

The tall professor then began calling out names, beginning with Leander Addington, to whom the Pukwudgie raised its arrow. It was soon Link's turn, which caused the Thunderbird to beat its wings. Wolf Fairborne caused the Horned Serpent's jewel to glow, and Celestia Noble caused the Wampus to roar. It was all fascinating to Evergreen. Occasionally, two statues reacted, and the student made a split-second decision, before joining their new housemates at their table.

Pretty soon though, the name "Quandary, Eminent" was called forward. Evergreen looked up at the professor's table and made eye contact with Professor Woods, who smiled widely in response. He also glanced at the ancient wizard seated at the center whom he assumed to be Headmaster Washington-Frost. The headmaster nodded his head at Evergreen, his wrinkly brown skin creasing around his dark, yet twinkling eyes, and his curly black and white 'salt and pepper' hair trying to escape from beneath his orange paisley pointed hat that matched his robes perfectly. In the sunlight, Evergreen expected that the wizard's robes would appear as fire. They were an intense color.

Walking over to the painted seal upon the ground, Evergreen stood resolutely in the center of the great gordian knot. The moment he did so, he felt a strange magical sensation tingling somewhere deep within him. At the moment that he thought for sure that one of the statues would move, they didn't, and the magical feeling left him. He looked around at the statues and, in a moment of desperation, he thought "Please just move. I don't care which one."

Seemingly in response to his inner plea, to his surprise, and to the collective surprise of all within the commons, the Wampus roared, the Pukwudgie raised its arrow, the Horned Serpent's jewel glowed, and the Thunderbird beat its wings. He nearly jumped out of his skin as each statue did its dance at the same time. Everyone in the whole room eyed him with extreme interest, wondering where he would choose to be. To him though, it was a no-brainer. He turned to face the Thunderbird.

A/N: Thanks for the review. I am really writing this for me, but whenever someone else enjoys my work, I love to hear it! Trust me, we will be seeing Evergreen Quandary's story to the very end. See you next week!