The last month Nathan spent at the DeLaces' wasn't fun. Although Alicia was now so scared of Nathan she wouldn't even go near him, and Aunt Poppy and Uncle Robert wouldn't force him to do anything now, in fact they just started pretending like he didn't exist. While this was an improvement over before it did get a bit depressing.

Nathan spent most of his time in his room with his new owl who he had named Helanes after a character in one of his textbooks. He found his school textbooks extremely interesting, and stayed up late most nights reading. Helanes would go out every night, so Nathan was very happy Aunt Poppy never came into his room anymore because Helanes often brought dead mice inside. Nathan kept counting down the days on a calendar until the 24th of August.

On the 23rd of August, Nathan decided he should talk to his aunt and uncle about getting to the bus station, so he went downstairs to the living room where they were watching a movie. He coughed and Alicia ran away.

"Hey, Uncle Robert?

His uncle grunted in response.

"I need to be at the bus station in Chicago tomorrow to get to school"

He received nothing but another grunt.

"Would it be okay if you dropped me off there?"

To Nathan's surprise his uncle reluctantly nodded.

"Thank you."

He was about to head upstairs when Uncle Robert actually spoke

"They have you take a bus to get to the wizard's school?"

Nathan didn't say anything.

"Where is this school anyway?"

Nathan shrugged. He realized he hadn't actually thought about this. He checked the ticket Hallie had given him.

"I just take bus number 25.5 from the Chicago Bus Station"

"Bus 25.5? They don't use decimals at the station. That bus does not exist"

"It says it on my ticket"

"They are absolutely insane. You'll see. All right we'll drop you off at the station tomorrow morning. We are going to Chicago anyway to take Alicia to the hospital to get rid of the tail, otherwise we wouldn't bother."

Nathan woke up early the next morning, and couldn't fall back asleep. He put on jeans because he wasn't gonna wear his robes to the station, he'd change on the bus. He checked the Newtards letter to make sure he had everything, made sure Helanes's cage was locked, and waited for the DeLaces to wake up. A few hours later they were off to Chicago.

They reached the bus station at 10. Uncle Robert brought Nathan's suitcase onto a cart and brought it into the station for him. Nathan was shocked at his uncle being so generous.

"Well there you are, nephew, bus 25 and bus 26. Your bus should be somewhere in the middle, but it doesn't seem to exist."

He was right there was no bus between 25 and 26.

"Have a good time" Uncle Robert smirked as he left the station and got in the car. He saw all three DeLaces laughing as they drove off. Nathan's heart sank. What was he going to do? He was attracting funny looks because of Helanes. He needed to ask someone where bus 25.5 was.

He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention bus 25.5. The guard had never heard of Newtards and when Nathan couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Nathan was being stupid on purpose. Getting desperate, Nathan asked for the bus that left at 10:30, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters.

Nathan was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the bus to Newtards and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.

A group of people passed by Nathan, and he caught some of what they said. "Packed with Normles of course." Nathan turned around and walked toward them. The person who was speaking was a thin woman with three boys and a girl with golden blond hair, and another girl with red hair. All of the children were carrying carts with suitcases like Nathan's, and one of them had an owl. He stopped near enough to hear what they were saying.

"What's the bus number again?" asked the mother.

"25.5" said the girl. "Can I go too, Mom?"

"You're not old enough Lilly, so calm down. All right, Thomas, you go first."

The oldest boy walked to the section of wall between buses 25 and 26 and ran through it. Nathan was expecting him to crash into it, but he just went through it and vanished.

"Liam and Lexi, you go next."

"Okay mom" said the second oldest boy.

"Okay Marjorie" said the red-haired girl.

They both ran through the wall section, and vanished.

"Excuse me, this is my first time at Newtards." Nathan told the mother.

"Oh hello, I'm Marjorie Foxkin. My son Samuel is new as well." she pointed at the youngest boy. He was of medium height, skinny and freckly, with a very short nose.

"Nice to meet you, now the thing is, I don't know how to get to the bus."

"Don't worry, all you have to do is run through the wall section. And do it very calmly. If you have any worry of crashing, you will. Why don't you go now before Samuel?"

"Okay" he turned around and looked at the wall section. It seemed incredibly solid. He felt very nervous.

He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to the other buses. Nathan walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into the wall and then he'd be in trouble, leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run…the wall was coming nearer and nearer… he wouldn't be able to stop… he was out of control… he was a foot away… he closed his eyes ready for the crash. It didn't come… he kept on running… he opened his eyes.

A vehicle that consisted of several buses connected like a train, was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Newtards Transportation 10:30. Nathan looked behind him and saw an archway where the wall had been, with the words Bus 25.5 on it, He had done it. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few buses were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Nathan headed towards the bus intending to search for an empty seat. He passed a black haired, baby-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh, Nevada," he heard the old woman sigh.

A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. "Give us a look, Leonardo, go on." The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.

Nathan pressed on through the crowd until he found some empty seats near the end of the bus he was on. He put Helanes inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the bus door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. "Want a hand?" It was the second oldest blond haired boy he'd met earlier.

"Yes, please," Nathan panted. "Hey, Lexi! Come here and help!" With their help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.

"Thanks," said Nathan, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.

"What's that?" said the boy suddenly, pointing at Nathan's lightning scar.

"Goddamn," said the girl. "Are you —?"

"He is," said the boy "Aren't you?" he added to Nathan.

"What?" said Nathan. "Nathan Torrance." chorused the boy and girl. "Oh, him," said Nathan. "I mean, yes, I am." They gawked at him, and Nathan felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. "Liam? Lexi? Are you there?"

"Coming, Mom."

"Coming Marjorie"

Liam and Lexi took one last look at Nathan, then walked off the bus.

Nathan sat down by the window of the bus and observed the blond family. Marjorie told Samuel "Samuel, you have something on your nose"

Samuel tried to get out of the way but she wiped his nose. He told her to get away from him.

"Ahah, has tiny little Samuel got something on his nose? said Liam.

"Shut your mouth," said Samuel.

"Where's Thomas?" said Marjorie.

"He's coming now."

The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his Newtards robes, and Nathan noticed a purple and yellow badge on his chest with the letter T on it.

"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves."

"Oh, are you a prefect, Thomas?" said Lexi, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."

"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said Liam

. "Once " "Or twice " "A minute " "All summer

" "Oh, shut up," said Thomas

"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said Liam

"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term — send me an owl when you get there."

She kissed Thomas on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. "Now, you two, this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've blown up a toilet or…"

"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mom."

"It's not funny. And look after Samuel"

"Don't worry, little Sammiekins is safe with us."

"Shut up," said Samuel again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.

"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?"

Nathan leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.

"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"

"Who?"

"Nathan Torrance!" Nathan heard the little girl's voice.

"Oh, Mom, can I please go on the train and speak with him?"

"You've already seen him, Lilly, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"

"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there, like a fireball."

"Poor dear. No wonder he was alone. I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."

"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

Their mother suddenly became very stern. "I forbid you to ask him, Liam. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."

"All right, keep your hair on."

A whistle sounded. "Hurry up!" their mother said, and the two boys and the red haired girl clambered onto the bus.

They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. "Don't, Lilly, we'll send you loads of owls."

"We'll send you a Newtards toilet seat."