Knight of the Black Rose

by Nissa Gordon

  "You'll go first and then we'll be off," Glen told him.

  "I've got the list," Anne told Will, and then turned around to Stuart. "You've got yours on you haven't you dear?"

  "Course I have, and even if I did forget it; my mates will probably have the same one as we're in all the same lessons," Stuart told her as though he wasn't at all bothered.

  "Well I wouldn't want you depending on your friends for that sort of thing, as they're just as forgetful," Anne said shacking her disapprovingly.

  "They're fine mum, really," Stuart said dismissively.

  "He's right, all that matters is that they look out for one another; and they do," Infidus agreed.

  Anne smiled as she knew that she wouldn't win the argument, she never did. Glen pulled out his wand and unlocked the door, it swung out as normal before he replaced it back on his belt hook. Anne led him to the door to the right, she slowly opened it as Stuart came up behind them; Will couldn't really make anything out on the other side, but that wasn't strange as it was never really a very clear view through the doorways, basically like a black veil obscuring the view.

  "It might take a little longer than normal to get through, but that's to be expected of this time of year...Christmas is bad as well of course," Anne told them. "Now I'll go first and then you'll follow,"

  Will and Stuart nodded without saying anything as she stepped through the doorway; she was absorbed by the darkness and then disappeared a moment later. Will stepped forward, he waved goodbye to his dad before he stepped through the doorway.

  Will was swallowed up in the dull thick mist, he had the impression that he was walking forward but couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet; he knew that he had to keep going forward or he wouldn't come out of the right door at the other end, he would just be deposited elsewhere. A couple of seconds later he could see a emerald green gate, with a gold plaque, and written across it WELCOME TO WITCHCHESTER SQUARE; he pushed the gate open and stepped out into the sunny and busy square beside his aunt.

  A couple of seconds later Stuart appeared by Will's side, he pushed him out of the way so that he could get to his mum; Will stepped aside and turned around to have a look at the gate again. It was now closed, as you weren't allowed to keep them open unless they were in use at the time; this side of the gate was still the same colour but the gold plaque had a different sign, it now read EXIST.

  Will turned back around to find out what Stuart was up to and to find out just how long he was going to be staying with them, not wanting him hanging around any longer than he had to; but he was in luck as he wasn't staying for long.

  "I'll meet you back at home mum...see you..." Stuart said as he walked off into the crowded square of witches and wizards.

  Will still found it strange when he visited the magical places on Earth, as he was so used to wearing normal clothes he sometimes forgot that in his real world they dressed quite differently; Will always kind of had the feeling of stepping back in time with how everyone was dressed, or rather how most of the adults were dressed for those of his own age and a little older were dressed in normal clothes, the adults were dressed as though they belonged in the Victorian era, some perhaps added a few twists to make them more individual. Not that he minded the clothes or anything because they did look really smart, but they were just so different than what people were wearing now back in the normal world, it wasn't really like you could walk down the road in those clothes and not expect people to stare at you.

  "There's a lot of people considering how early it is," Will said.

  "I guess they must have all had the same idea, come early to get it out of the way," Anne said. "Though some of these people are probably just passing by on their way to work,"

  In front of them passed several people in the centre of the square was a sign post with directions upon it and two allies going off in different directions to where they were pointing, the square itself was filled with shops of all different kinds that Will hadn't been able to visit in ages; he always liked looking around the shops even if he wasn't able to buy the stuff inside of them, but that was all different now that he was starting school, he'd be allowed to buy the spell books that he wanted and everything else.

  They were just about to step forward to start when they stopped suddenly as two older men dressed in suits walked across their paths.

  "I'm sure that they think that I can just make money magically appear," a man said just ahead of them. "If I could I won't need to work,"

  "Tell me about it," the other man said next to him. "My daughter hasn't stopped going on about tickets to see Abigail Thistle since she got back from school,"

  "Her posters are everywhere at the moment," the first man said.

  "She's alright," Will whispered as they walked around them. "So where are we going first? To get my wand?"

  "No, sorry...I've got to make a quick stop at the bank if you don't mind," Anne told him. "Your dad probably gave me enough in our money for your school things, but if you want any extra stuff then I'll have to change some money; and I might as well do that first instead of running out half way through."

  "I guess so," Will said looking around at the shops a little disappointedly that he'd have to wait longer to get inside of them. "So, where's the bank here...I've never been up here before,"

  "Left, I believe," Anne said leading the way.

  Will looked at her, wondering how she knew that as he thought that she hadn't been up here either; but then he remembered the street signs and turned around to have another look at them, and sure enough it was pointing towards the bank in their direction; he really had to start paying more attention.

  They walked across the square stirring left to get down the alley through the crowd, while Will tried to remember which shops were up here at the top in case he needed to come back to any of them later

  'Drip, Drip, Drip

  As the rain comes down'

  Will looked around wondering where the singing of a young woman was coming from turning to his left, it was a poster on the wall of a pretty girl in her late teens with blonde hair, she was moving in the poster and singing; he had forgotten that they could do that as he hadn't had one in years because they cost so much money.

  'And confusion follows for a while

  Drip, Drip, Drip'

  "Ah yes, I read in the paper the other day that Abigail’s second concert has sold out...she's very popular at the moment," Anne said glancing at the poster herself as they walked past it. "Do you listen to her?"

  "I've heard a couple of her songs, but I don't actually own any of her CDs," Will told her.

  They carried on walking down the small street that was crowded with families carrying lots of bags, who must also be out buying school supplies; as Will well knew there was more than just one school in his world and they were all starting a new school year in September. To their right two girls came out of the shop smiling and laughing, they looked like sisters and about the same age as he was.

  "The uniform is so cool," the girl on their right said.

  "Yeah, but the uniform for Burnaby is as well," the other girl said. "I wish I was going,"

  "Well it's not as though you haven't gotten into a good school as well," their mother said as she came out of the shop behind them.

  Will smiled to himself as he carried on walking, he knew like everyone else from his world that Burnaby is said to be the best school in the galaxy, and he was going; part of him wanted to tell them that he got accepted but knew better than to boast about it like an idiot, especially to complete strangers.

  There was a large crowd up ahead outside of another shop, but he couldn't see what it was selling considering all the people stood outside of it; as they got closer he realized that they were all kids either younger than him or older, they were all excited by whatever was in the shop window but he still couldn't see what was there. Will only knew of one thing that would get them all so excited, and he wanted to see as well.

  Anne seemed to noti
ce Will drifting off towards the crowd of lads and pulled him along, before he was court up in whatever was going on; Will reluctantly let himself be led away thinking that he'll have to find out what was going on when they came back from the bank, but also knowing that if he had been with his dad, he would have let him stop and have a look instead of waiting until later; it was just another reminder that he wasn’t there.

  "You can come back later, after we've got your school things," Anne told him. "I'm sure whatever it is, it's not going anywhere,"

  "Sure..." Will said following her while looking back over his shoulder wanting to go back to the shop.

  He was knocked into by several people because he wasn't looking where he was going, he rubbed his shoulder as he turned back around and carried on down the street, wondering how much further it was to the bank as he wanted to start looking in the shops.

  That's when Will spotted the building that they were approaching, he could see people coming and going from the large entrance so he directed them over towards it. As they got closer they could see more of it, and it looked even stranger up close than it did far away, as it was different from the other surrounding buildings; there were small box windows evenly spaced as though there were only four floors, but it looked much higher than that. The entrance was split into three sections, there were the main steps leading into the building and then on either side, steps and a ramp that curved around with the building; all the steps seemed to be used by everyone who was coming or going depending on which directions they were leaving.

  Will looked up and saw above the door in large gold letters MAGE VOLT BANK, this was it, they had found it; they both slowly walked towards it going up the main steps. As they approached the large heavy doors the gold handles moved down as though they were being opened for them but there wasn't anyone stood there, the doors opened outwards and still there was no one on the other side of them.

  They walked into a large entrance hall with seven desks around it and doors beside them all leading off into different parts of the building; Will wasn't surprised to see that in here was just as busy as outside, as they were probably all doing the same, changing money over or getting extra.

  "I can't believe that I haven't got enough money for it," a boy said angrily to his father just ahead of them, he was about the same height as Stuart and looked as though he had just come back off holiday, his skin was so tanned and even his hair looked as though it had been in the sun too long and had starting to change to blonde. "If I could have gotten one, then Cadell couldn't lose,"

  "I'm sure that you'll do just fine without it," his father said calmly, who wasn't as tanned and had darker hair.

  "Did you hear that, he's in Cadell...that means that I'm going to be going to the same school?" Will whispered as he stepped closer to Anne so that he wouldn't be over heard. "I wonder what he wanted for Cadell?"

  "I'm sure you'll find out when you get there," Anne said smiling down at him, before she carried on looking for the right desk for them.

  Will started to look around as well; it was much smaller than the main one that he normally went to with his dad whenever they went to the capital city; but it did the same job so it didn't really matter to him. Just facing them over the three desks were signs; ‘VOLTS’, to their right ‘LOANS and DEPOSITS’; they looked over to their left ‘INFORMATION and EXCHANGE’. At the first lot of desks the sign with volt over the top had the biggest queue and then exchange which is the one that they needed, so they walked over and joined the back before it got any longer.

  There wasn't really much light getting into the hall even though that it had windows all around the outside and in the centre of the hall over head was a large chandelier with all the lights lit on it.

  "Maybe you should change more money this time dad," the boy in front of them said. "Remember last year you had to come back and change more money,"

  "That was only because you had more stuff to buy last year, seeing that it was your first year," his dad told him.

  "Yes, your wand cost quite a bit it's not as though you need a new one," his mum said on his fathers other side.

  "What about school...if I need anything there?" the boy asked, but they didn't answer him. "I wanted a broomstick...I wanted to try out for the team seeing that they're going to be openings this year,"

  "I saw how much those thing's cost..." his dad said frowning.

  "I don't need the latest one," the boy said. "What about a Wild Beach or a Star Shade 3, they're good ones as well? At least look at them."

  "I'll look, but I'm not promising anything," his dad told him.

  "I wouldn't mind one, but I've never been allowed one considering that we live in the normal world and always in the cities," Will said annoyed. "I think I've only ever done it a couple of times...and I'm not very good...I'm going to look so stupid not being able to fly coming from a pure-magical family and all."

  "There are a lot who come from magical families that can't fly, as they have the same situation like you do," Anne assured him. "And you won't be the only one; your friends can't fly either,"

  "That so isn't the point," Will said stubbornly.

  "Of course it isn't," Anne said smiling slightly.

  They both waited silently there in the queue as it slowly went down and they were getting closer to the front, but more people were joining behind them while they had been waiting and others had gone down to the volts and some had even come back as well Will noticed with all the time that they had spent here, wondering just how long they were really going to be here.

  Will was watching those coming and going from the volts, they were of course proper magic's who really lived in this world; he was watching them in hope that he might actually see someone that he knew, but it also made him wonder if any of them thought that he was just a new comer like so many of the others here as all he was doing was changing money over.

  The doors opened again and a large family came out of them, a girl and boy who looked several years older than himself; though they didn't seem at all pleased by those stood in the queue with Will as they looked over with such distaste. They were walking in front of the others that they were with, as though they were better than the rest of the people in the bank and were also dressed smartly with their parents behind them and then another boy just behind them, but he seemed different, out of place among them somehow.

  "Look at them all, stood there..." the girl said loudly.

  Her parents didn't say anything but the boy who was walking up behind them looked annoyed and as though he wished that he was anywhere else but here with them.

  Will didn't mean too but he couldn't help but stare at him, he could see that he was related to them but he didn't seem to want to be with them; he seemed to realize that he was being watched and looked straight at Will, he blushed deeply and quickly turned away from him embarrassed that he had been caught staring at him and his family.

  Part of him though still wanted too look back but was kind of scare that he had really noticed him staring, and didn't really want to get into any trouble as the other two that he was with seemed likely to actually kick off if they saw someone staring at them that they didn't like the look of. But he couldn't help it and stole a look over his shoulder before he left; to his horror he was looking back as if checking to see if he was still being watched, to his surprise though the boy smiled at him and if it was even possible he blushed an even deeper shade of red his face burning so much that it felt as though it was actually on fire; but he somehow managed to nod back at him slightly.

  He turned back around as the family in front were just finishing off, wondering who the lad was and if he would actually get to see him again.

  "I bet that he'll be getting a broom, did you see him; the lad at the back who just left?" the boy said to his father.

  "I was sorting the money Colin, I can't do two thing's at once," his father said.

  "He's in Cadell..." Colin told them, and then added thoughtfully. "But I'm sure
that those other two he was with were in Disa,"

  "If you know him why didn't you say something?" his mother asked him.

  "Well, we have a class together but we're not really best mates or anything," Colin said as they walked away.

  Well that answered his question, he'd definitely get to see him again when they met up at school, hopefully though he won't act like a complete idiot next time.

  "Morning," the man behind the desk said gruffly through his think long breed, his hair was just like his breed as though it was one and you couldn't see what he was wearing because his breed was so long and the desk seemed a little high for him.

  "Hello, I'd like to change £250 off my card please," Anne told him showing her card to him.

  He snatched the card off of her and pulled out a red stone which he put the card in even though one moment it didn't seem to have a slot for it but it did now, he placed it on the counter as he filled out the paper work and the stone began to flash; once he had finished scribbling on the paper he passed it over the counter with a pen not looking up from his work grunting to the parts that he wanted Anne to sign.