Beatrice Gaia was waiting for the bus.

The young witch fidgeted and rocked back and forth on her heels while waiting at the station. Men and women rushed around her, sparing only a glance at most at the young lady with wavy brown hair and large glasses standing beside a rather large wooden trunk and holding a potted plant. Beatrice hiked her rucksack up higher on her shoulders as she looked up and down the street in nervous anticipation.

Behind her, her parents stood like rather confused trees. Dressed in browns and greens like their daughter, Murdoch and Agatha Gaia looked around the station incessantly.

"Dear, I don't understand." Agatha leaned in closer to whisper. She pushed a lock of hair back from her ear and brushed some moss off her daughter's shoulder. "Is the bus not on time? Are you sure these other ones aren't it?"

Commuters alighting from plain gray or silver busses looked at the three with confusion but kept on their ways. Business people in suits sped past clutching attaché cases while women in pantsuits spoke quickly on their phones.

Beatrice nodded. "Yes, those, aren't it."

"If only you chose Hawkswood instead, at least they have a dedicated train and station all to themselves." Murdoch sniffed, adjusting small glasses on the bridge of his nose and attempting to read the small print on the bus schedule. "Your brother never had to wait longer than half an hour for transportation."

The young witch sighed. "Well, I chose Ravensburl over Hawkswood, dad. They just do things differently there."

Her mother smiled and kissed the top of her daughter's head. "I just hope that however differently they teach you there, you'll be safe."

"You're not going to hope I do well?"

"Oh honey, you'll have them running like gophers out of their holes!" Agatha laughed, playfully pinching her daughter's cheek. "Now, do you have everything? Trunk, bag, clothes, wand?"

"Yes, mom! Even Beau and mandrake drops." Beatrice chuckled, massaging her pinched cheek. "I'll be fine! I've been packed the past three days; I'm sure I have everything!"

Murdoch hemmed and hawed as another gray bus pulled into the drop-off point. "Is that it? No? Hmm, what's taking it so long?"

"Maybe it has several stops before ours?" Beatrice offered. "I mean, this is the closest stop to Ravensburl."

"Hmm, that is one good thing about this new school. It's close to us!"

"Maybe we can visit you, dear!"

"Mom!"

While the three druids were talking, a tall man in a long black coat approached them. Agatha bristled with alarm when she noticed him, but the man held out a placating hand and partially pulled out an item from his inside coat pocket: a black, polished wand. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but did I hear correctly?" He asked them, his voice deep and resonant. "Is this a stop for the transportation to Ravensburl?"

"Oh, yes!" Beatrice smiled. "The bus to Ravensburl Academy of Witchcraft should be stopping by here." She looked back down the street. "Any minute now."

"Wonderful!" The man removed his hat and smiled. His skin was pale, and his eyes drawn. He looked like he had been up all night. "Thank you. Oh, I beg your pardon, my name is Laurence. I've been trying to find a way to Ravensburl for quite a while now!" He laughed lightly.

Beatrice's mother chuckled. "It's been rather difficult for us to find out about the bus route as well. If only they had their own train! Ah, but are you a professor at Ravensburl, sir?"

"Me? Oh, no." Laurence smiled sadly. "I am working my way up to it. But at the moment I am merely a member of staff. Someone needs to help the Headmistress run the place after all."

"Assistant Headmaster then?"

"Much closer to her secretary, actually." Laurence chuckled. "I had been meaning to go by broom, but the..." He lowered his voice and cast a cautious glance at the other commuters passing by. "...The enchantments on the school, you understand."

"Ah!" Agatha nodded. "They do need to keep it hidden for safety.

"Precisely. So, official transportation it must be." Laurence shrugged.

"If you'll be working there, do put in a good word to the Headmistress." Murdoch butted in. "She simply must consider a train station!"

"Dad!"

As Laurence chuckled, Beatrice couldn't keep his eyes off him. There was something about the way the pale man's eyes didn't reflect any joy or humor, though he laughed.

"I don't know if the bus will have space, though." The young witch said softly. "The instructions on the letter were that the bus would be picking up students. It didn't mention anything about..."

"Faculty?" Laurence offered. "That's quite alright. If I can't make this bus, I can catch the next one. Or perhaps find another way altogether. It won't be a problem."

"Well, all the same, I do so hope you get to Ravensburl alright, Mr. Laurence." Agatha smiled. "It was lovely meeting you. Oh! And do take good care of my darling Beatrice, won't you?"

"Mom!"

Laurence chuckled again. "Don't worry, your daughter will be in good hands, I assure you."

"Wait! I see something!"

Beatrice leaned out further to the road. A large bus, painted a vibrant purple and dark blue, came up to the station. It looked impossibly long from Beatrice's vantage point, but once it stopped in front of her and her family, it looked an average size. A logo bearing the image of a raven was painted on the side of the bus and wouldn’t have looked out of place at an American Football game. While Beatrice was looking at it, the logo shimmered and became fuzzy as if someone had thrown water onto still-wet paint. The image sharpened again and became a more traditional heraldry, still bearing a raven with wings outstretched.

Another two teenagers close to her age came rushing up to the bus from the station stairs, having arrived just in time.

"Ah, here we are!" Laurence smiled. He made no move to board the bus. "You're quite right, Beatrice, this one is students only. I'll be seeing you later at the Academy itself."

"Alright, Mr. Laurence—"

Agatha suddenly wrapped her daughter in a motherly bear-hug. "My baby, going off to the Academy! Don't you dare forget to write, okay Beatrice?"

Beatrice wheezed, her glasses sitting skewed on her face from the hug. "Yes, mom!"

"Do you have everything? Wand, familiar, bags?" Her father said, finally coming away from the posters and schedules. He patted Beatrice on the shoulder with a heavy hand. "You listen to your mother, alright? Letters!"

The young witch hugged her parents back with one arm while still holding onto her familiar's plant pot. Beau looked up at them from its pot and squeaked, its leaves wiggling.

Agatha smiled and stroked the mandrake's leaves. "I'll miss you too, Beau. Take care of Beatrice!"

"I love you both, mom and dad. I promise I'll write!" Beatrice laughed and went to pick up her luggage. "I'm not too far from the house anyway! I'll see you soon."

With one last hug and a wave, Beatrice approached the bus. A porter took her trunk and put it into the baggage compartment and many other bags. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a slight shimmer that could be seen as just a trick of the light. The bus stretched impossibly long: at least four more lengths of a standard bus. The young earth witch patted the pockets of her skirt, made sure her wand was in her satchel and boarded the bus.

"Name?" The bus driver looked over to her and asked. He thumbed through a list while he waited for the answer.

Beatrice cleared her throat. "Beatrice Gaia, sir."

"Gaia? Of the Oakendale Gaias?"

"That's right, sir."

"Well, well." The driver snickered, sending his thick white mustache wiggling. "How about that? Welcome aboard the Ravensburl line, Miss Gaia. Pick a seat back there and sit tight; you're the last stop, so it won't be long."

The inside of the bus was a lot larger than it looked like on the outside, just as Beatrice suspected. It was the right width, but it stretched in length. Other students, teenagers like her, were already sitting in the bus. It was fairly quiet, with only the murmur of soft conversations coming from small groups or pairs of students talking. Otherwise, everyone else were either asleep or nervously sitting alone despite each row of the bus having two seats.

Beatrice picked one of the empty rows near the middle of the bus and set her things down. She kept Beau on her lap and stroked the mandrake's leaves till it squeaked again and settled back to sleep.

Looking out the window, she saw her parents still by the bus waiting for it leave. Agatha searched the windows of the bus and, on finding Beatrice looking back and waving at her, started to enthusiastically wave back. The other two students who had come rushing to the bus walked past Beatrice's row and settled somewhere behind her.

After another couple of minutes, the porter entered the bus as well and the doors closed. She saw the driver looked back at them and check his list, presumably for last checks and to make sure no student got left behind. Satisfied, the driver went back to his post and the porter to his. The bus rumbled to life and began to move. Outside, Agatha mouthed words in such an exaggerated way that, if Beatrice didn't already suspect what she was trying to say, would have looked like a bad impression of a mime.

"Yes! I will write back, I promise!" Beatrice chuckled and said, mouthing the words back too. She waved goodbye to her parents, and the bus rumbled on down the road.

The young witch couldn't sit still. She kept looking out of the side of the bus, and had even opened the window to let some air in. The route the Ravensburl line followed passed through the nearby city, and she couldn't help but crane her head up to see the tops of the high-rises. The city was so much louder, taller, and gray than she was used to. But perhaps the Ravensburl Academy of Witchcraft would be closer to nature, like she was.