Storm Mountain Academy

Chapter 2- Azaria

The thing about Mrs. Ella's portal's is I never knew exactly where I would end up on the other side. As she's gotten older her magic has gotten a wee bit rusty. But I'd still trust her before I trusted any other witch around. One time I ended up in the middle of the forest outside of school and had to hike 10 miles, another time I ended up in the basement of the pub in town 20 miles from school, and this time I ended up on a train that fortunately was headed in the right direction up the mountain. There was just something off about how that worked out. She's only ever managed to portal me going in the right direction one other time and she had helped with that spell.

I'd be able to get off at the last stop where the train stopped. That was still 25 or 30 miles away from school. Between magical safe guards and protections to just sheer distance, no one happened upon the academy by accident. Maybe the headmaster or one of his professor cronies was in a good mood and wouldn't mind breaking away from the back to school craziness. It would only be the juniors and seniors, and a few other students who helped out with orientation, who would be arriving tonight. Tomorrow afternoon is when the rest of the students would arrive, plus the parents of new students dropping their supernatural child off.

I scanned the train car I was in. A mom and a sleeping toddler, a drunk or a homeless guy snoring in the back, and a boy around my age pretending he was sleeping with the hood of his black and purple tye-dye hoodie covering his head while his music was blaring through his air pods.

I dropped my backpack with a little more force than necessary which caused the boy to turn his head ever so slightly in my direction. Definitely not asleep. Just breathe. Just breathe. Not everyone is out to get you, although there's a track record that kinda begs to argue that very statement. I looked around for something to count, my Wolf Shifter Counselor aka Therapist at school claims that it's supposed to help with the anxiety and my everyone is out to get me mentality. Doors. There were six doors. Two on each side of the car, one at the front, one at the rear. Luggage. One standard black carry-on suitcase. Breathe in. Two backpacks, one toddler sized, one adult sized. Breathe out.

This is dumb and so not working. I'll definitely be telling Professor LaSuerrette when I see him. I pulled out my phone, scanning the car once again to make sure no one had moved, then texted Headmaster Jetswater that I'm in a bit of a pinch getting back. This is always one of the many reasons I don't like leaving school for breaks, I hate relying on other people. Scratch that. I hate dealing with other people, period. I chose to tolerate the other supernaturals, but I despised dealing with anyone else. I just knew the inevitable. I didn't have a choice.

I scrolled through the audiobooks that were available now on Libby and finally decided on Born at Midnight as I put in one of my airpods and tried to pass the time before we'd get to the station.

The train jerked to a stop an hour later. This wasn't right, we couldn't possibly be there yet. If my calculations were right and they were, it would still be another hour and 45 minutes before we pulled into the station.

"What's wrong?" I heard the mom of the toddler ask a passing Train crew member.

"Just a routine service check," he replied, not even giving her a second glance and rushing towards the door at the back of the car.

Routine service check. Yeah right? The conductor or someone else of importance on this train would have made an announcement if that were the case. This routine service check now had everyone in our car awake and curious as the lights flickered from their red-eye dim settings to completely off.

"We'll be experiencing a slight delay." The conductor finally came on the intercom. No shit Sherlock. About a day late for that little announcement. "But not to worry we'll be back moving shortly."

The suspicious boy from before pulled his hood down and turned back to face me, "So what's the bet? Jumper or train crash ahead?"

I turned on the flashlight on my phone, just as he and the mom did as well, providing a little bit of light in the darken train car.

I looked at him through the corner of my eye covered by my black framed tinted glasses. His dark brown wavy hair fell into his eyes slightly, his kind emerald eyes that looked back at me expectantly. There was something about him. I couldn't place him, couldn't figure him out. Which side was he on? Human or the only ones I care about?

I decided to play along for a moment, "Nah those are too normal. Maybe a human convinced he was immortal tried to outrun the train and lost." I shrugged my shoulders, "Or there's alligators blocking the tracks."

He smiled as he picked up his backpack, "Bet is one candy bar. I've got Hershey, king size or a pack of Sour gummies."

"Cookie or brownie." I replied as I opened the tin from Mrs. Ella.

He moved back two rows from where he was sitting so now he was in the seat directly across from me. "What brings you to a red eye train ride?" He asked me as he rummaged through his backpack for something.

"Headed home." I replied simply, not giving him much, "You?"

"Same, although I feel I would have remembered a girl like you in town before."

"And I would have remembered a boy like you."

He shook his head. "No you wouldn't have." He revealed a deck of cards. "I'm no expert, but I know a couple card tricks."

He must have sensed my uneasiness as I scanned the train car for the millionth time.

"Or we could talk about where you are really headed?" He tried. For the first time he really looked at me, his gaze fixating on my glasses. It was almost as if he knew the glasses weren't for me to see. Actually they weren't for me at all. They protected everyone else from me. As long as I wore them or had protective contacts in my power was unusable.

I took a deep breath in and rolled my eyes, "Fine." I agreed.

He began sorting his cards into what appeared to be royals and non royals. After a few moments he handed the stack of royal cards over to me. "Cut the deck three times." He smiled, letting his dimples show.

I wonder if he knew this magic trick was a much needed distraction. I did as he said, noticing that we had the eyes of the others in our car now on us as well. "Do you have a name?" I asked, handing the deck back to him.

"I do," he replied, taking the tray attached to the seat back in front of him and unlatching it.

Before my eyes he made four piles, laying out first the Jack of each suit, then the Queen of each suit, and on until he reached Aces. All of the cards were sorted in order by suit. "It's a good trick," I said as the train began rolling again and the lights flickered back onto their dimmed settings.

"Most people call me J." He replied softly.

His name is a letter. Interesting, this boy definitely keeps getting more interesting.