Winnow (On Hold)

Chapter One

Arrival

After claiming their suitcases Riley and her family made their way out to the shuttle bus pick-up terminal. They looked around, each of them looking in a different direction for any sign or indication of where they were supposed to go and what they were supposed to do.

Suddenly, Riley spotted a sign illustrated in beautiful calligraphy. The letters were a deep indigo and outlined with thin gold strokes. The letters spelled out, 'WSOMA' which she could only assume stood for Winnow School of Magical Arts. Riley signalled her parents with a quick head nod, to let them know she had found something. The small family made their way, leisurely, to the tall, lanky, bearded man holding up the sign.

"Is this for Winnow—"

"Yes, it is Madame," he cuts off Farah Salvatore mid-sentence. "Unfortunately, you, the parents, cannot come any further. You must say farewell to your daughter here," his French accent strangely blipped in and out of his voice.

"What? You mean to tell me that this is the last time I'll see my daughter? Why can't I go into the shuttle with her?" A middle aged woman with hair cut into an unflattering blonde bob exclaimed from behind Riley's family. All of the Salvatore's turned to face the owner of the most annoyingly nasally voice Riley thought she had ever heard in her life. This woman was dressed as if she was headed to Milan fashion week and was not just dropping her daughter off for school.

"Madame, I assure you that your child is in good hands. It's just that Regulars, like yourself, cannot board the shuttle. It has been enchanted to only let in official magic personnel and students."

"I will not leave my daughter!" The lady shouted again. Riley could almost feel the annoyance within the small group of people around her.

"Mom! I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Good bye!" The awful woman's daughter cut in, wrenching her designer suit cases from her mothers hands. Her mother kissed her forehead and bid her farewell before storming off quickly into the crowd when she had noticed that her daughter no longer wanted her around.

The girl accidentally bumped into Riley as she was saying goodbye to her parents.

"Sorry for bumping into you. Sorry for my mom as well." The blonde, curly haired, petite girl apologized to Riley. Riley waved to her parents before turning to this girl.

"It's cool. I get it." Riley smiled understandingly while climbing onto the shuttle bus. "I'm Riley. Riley Salvatore," she let out a small chuckle before waiting for the blonde girl to respond with her own name.

"My name is Desiree Julia Hopkins," she exclaimed proudly. She looked at Riley expectantly as they walked down the aisle of the shuttle bus which seemed at least ten times bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. The seats were made out of lilac knitted fabric that looked like it belonged on a living chair in someone's grandma's house. Soon enough the two girls find seats that were not taken by other students, and made sure to quickly occupy them. Desiree sat across from Riley, staring at her for a few more seconds before prying, "You're new to this magic thing, aren't you?"

"Well, relatively new. How could you tell?" Riley leaned in closer to Desiree, eager to gain as much insight as she could from someone who seemed to have more experience. She didn't want to look like some god damn idiot when it really mattered.