Area 51

Shopping

The bus driver, as usual didn't say anything to the passengers as they got on. Helena and Merlin were the first ones on, and they sat in the front seat.

"Excuse me ma'am," Merlin asked the bus driver. "About what time are we gonna get to Mesquite?"

"In two stops, which means about ten minutes," the bus driver said, not sounding pleased they were talking to her. Merlin took the hint, and took to nodding his head rather than thanking her out loud.

"So, what do we have to buy for me?" Helena asked. In response, Merlin handed her the list, looking at his in the meantime.

A few more passengers got on the bus, presumably for school shopping as well, as they all were parents with school age children trailing behind them. Helena didn't recognize any of them, despite them being around her age and being from the same town. Or at least she guessed. There weren't many reasons magical folks would want to come to Paradise.

The supply list was printed on white cardstock, making it durable, but nowhere close to the magical feel she was expecting. No parchment, or papyrus, or any sort of old fashioned material she had come to expect.

There had been many stories about going to school at Area 51, but most people telling them had always seemed like they wished they had gone somewhere else. It was just a sort of tone Helena could always hear in their voice that made it seem like they would've liked to go to somewhere like Ilvermorny, or Hogwarts, or even just the California state school, Golden Prep. Regardless, Helena looked at the list.

Area 51 First Year Supply List
Uniform
-Five plain cobalt blue button down, silver buttons
-Five pairs of gray dress pants
-Two ties of assigned house color (decided at sorting and must be purchased before second week of school)
-Blue dress shoes of same color to shirt
School Related Supplies
-Wand
-Cauldron
-At least two quills
-Black or blue inkpots

It wasn't that Helena was disappointed in going to Area 51, it was just that none of it sounded very excited. There weren't even textbooks on the list. She knew it was because they had class sets to cut down on costs the families would have to pay, but it still seemed unfair.

"Merlin, what kind of stuff do you have to get?" she asked him, hoping it would be something more exciting.

"Well, I have to get a new dress shirt and pants because I grew out of mine. I need some new quills and ink. The only interesting thing this year is I have to buy a plant of some kind," he told her.

"Why would you need a plant?" Helena asked.

"Well, each house specialized in a different type of magic, and it just so happens that Terra specializes in plants," he told her.

"What about the other houses? What do they specialize in?" Helena asked, absolutely confused. Up until that point, she figured the curriculum was the same as any other school, with the same classes that any of the famous wizards had taken.

"Well, Terra's obviously plants, then Aqua is water magic, then Caeli is air magic, and Ignis is fire magic," he told her, seeming surprised she didn't already know about this.

"How do they decide where you go? Do you just say that you wanna study fire magic, then they let you?" Helena asked, eagerly hoping the answer was yes so she could pick whatever she wanted and study that.

"Well, not exactly. You can't just pick, but I've never met anyone who's disappointed which house they end up in," he said, just as the bus started to move.

"Well, if you're sure. I hope I end up in Terra with you," she said as they sped off right through the wall. Merlin laughed a little, his first in a while.

"I don't know about that. You don't seem like a Terra," he said.

"What do you mean? Why would what I study depend on what I'm like?" Helena asked, completely confused.

"Well, magic is weird like that. Some people's personalities aren't compatible with certain branches of magic," he explained.

"Like what? An emotional person can't practice earth magic or something?" Helena asked in a joking tone.

"Actually," Merlin replied. "It kinda is. People more in touch with their emotions tend to end up in Aqua. Terras are more stubborn and bottled up," he told her. She snorted.

"You? Stubborn and bottled up? That's hilarious."

If only she knew.