Aik Iskandaryan - William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I

«That’s because I’ve changed my mind and moved it back! No matter what, it’s the best place for it!» he said and hurried to change the subject. «And when is Mr. Hoggart coming home?»

«Alright!» Mrs. Hoggart continued her line of thought. «Let it stay here for now, but I’ll tell Edward over the weekend to do something about it. He’ll be home any minute! He called from work and said that he would finish earlier today as well. So, I’ve decided to make an excellent chicken pie, so start on your homework to be done by the time dinner is ready!»

«Great!» William nodded. «Then I’ll start on it right away!»

«Yes, yes. I’m going! I won’t bother you, dear!» – Mrs. Hoggart was going to leave when she suddenly turned and asked: «Is everything alright at school?»

«Yes… yes…» William muttered, «it’s great!»

«Wonderful!» she kissed him again and left the room.

William spent some more time thinking about today’s events. After talking to Mrs. Hoggart it seemed that this whole story with the mailmage and wizards was nothing more than a dream. And now he was awake and his life became like it used to be. William liked his life. Firstly, he was lucky to have such parents, even if they were foster ones. And secondly… Secondly, he was already saying a mental good-bye to his old school. He took his textbooks out of his backpack and hid them deep in the wardrobe. Tomorrow, he was going with Nymus to register his magic feather, after which he hoped to be enrolled in the Preparatory Course for a MUni.

The feather! William had just remembered about it. He took the box from under the bed, which he had placed there when Mrs. Hoggart was heading to his room.

As he opened the lid, he was happy to see that it was still on its place – though, at first it grudgingly pushed at William’s fingers with its hairs when he tried to take it, but after him whispering « Obnoxus’ , the feather became friendlier.

«I wonder what you can do?» William was thinking aloud as he stared at his feather, white with black dots. He pointed the Feather at the bed and ordered: «Bed! Unmake yourself, I want to sleep!»

Nothing happened. Then, slightly disappointed, William put the feather back into the box and then into his backpack, not to forget it in the morning.

«Fine, I’ll need to learn how to control you!»

He unmade the bed in a traditional way, climbed under the blanket and immediately fell asleep, completely forgetting about dinner.

Early in the morning, William was still in bed, fast asleep. The first rays of sun still hadn’t shown, when there was a loud sound of «crumpled paper’. William jumped up, but calmed down right away after hearing a familiar voice.

«Master Calhoun, Good Sunrise!»

«Nymus!» William rubbed his eyes. «Listen, could you appear without so much noise next time? Hi!»

«The mailmage from the Nymus kin did not want to scare his Wizard!» Nymus sounded hurt.

«Alright, alright! No offence! What time is it?»

«Exactly 06:17! Mailmages are never late!» Nymus’s cheerful voice wasn’t very loud, but somehow it filled the whole room.

«Do mailmages sleep at all?» William asked.

«Mailmages?! Sleep?! Never!»

«Really?»

«I am telling you the truth! It is one of the most truthful truths that can ever exist in the sphere of truths, Master Calhoun! Besides, we cannot be late for the Magic Post Office! They are open for public until nine a.m. Then the Post Office Meeting begins! We need to hurry!»

«Fine! Give me two minutes!»

William jumped out of the bed, washed his face quickly, pulled on his jeans and a clean shirt, and took his backpack.

«I’m ready! Shall we go?» William said, then he realized that he had no idea how they were going to get to the Magic Post Office. «And how are we getting there?»

«We are peregrining! Take my hand!»

Squeezing his backpack tight with one hand, William grabbed Nymus with the other. He felt familiar dizziness, but not as bad as the first time. Besides, Nymus’s hand gave him the feeling of protection. Everything was over in a few moments.

They were standing in the middle of a large hall covered with piles of letters! William couldn’t even make out what the floor was made of and what colour it was. Letters hid almost everything in here. They were everywhere! The floor, the windows, the walls – everything was covered with letters! Besides, the letters were alive! They were either flying from one end of the hall to the other or they moved at a very high pace back and forth.

William saw an endless number of mailmages rushing in all directions, as they were trying to find and to pick up the letter they needed. They used their large hands to sort piles of letters on the floor, on the tables, and on the windows of the giant hall.

«We are in the Correspondence Hall!» Nymus explained, sensing William’s confusion. «Several million letters arrive here every day, waiting to be sent!»

«Nymus, wouldn’t it be more convenient to store all the letters in a special place so that it is easy to find the required one?»

«A special place?» Nymus repeated. «The building of the Magic Post Office is that special place – it was created for that!»

«Do only London wizards send so many letters?»

«The Magic Post Office, Master Calhoun, is the only one in the world. And it is located in London. Letters come here from everywhere. We are the heart of the world correspondence. That is why serving at the Magic Post Office is such a great honour for any mailmage.»

William looked at all that crazy fuss. He was surprised with the passion and diligence the mailmages fussed around with, from door to door, carrying the correspondence, sorting it, giving over to each other, and putting it down.

«Tell me, Nymus, can anyone become a mailmage?»

«Green Monogram, of course not! Mailmages are a special species born for one reason – to achieve the honour of serving the Post Office one day. We have our own schools and training. You, wizards, are taught magical arts, we are taught to know each corner of the world and to be able to get there at any cost. It is one of the many reasons why wizards cannot do without us. We honour our traditions and pass them from generation to generation. Our motto is: „From Kin to Kin, Kin for the good of Kin!“.»

«I understand,» said William, «that I don’t understand any of that!»

William noticed that mailmages were different from each other in appearance. Their only similarity, apart from the blue mailmage uniform, were giant hands. The young man looked at Nymus. He was practically glowing with happiness and his expressions made it clear that this was his home. Fourteen years spent away from the Magic Post Office were gone and he was happy to be at home again.

Suddenly William saw that a mailmage, having found the letter he needed, placed it right inside his palm. Then another and another.

«That’s why you have such big hands! You put letters in there!» William said.

«Yes!» Nymus nodded. «Our hands are our everything! Without them we would not have been who we are! They are a defining feature of any Mailmage. We use our hands to store and transport correspondence to the addressees!» He stretched out his hand and showed William a compartment on his palm for storing letters.

William had seen something similar on kangaroos at the zoo. He didn’t pay attention to this during their first meeting with Nymus and he was quite impressed now.

«And why can’t you use ordinary bags for delivering post, Nymus?»

«Ordinary bags? Demits use those, not mailmages. Being a mailmage is a very dangerous job, Master Calhoun. Bags are a very unsafe place for keeping letters.»