Chapter 101 - Diana And The Forest

The entire ride to the witches' meeting place had an atmosphere that made me feel like I was going to Hogwarts, not some random place in a forest. When I came to the train station at the appointed time, all Orion Coven was there already, with backpacks and bags, as well as what felt like at least three more covens I didn't know.

The witches completely overwhelmed the numbers of the few people who took trains anywhere in the Wednesday morning, making the Platform 4 feel like Platform 9 3/4. The fact that many dressed not in the civil clothes, but in all sorts of more eclectic costumes: traditional Slavic dresses, long pointed hats, old school goth black and and silver and so on, only enhanced the feeling.

I was dressed, for once, in white—the lightest blouse without sleeves, shorts and straw hat I found in my wardrobe. It was the only salvation from the awful heat that fell on the city this week. News were all about the heatwave when I bothered to check them, and I've never felt better that there was AC installed in my shop.

I didn't know how the witches in warmer clothes dealt with it.

The train ride itself, though, was nothing like that in Hogwarts Express, mostly because there were no separate compartments in the train. Everyone settled on the benches, of which there were enough for everyone, thankfully.

I managed to get a place next to the window. Alexandra sat next to me, switching seat with another witch so she could lecture me some more about what would take place on the festival, with the help of everyone else involved. By the time we got to our train stop, I knew everything I believed I would ever need to know and some more and was glad to get out of here.

Then I remembered that we still had three more hours to walk. Under the heat. In a forest full of insects and more insects and all sorts of grass that tickled and scratched and would make absolutely miserable way before I could get there.

"It will be way into the afternoon by the time we will get to the place," I grumbled, looking around as we walked over the platform. It felt like there were no less than a dozen of small covens around, each with rarely over ten people in it, picking their rucksacks and organising their ranks. Still, it was way fewer than I expected. "Do many people drive cars here?"

"Yes. We also are not the first and not the last to arrive. As I said before, the important part starts around the sunset, but organising committee has to come a day or even two earlier to prepare everything. Most of the bigger covens prefer to arrive early, too, and take the best places for camps," Alexandra said. She looked around, gathering her flock of witches with a glance and a wave of hand. "Come on, is everyone here? No one had lost or forgot anything?"

An uneven chorus of agreements was her reply. With a boisterous vigour that felt like it was too much for her age (at least in my opinion of a person who felt not vigorous at all), Alexandra led our march. I immediately had troubles following her pace.

"If they took the best places, doesn't that mean we will get the worst places?" I asked, tugging at the straps of my rucksack. The thing felt like it weighted as much as I did, and I couldn't adjust with the way the straps chafed at my bare shoulders.

"Oh, it's all relative." Alexandra dismissed my concerns with a wave. "The places we will have are perfectly fine, especially for a camp that will only last one night. Many people don't even sleep at all during the festival if they come at it right before the official start of it, so it's not much of a problem."

I hoped it won't be. As it was, I had enough problems with the rest of the trip.

Our march began on the dirt road. From time to time, cars would pass us by, and I watched them and the people crammed within with envy as I dragged my legs through the dust. It didn't take long for me to lag behind, and my only solace was that I wasn't the only one. Alexandra, bless her soul, always stopped our chain when it grew too long, to let everyone catch up, but that didn't make my legs feel any less leaden by the time we entered the forest and the dirt road turned into a narrow path.

With the amount of people walking close together, the path could've easily become another dirt road if not for the many trees and shrubs that we had to walk around. The softer ground made it easier for me to slip and stagger, but it was the least of my worries.

Insects. They were everywhere. Buzzing around, flashing in endless black dots in front of my vision when I looked at the sky. Every tiny itch I felt on my skin could be a gnat, a mosquito or even a horsefly. There were bees and wasps too, but these, thankfully, avoided me in favour of more sweet-smelling people.

And there were a lot of itches. The grass alone provided plenty. I sprayed myself with repellent, but it didn't seem to deter insects at all, and it did nothing to calm my steadily thinning nerves. There were only so many times I could slap myself before turning unhinged.

It didn't help that the rest felt much calmer about all this. "Just ignore it, Diana," Alexandra said. Easy for her! But for me, the high-pitched buzz of a mosquito next to my ear brought on some visceral, irrational panicked response, and it didn't matter if it happened home at night or here in the forest.

Then I checked time on my phone and saw that we had only been walking for an hour.