Hana Dow and the Dreamcatcher's Bow

Chapter Four: Saglant Square

Hana righted herself back into her seat as Miss West took out one of her funny coins, only this one was silver, and put it into a slot into the cab door. Out popped a newspaper and she took, opened it, and began reading.

Hana merely glanced at it before moving her eyes across the entire, impossibly large backseat of Jeremy's cab. It didn't look this big from the outside, she thought. Or was it? She wasn't entirely sure. Inside the cab also looked much more finer and trimmed than the outside did, which had been so beat up, she was surprised it was still running at all. But inside the cab, the carpet was lined with a finely oriental rug with deep, rich colors. The ceiling and walls were covered, every inch, in velvet and the seats were soft and feathery. It was like she was riding in luxury.

Then Hana noticed something moved in front of the newspaper. She looked at it again and gasped. Nothing was moving in front of the newspaper but... in it? How was that possible? Moving pictures? The picture on the front page of the Monday Medium (funny, it wasn't Monday today?) was a woman riding a broom through a field surrounded by large stands. The headline read: "IRISH WIN AGAIN!" She thought she could make out a word... "quidditch"? What a silly word, but then again it looked like a silly game.

"Ah," Miss West said. "Goblins in Saxsville Row staging another protest?" She turned backward to the driver window. "I swear, goblins'll make a fuss if you don't even give them a single ogpot."

"I wouldn't worry none, they're just trying to make a living. Eventually, they'll calm themselves down like they normally do when their treasuries and stocks go down. They need us wizards' business to keep their pockets happy."

"I know, it just seems so counterproductive to their own interests. You'd think running the banks would be enough to keep 'em happy. But, well, this is the era of being up in arms about something." Miss West returned to the newspaper.

"Goblins are real?" Hana said, a bit worried.

"Oh yes sweetie. They run the wizard banks."

"There are wizard banks?"

"Yes of course, dear," she chuckled. "How do you think we can afford to go to wizard schools?"

"How many dollars is it to go to a wizard school?"

Both Miss West and Jeremy laughed.

"Dollars!" Jeremy hooted.

Miss West caught herself. "We don't pay dollars."

Hana raised an eyebrow. "Then what do we pay?"

Miss West went into her coat pocket and pulled out three coins - one small bronze one with an etching of a serpent-looking dragon with its long body winding and curling around itself, a slightly bigger silver one with the etching of a three-headed dragon, and a bigger gold coin, the one she saw earlier. Miss West pointed at the gold one. "This is a dragot, also a general term for our currency. It's the most valuable of the bunch so it's always best to have these handy." She then pointed to the silver one. "A hydrot, a lot of your school supplies will require it so we'll be getting a good plenty of those when we get you squared away." She then pointed to the bronze one. "This is an ogpot, least valuable but still useful when you're hammering out the bill, for taxes." She shrugged as she returned them to her pocket.

"I get dragots, too?"

Miss West nodded. "Courtesy of M.A.C.U.S.A."

"You keep saying that... 'mah-coo-za' but like what is that?"

"The Magical Congress of the United States of America." Miss West pressed a hand on the left side of her chest.

Hana blinked. "What's that?"