A child of the night

2. We take the danger bus

Marty's POV

The bus trundled along the foggy streets, letting out the occasional cough of exhaust fumes. It had started to rain and the icy droplets lashed the windows so hard they rattled. Marty yawned for the thousandth time and struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Are we nearly there yet?" She had no idea where 'there' was, but as long as it had answers and comfy place to sleep, it didn't matter.

"Almost" Eric mumbled groggily

She sighed. They were sat in the far corner, avoiding eye contact with other people. The small portion of the general public who take the bus at quarter to five in the morning aren't exactly what you'd call 'normal', but a couple of shady kids sitting in the shadows might attract unwanted attention. Marty realised that if they just sat in silence it would look a bit suspicious, so she used the opportunity to ask Eric a few of the questions that had been bouncing round her brain since what she had started to call 'The Window Incident'.

She gave him a sideways glance "Are you going to explain to me what the heck is going on? Where are you taking me? What's a demigod?"

He looked panicked "Shhh! Not so loud! You never know who's listening" He paused uncertainly, "I promise I'll explain everything when we get to camp, but right now it's safer we just stay quiet. The less you know the less monsters you'll attract"

Suddenly, something dawned on her, and a smirk played across her lips. Eric noticed almost immediately.

"What's so funny? I'm being serious here!"
"I've just had a thought" Marty grinned, "So...I've basically been taken away from my home....by a goat-boy"
"Satyr!"
She ignored him "A young goat-boy.....and a young goat is called a kid, right?"
He looked confused as to what she was getting at "...Right"
"So does this mean I've been.......kidnapped?"

There was a long silence while Eric looked her dead in the eyes. Then he slowly put his head in his hands and made a pained face.

"Why do the ones I rescue have to either be overly sarcastic or make terrible puns" he muttered.

Marty laughed, and a young woman glanced at them from near the front of the bus, possibly disturbed by the noise they were making. As soon as the lady turned back around, Marty found it difficult to remember any significant facial feature, as if she had some sort of short term memory block, or a veil was shrouding the truth from her eyes. Something wasn't right. It bothered her.

Eric didn't seem to notice. He leant back in his seat and closed his eyes, one of the old broadsheet newspapers from the front of the bus on his lap. Marty wondered if he was trying to cover his shaggy goat legs, because he wasn't doing a very good job, but no one on the bus seemed to notice anyway. She was going to ask him about it, but her question would probably be answered with something along the lines of "I'll explain when we get to camp" or "I promise I'll tell you later", so she decided to turn her attention back to the woman instead.

Marty hadn't realised she was staring until it was too late. The woman caught her eye and held her gaze for a moment, before returning to the bleak view outside the window. It had only taken a second, but Marty was positive she had witnessed something that was far from human. The woman possessed two unusually green eyes, pupils slitted, and a thin forked tongue that flicked between her teeth.

Pale faced, Marty slowly nudged Eric and gestured limply to the lady at the front of the bus.

"Something....weird....just happened to her face" she whispered hoarsely.