I had no clue what to expect, but I didn’t expect to see a whole bus full of teens. The interior of the bus was done up like a band tour bus. The seats were around the edge, with free space in the middle, like a living room on wheels. There were no seatbelts that I could see, and for a few seconds, I pondered getting off the bus.
I quickly decided against it though, when the girl who drove told me that they were headed to a safe-house, where they could rest and eat. I decided it wouldn’t be all that bad, and headed back towards an empty seat. The driver introduced herself as Leprowler (Strange name), and told me I should get acquainted with the other people on the bus, because it would be a little while before we got to the house. (If you’ve ever been through Pittsburgh traffic, you understand.)
So I made myself comfortable on one of the couch seats, and started the introductions. I met two who I suspected to be twins; they introduced themselves as Spellbinder and Mimicry. Spellbinder was beautiful and thin with multicolored eyes that made me think of looking through a kaleidoscope as a child, and Mimicry was, well, a pretty darn good copy, with rather ordinary blue eyes.
There was yet another set of twins. This pair was completely identical. They introduced themselves as Muse and Widow. Despite hearing all of the strange names, Widow’s made me curious, though I didn’t ask, because she had a scary look about her. They were beautiful, but scary. This pair was so alluring; I found it hard to look at them.
I was introduced to a girl who was playing with a lighter by the name of Falmetta, (Metta for short). She looked to be the oldest of the group, and probably the one who cared the least about talking to me, besides the girl in the corner, with pink hair, who wasn’t talking or even making eye contact with anyone.
Mimicry was more than happy to explain who the girl was and why she wasn’t as excited as anybody else. Her name was Celeste (finally a semi-normal name), and she was new, same trip as me, in fact. They thought she had maybe gone through something terrible before they found her. Something she wasn’t ready to talk about. Immediately I felt my heart go out to this poor girl. Yet I did not talk to her at all during the trip.
After a couple of hours, we were free from traffic, and on our way to the house. That is, until somebody decided they were hungry. So we then spent close to an hour at the McDonald’s in Robison, where everyone ordered outrageous amounts, and Leprowler paid for it all (over $170 worth of food) with a debit card. I was pretty stunned, although looking back I shouldn’t have been, considering she owned a bus.
After that interesting run, we all piled into the bus and continued our trip, which ended in the middle of the country in a place that was either Aliquippa or Hopewell. I’m still not sure, because they seem to be so intertwined.
When the bus pulled to a stop, I figured it had broken down or something, because there was literally nothing in sight besides the woods and a lone outhouse (yes, moon carved into the door and everything). I was expecting the safe-house to be a huge mansion or ranch house or something, considering the amount of people who were on the bus.
When everybody piled off, I wasn’t sure what to do, but Leprowler caught my eye, and told me it was okay, we were here. I got off, figuring maybe it was just through the woods, and started walking. I stopped dead when everyone started shuffling into the outhouse one by one, and not coming out.
I saw Celeste meet my eyes and give me a look like, “Seriously? We have to go in there?” and I shrugged, not really sure. She tentatively walked in, and closed the door like all the others had done before, and disappeared.
I (not so trusting) stood there for a couple minutes, till Blaise started to get heavy, and I decided that if I had gotten this far, I could go a little farther. I walked into the outhouse, shut the door, and looked around. I realized that this wasn’t really an outhouse, but a disguise, built right over top of the hole in the ground with the ladder to below.
So it turns out getting down a ladder with a baby and a backpack is hard. It took me almost half an hour. But I did it, and that’s the important thing, right? I got to the bottom, and it looked like the hallway of a 5 star hotel. I’m serious, red carpeting with gold filigree and everything. And not only this, but the hallway stretched on in both directions a long way, with many doors. I had no clue where to go, so I did what my mother always told me to. I sat down right there.
Good thing too, because I wasn’t the only new arrival today, apparently. Not 10 minutes after I sat down, I heard people coming down the ladder again. It was a pair, another set of twins, I suppose (geez, I met more twins in one day, than I ever imagined I could). This set was a boy and a girl, the girl, who was a petite gothic/Lolita style thing, introduced herself as Erin. The boy, who was taller and looked positively angelic and hot (if you’re into that kinda thing, which I’m not.) introduced himself as Ari.
They told me they had gotten here by following the coordinates handed to them by a stranger in the underpass where they lived, using a stolen handheld GPS, like geo-cachers use. They too had no idea where they were going once they got in here, so they joined me, and Ari cooed over Blaise (who for some reason kept punching Ari in the nose any time he touched him) while Erin pulled out a pack of cards and dealt a game of Egyptian War (best game ever, if you don’t know what that is.)
After almost an hour of that, we were finally happened upon by Leprowler, who told me she had been looking for me everywhere. (And yet she didn’t think to check the entrance? Hmm, seems fishy.) She then noticed Erin and Ari and brightened up considerably. She offered to show us to our rooms, and led us down the hall.
When we got to our rooms (which were also numbered like a hotel) she told us she had a double and a single, and asked if I’d be alright staying with Erin. I opened my mouth to agree, when Erin cut in with a resounding no. Leprowler looked at her in surprise, and Erin explained that her power was to have a calming effect on people, which wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t for her brother’s power, which was the opposite. (I guess that explains Blaise’s behavior before) so Leprowler gave them the double, and me the single.
I walked into my room, room 77 I guess, and looked around in awe, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. It looked like a hotel room. Kitchenette and bathroom included. It had a large enough bed for me to share with Blaise, and he seemed to be getting sleepy, so I just laid him down to sleep as I was settling in. Leprowler let me know that breakfast was at 8:30, and everything I needed would be in the closet and the wardrobe tomorrow, and she left.
I realized that I was so utterly exhausted as well, climbed into bed, and fell asleep next to Blaise.
