2. My Bus Driver Gets Attacked by A Chicken on Steroids

I glanced at the blood-covered spear one more time, but over her shoulder, I saw one of the things, the one named Jess, I think, sprinting at us. I took the mystery girl's hand and she started running, dragging me behind her.

As she pulled me outside, still running, I yelled, "What were those things?! What was with their teeth?! Who are you?! Where are we going?!" I was about to ask more questions, but she looked over her shoulder at me and glared. "Shut up!" She hissed. I looked at her and glared back. "I will not shut up-" I started to say when I felt something grab at my backpack, pulling me backward. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the blonde, Ellie, she was called, tugging at it, fangs bared.

I screamed, and with my free hand, took off my backpack and threw it at her. I didn't see too much, but the thing stopped and something red ran down its face, so I assumed I got it pretty good. The black-haired girl was still sprinting, she dragged me to another white building on the campus green, with the words 'The University Library' carved above the door. Before we walked inside, she looked around us, over my shoulder, and out onto the green. "Probably checking for more of those things," I thought. As we walked through the library, I noticed another strange thing; the bloody spear she carried was gone. I was about to ask her about it, but she glared at me again. "Shut up!" She growled. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"No!" I whispered back angrily, "But I would like to know what the hell is going on! What were those things?"

"Ugh!" The dark-haired girl huffed, glaring back at me again. "If I tell you, will you please shut up?!" "Probably not." She pulled me over to an empty table in the library, sitting down, palming her face and rubbing her eyes, sighing. I sat down across from her, glancing around, the library seeming empty. "Those things are called Strigoï. Vampires. My question is, why were they chasing you?" "I don't know! They said I smelled or something!"

"What else did they say to you?" I tried to remember, but nothing concrete was coming to mind. "I can't remember...it's all just a blur. I think they called me a kind of old-timey slur or something. Like 'half-breed'.

She glared at me again, her tone and look condescending. "They said half- blood , you idiot. Gods, there's no way you're this stupid." "I am not stupid! You're the person who brought a spear into a school!" "If I hadn't, you'd be dead."

I shut my mouth.

Whoever this strange, possible serial killer was, she had a point. If she hadn't pulled me out of that closet, I'd probably be dead. And I just then thought that I hadn't seen the short girl chasing us, and remembered her spear was soaked in blood. "You...you killed that girl?" "Not girl. Monster." She corrected me immediately. "Those things were going to kill you, so don't get all wound up just because you saw a little blood. Besides, you punched one in the face and threw your bag at one, so don't act like you're better than me." I stared at her. Nothing about this was making sense. Monsters were real? What was a 'half-blood'? I didn't smell bad, did I?

I was about to open my mouth to ask another question, but she looked over my shoulder and her already pale face drained of color. She covered my mouth and pulled me out of my chair, and I looked toward the entrance to the library. There was the red-haired vampire, her nose shaped a little funny, and dried blood on her lip. "We have to run," The girl whispered to me, her eyes never leaving the vampire. I was about to follow her advice, when I heard a voice boom through the library. "COPERNICUS VALENTI! COME HERE RIGHT NOW, YOUNG MAN!" I turned my gaze to the right of the strigoï, and just behind her was my aunt Ana, and she was furious . My blood ran cold. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew I couldn't let my aunt be anywhere near that thing. I saw the strigoï look behind her at my aunt, and then back at me, her wide, fanged mouth stretching into a terrible grin. I don't think I even had time to shout "NO!" before the vampire pounced on her.

I broke free of the dark-haired girl's grip, and sprinted over to my aunt, who was now on the ground, the vampire above her. I beat away at the strigoï, eventually tearing it off of my aunt. I raised my fists, ready to fight it. It growled, sounding like it was laughing, its teeth stained red, and had little chunks of what I assumed was skin in them. If it was any other situation, I would have doubled over and threw up, but I didn't. I threw my fist at her, on purpose this time, and clocked her right in the jaw. Her fangs cut my hand a little, and I recoiled in pain. She backpedaled as well, and screeched at me "You dirty little bastard! I'm going to rip you apart!" She was about to pounce at me, I could tell, and I readied myself for it, closing my eyes. After no blows came, I opened my eyes and saw the vampire was still standing there, with something protruding out of its stomach.

A gold spear tip.

I looked past the strigoï and saw the dark-haired girl standing behind her, her spear lodged in the vampire's stomach. I didn't have time to ask any questions when the vampire exploded with what sounded like a wet poof , and I got covered in a bunch of yellow powder. I coughed because some got in my mouth and it tasted like burnt toast, almost retching. I looked back at the floor at my aunt, who was unconscious now and covered in blood. I was about to rush over to her, but I felt the dark-haired girl's hand on my shoulder. "It'll be fine, I already called campus security, but we need to go. NOW." "But-" She turned me towards her and gripped my shoulders. "No buts. Do you want to end up like her?" "No, but-" "Then let's go." I followed her outside, and as we walked to the bus stop, I felt really on edge. "Where are we going?", I asked, a little worried. "Somewhere safe," she said. "And where exactly is that?" "Do you usually talk this much?"

I shut my mouth after that. We sat at the bus stop for a while, waiting. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I asked, "Are you going to explain what's going on?" She muttered something under her breath, probably something like 'idiot' or along those lines. "Can we at least get on the bus first?" She asked me, clearly annoyed. "Fine."

It took about another hour of awkward silence before the bus arrived, and I jumped out of my seat, practically falling over myself to get inside. As I ran to the back, I saw the dark-haired girl just walking towards me, shaking her head. I only then thought about how stupid I must've looked, tumbling like a fool. I sat down in the back of the bus, and she sat next to me.

"Can you explain what's going on now? Who are you? What's a 'half-blood'? Why'd the vampires come after me?" I asked, rapid-firing questions as the bus started moving.

She sighed, and looked at the ceiling for a second, before looking back at me. "I'm warning you, you're going to think I'm crazy." "I already think you're crazy." She glared at me, but I could've sworn I saw a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. "Those things, the strigoï, were chasing you because you're what's called a 'half-blood'. Like me. You're half human, half..."

She paused for a moment, as if thinking about what to say.

"Half what?" I asked. "Half human, half god. A demigod." "Half God? I'm not catholic." She breathed out a sharp breath, before speaking again, her condescending tone returning. "Not half God, stupid. Lowercase G. As in the gods. Plural." I looked at her cluelessly. "What do you mean, gods?" She stared back at me, and scoffed. "Damn, you're slow. Did you ever take a mythology class?" "No." I admitted, feeling stupid. "Like the greek gods or something?" She nodded, and continued speaking. "Yes, exactly like that. The Romans and Greeks both had the same pantheon, just shifted around a little, but you get the idea. Do you remember the stories about Perseus and Bellerophon and the heroes like that?" "Yeah, a little bit." "We're like them. One mortal parent, one godly parent. Get the picture?" I nodded, starting to understand what she was implying. "So who's my godly parent?" I asked, immediately regretting the question. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" She said back, looking at me with disdain. "I don't know." She shook her head and then spoke. "There's no way to tell for sure unless you're claimed, but you can narrow it down a little bit on your own. Who raised you, your mom or your dad?"

"My mom, but she died when I was little," I said, the mention of her still causing a pit in my stomach. "Okay, so that narrows it down to the male gods. You told me the strigoï said you smelled bad, right? Usually the more powerful the demigod, the more...um...fragrant they are. According to monsters, at least." "Okay," I said, trying to follow along, but it was like with every word she said, I just got more confused. "Did you ever notice anything strange happen when you were a kid? Anything you couldn't explain? It might have to do with your dad." I thought for a moment, racking my brain. If anything did happen when I was younger, I couldn't remember. "I don't think so."

She put a finger to her chin, looking up at the ceiling, thinking. "Well, from what I can tell and what the strigoï said, you're definitely not the kid of a minor god. Maybe you're one of Mars' kids or a son of Vulcan. I'd also say Bacchus, but they aren't usually the fighting type." I stared at her, and then an idea popped into my head. "Who's your dad? Or mom?" She paused for a moment, before saying quietly, with a little venom, "My mother is Hecate. My dad was the mortal."

I heard the tone in her voice and decided to just leave that subject alone, as it was probably in my best interest if I wanted to live. I thought it was best to change the subject, so I asked a different question.

"What did you mean when you said they get 'claimed'?" "Usually whenever you turn sixteen, you get some sort of sign. It happens at camp, and I've never heard of a demigod who was claimed outside of it." "What's this 'camp' you keep talking about?" "It's a safe place for demigods, and that's where we're going."

nodded again, and after I had no more questions, I stayed silent.

The girl cleared her throat loudly and said in a teasing tone "So...Copernicus Valenti, huh?" I felt a rush of heat fill my face, and I glared at her, before looking out the bus window. "Yeah. My mom was a huge nerd." She laughed, and at first, I thought she was laughing at my name, but then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"My dad was a huge nerd too, don't worry about it." I turned back to look at her, and she reached her hand out to shake mine. "Well, Copernicus Valenti, I'm Guinevere Yarrow."

I snorted at that, for which she hit me. "Sorry! Just...Guinevere? That's pretty bad."

"Yeah, I guess it is. Not as bad as Copernicus though. You can call me Gwen," she chuckled. I took her hand, shook it, and smiled. "Nic. You can call me Nic. Nice to meet you, Gwen." I said.

The bus ride was quiet for a bit, as I just looked out the window, and eventually fell asleep. I was woken up a little later by Gwen, who hissed in my ear. "Wake up! Somethings wrong!"

I shot up, alert, scanning my surroundings. I didn't notice anything strange until I looked out the window. We were in a tunnel, and everything seemed normal.

Except for the giant birds flying next to the bus.

Looking back on it, they seemed like giant owls, but at the moment all I could think was 'damn, that's a big chicken.' There were four of them, two on each side of the bus. I heard Gwen say something in what sounded like Latin, followed by "They're Strix!". I didn't have time to ask her what a Strix was, because there was a massive crash at the front of the bus, and a lot of screaming.

I stood up and peered up front, and saw the driver fighting one of the chickens, which had gotten in the bus. I barely had a chance to look at Gwen before the bus swerved and flipped. I hit the ceiling and so did she, the bus tumbling in the tunnel. My head was ringing, and my vision blurry, but I felt her grab my arm, and say something about a window. I saw a flash of gold and heard glass shatter, and the next thing I knew, we were both outside the bus, standing in the tunnel. There were three of the chicken things perched on the bus looking at me, and it wasn't long before the first one swooped down. I ran out of the way, but Gwen didn't. I glanced at her and saw she had a large gash on her forehead, and was leaning on her gold spear for support. I ran back over and pushed her out of the way, and felt claws dig into my back. I yelled out in pain, grabbing over my shoulder at the bird and pulling it off of my back, but not before it got a chunk of me to take with it. I glanced at Gwen on the ground, unconscious, and ran back over to her. I shook her, shouting "WAKE UP!", but she didn't stir. I looked around for something, anything

when I saw her spear...yes, her spear! "If I got that", I thought, "then I might stand a chance! After all, if it had made the strigoï explode, then it might do the same to the chickens". It was lying on the ground right next to the bus, where the birds were all perched. I looked at the three of them, and they looked back at me, almost tauntingly. To make things worse, the bus had caught fire, melting the asphalt below it, so the spear was slowly sinking into the ground.

"Now or never," I thought to myself as I made my move. I sprinted toward the bus, and dove for the spear. It was hot and burned my skin as I held it, but I gripped it tightly. As soon as I grabbed it, I flipped over, the point facing the sky. One of the chicken things had decided to swoop down at me when I was on the ground and impaled itself on the weapon. Blood stained the spear, and the chicken thing let out a squawk before exploding into yellow powder. I quickly rose to my feet, and the other two birds circled me. I held the spear like a baseball bat, waiting for one of the chickens to take the bait. When one eventually did, I smacked it away and into the opposite lane of the tunnel, where it got caught in oncoming traffic. The last bird swooped at me, and I jabbed at it with the spear, but it was too quick. It lodged its beak in my shoulder, and its talons in my chest, ripping and tearing at my flesh. The pain went on for a few seconds until it exploded into yellow powder.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Gwen holding a small gold knife, and she motioned for me to follow her. My ears were still ringing, so I couldn't hear what she said, but I saw there were more of those bird things flying into the tunnel. I threw her arm over my shoulder and she pointed to a small exit on the side of the tunnel that said 'SERVICE' in bright red letters. I could've sworn that wasn't there before, but I supported her as we limped over to it. As I stepped foot into the smaller tunnel, I saw the end of it shimmer, and become more clear somehow, like a mirage was disappearing.

Two figures were running at me, so I braced myself, gripping Gwen a little tighter on my shoulder so she wouldn't fall. To my surprise, they ran past us and started fighting the birds. I got to the end of the tunnel and was almost blinded by the sunlight. There was a large river in front of me, and across it, what looked like a large walled fortress. I looked at Gwen beside me; she was unconscious again, and I was practically dragging her with me. I crossed the river, the water stinging my wounds, when I got to the other side, I set Gwen down on the grass, and collapsed to my knees. The last thing I remember before passing out was a dude saying something in a Jamaican accent.

"Damn man, waa gwaan? Dem cuts you gat on yah look bad, tek it easy man."