The trio made their way to the bus station while Alexa spun her yarn. Several times she had to stop and let the two older girls catch up. To say they were surprised would've been an understatement.
"So... let me get this straight; you stole a pegasus," Jazz began, her eyes locked on Alexa.
"Yup." Alexa nodded, claiming a seat at the bus stop. The next bus to Redwood was scheduled to arrive in the next 15 minutes, which naturally meant they'd be waiting 30 at least.
"Killed a giant scorpion with a couple of lions," she continued.
"Dead." Alexa confirmed with another nod.
"And had a chat with the queen of the titans who also happened to be-"
"A hippie into japanese shows!" They both finished together, Alexa a little exasperatedly. "As if I didn't just get done explaining it!"
"You must admit, it is a pretty big coincidence, all of that happening together. Don't you think it's a little...odd?" Rose asked gently.
"Well yeah." Alexa admitted "But one of Chiron's big rules is to expect the unexpected. Coincidences, accidents, or just the fates laughing at your expense is kinda par for the course."
"What I want to know is why she was so worried about you!" Jazz growled.
"Don't know." Alexa shrugged. "She acted like I was going to go on some dangerous quest or something."
Jazz's eyes narrowed. She had spent enough time with Alexa to know when she was holding back. The truth was, despite her flippant attitude about it, Alexa was worried too. You don't just disregard what a woman like Rhea says, and if she says you're going to do something stupid and dangerous, it was more certain than any of them wanted to think about.
"It couldn't be this one, could it?" Rose asked, casting a glance at Jazz "Because… well… maybe you'd be safer back at camp."
The look of relief and gratitude that Jazz gave Rose made Alexa grind her teeth.
"No. She asked me something about my arm and then she started cussing and saying it was too soon." The older pair glanced at one another again. "Guys, you're missing the big picture here! If I have to go on some big important quest in the future, that means I can't possibly die on this one! I'll be safe, no matter what!" None of them had to point out that those two things weren't necessarily the same thing. Already, half a dozen ways Alexa could be horribly mutilated, kidnapped or lost and still be well enough for some future quest popped into her mind.
Still, the idea that she wasn't meant to die, at least, made Jazz smile.
"Spits is right. We can worry about the other quest later, right now we got this one we need to finish." As she spoke, the bus began to pull up. "Well," the daughter of Ares sighed, "let's go save Jeff."
The trio got into the bus and quickly hurried to the back after paying their fare.
"Ummm…" Rose said quietly. "Anyone else notice that there's no one else here?"
It was true, besides the driver, the bus was a ghost town. That didn't bode well to any of the girls. The bus lurched into motion.
"Everyone stay sharp, keep your eyes peeled." Jazz muttered.
Although the ride was only 15 minutes, it felt like it took about three hours. The whole time Alexa's eyes flitted around the bus, taking in the supernaturally immaculate interior, the cheery vacant grin on the elderly bus driver, the metal band barely sticking out of the collar of his shirt.
That last one drew Alexa's attention, she zeroed in on it...it looked like brass, maybe even bronze links, but there was something else there too. Something she couldn't identify without getting closer. Maybe she could…
The bus began to slow as a new town came into view. A bright little sign read "Welcome to Redwood".
The bus pulled to a stop and the driver turned with the same placid, blankly happy expression. He didn't even blink!
"End of the line folks." Even his voice, although cheerful, was robotic and hollow. "I hope you have a nice day."
The moment they were off the bus it began to pull away and the girls began to realize they had bigger problems. Everyone they saw, man, woman and child, all had the same vacant, vaguely happy looks on their faces.
People were walking in an unnaturally orderly way, like ants marching. Exactly three feet separated people in any given group, everyone walked in a synchronized lockstep, the cars all moved at the same rate and at the same time when the lights changed, and no one seemed to notice Rose, Jazz or Alexa.
The only thing that even began to resemble real human behavior were the few people who would talk to one another, but even that was off. They'd pause in front of another group and say "Hello. How are you? The weather is nice today. Did you see the game? Goodbye." and then they'd walk off. The same interaction, or lack thereof, any time a pair of the people met.
"Yeah... right place." Jazz whispered.
"Should...should we try to help them?" Rose whispered.
"They all have the same collar." Alexa noted, "I thought I saw something similar on the bus driver...I don't want to disturb it though."
"Why?" Jazz hissed "If that's what's causing this, we need to rip the thing off!"
"Magic that works on the brain is a really tricky thing!" Alexa insisted "To put them in a state like this the collar really has to go deep! If we try to remove it without knowing if we shut it off right we could cause some serious brain damage! That's why most magic items we make aren't thought controlled, if you crash a chariot or something you're controlling with your mind, you could end up in a drooling pee soaked mess!"
Jazz winced.
"Besides...on a more practical note, if we disturb one, it could tell the rest that there's an issue...and I don't feel like fighting a bunch of zombies." Alexa concluded.
"Okay...so what do we do? How can we help?" Rose asked.
"We find the witch. It's her keeping the spell going...we take her out, no more spell." Jazz said firmly, a hand going up to play with the charm bracelet on her wrist.
"Okay. We should split up, we'll cover more ground that way." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Rose realized she must've said something stupid because of the looks her companions were giving her.
"Are you insane?" Alexa asked.
"We come to Maine, the prophecy specifically called out one of the masters of horror, we're surrounded by pod people and you want to do the Scooby Doo bit? Have you never seen a slasher movie?" Jazz asked at the same time, her voice incredulous.
"But… but it's not like any of us are going to run off for a quicky with our boyfriends or a-anything like that!" Rose blurted out, her cheeks going red the moment the words were out of her mouth.
"At least she has some genre sense." Alexa groaned. "Come on...let's have a look around."