CHAPTER 69: THE TRANSPORTER.

"Isn’t this the deserted area that no one dares to follow?" Aaliyah inquired in awe when she got down her friend’s back. Yuan had got them here with her Vampiric speed in just seconds, and Aaliyah had learned a piece of vital information that she should never keep her eyes open when they’re moving so fast.

She had been cleaning her eyes for minutes now, trying to get all the dust out.

The deserted area was a wide field of land that had been abandoned so many years ago. The place had turned into a Forest, and people had chosen not to come close to it.

"This is where we are getting picked up. Look," Yuan explained and pointed at a few other students that had just arrived, "The Transporters must be here somewhere. Take out that small book and hold it. It’ll serve as your ID,"

Aaliyah did as she had been told and a few minutes later, a big bus sauntered into the forest. But it wasn’t exactly a bus since it was hella long and had no wheels, but it was still moving on the ground.

A cast had to have been cast upon it from the way it was moving through the trees like thin air.

"Let’s go,"

Everyone around moved forward toward the bus and the front door next to the driver threw itself open with a loud creak. The man seated there had an old face with a muscular body, with lots of scars on his face.

The way he looked at everyone was piercing and mortifying, his left eye twitching every now and then.

The student in front extended his hand to the driver’s face with the ID, and the driver stared intensely at the cover of the book. The other eye that wasn’t twitching suddenly popped out like it was going to fall out, and then it went back to its normal state.

Did it just...scan the book?

"That is Fergus. He is one of the many drivers among the transporters," Yuan whispered to Aaliyah.

"What did he just do with his eye?"

"He used the book to scan the student. Now the student can go onto the bus,"

Aaliyah leaned her head back and took another look at the abnormally long bus, "Why doesn’t it have wheels?"

"It’s a spell,"

Other students moved forward till it was their turn. Yuan went first and she got scanned, followed by Aaliyah right behind her. She did what everyone was doing, and Fergus’s eyes popped out like it was about to fall, staring intently at the book for a short while.

It lasted for almost a minute, longer than anyone else’s.

Aaliyah was beginning to get nervous. Was there something wrong?

The eyes that were about to fall moved, and sharply looked at her instead. Her body grew stiff under the terrifying gaze of the huge man, as his irises began moving like they were glitching.

The people behind her were beginning to whisper.

Finally, the eyes retracted back inside and she was free to step onto the bus. But Fergus’s weird eyeball followed her as she went as if it had a mind of its own.

Yuan grabbed her friend’s arm and they sat down next to the window, "What the hell was that?!" They whispered to each other in shock, fear, and unison.

"How am I supposed to know?" Yuan shrugged.

"You’re the one who’s been on this bus before!" Aaliyah argued, making her point.

"But Fergus has never been my transporter. Every one of them has a certain part of their body they use to scan us...I don’t know what is wrong with that man’s eye,"

Aaliyah looked around suspiciously, "The Vampires in this bus. They can hear us, right?"

"Don’t worry. Just like in the normal world, students here are also forbidden from eavesdropping on others."

"Good," Aaliyah breathed, "That eye scared the hell out of me,"

"If you don’t wanna get scared and toss around the bus a second time, you better strap yourself up," Yuan said and began strapping her body with three seatbelts that were hanging from her seat.

There was even one for her legs.

"Do as I do," She said.

Aaliyah first strapped her feet in place, then the other two straps were for her chest and her thighs.

"The last student has just settled in. We are taking off now,"

Fergus started the engines, and they rumbled.

"Why does everyone need up to three straps? I thought...,"

The bus suddenly shot off, moving faster than a bullet train. A few people screamed around them, and Aaliyah tightly pressed herself against the seat, thankful for the triple belts holding her in place.

They moved with everyone’s hearts in their throat. No one could ever get used to this kind of transport, but at least the Vampires could compose themselves a bit since their movements could be compared to the bus’s.

And just as it moved so fast, it came to a halt and started to move at a normal speed.

Aaliyah slowly opened her eyes which were still rolling in the back of her head. When she looked at Yuan next to her, the girl was grinning wickedly at her, "You like?" She teased.

"Goddamnit, Yuan! A warning would have been great!"

"I couldn’t spoil it for you," She chuckled, "Good to see you didn’t puke,"

"Wow, I’m so grateful for the concern," Aaliyah mumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Don’t worry, that ought to cheer you up again," Yuan said, pointing at the window next to Aaliyah.

Aaliyah turned to see what it was, and her gaze was met with clouds. It was then she realized the bus wasn’t on the ground anymore, which meant they must have taken off into the sky at some point.

"No way," Aaliyah whispered in something bewilderment, "This is unreal!"

"You haven’t heard the best part yet,"

"What is it?" Aaliyah asked, wanting to open the window so she could touch the clouds, but no one was opening theirs. In fact, she was the only one on the bus staring outside so dreamily.

"How about you guess," The excitement in Yuan’s eyes was too obvious.

"Oh my Goodness. Don’t tell me...," Aaliyah drawled as the truth of the matter hit her, "Olympia is a sky School?!"

The bus soared higher and higher through the clouds. Hours passed and the bus had become silent. A few of them had begun to recognize Aaliyah as the human girl from the games, and there were mixed reactions.

Wasn’t Blake the only one supposed to be given an ID?

"I’m getting hungry," Aaliyah moaned after another few hours, "Where are we arriving? Does it always take all day?"

"We should be there in an hour. Check under your seat,"

Snacks had been stuffed under every seat, and Aaliyah wanted to strangle her friend for not letting her know about it sooner. She ate and ate till she couldn’t.

"And this is why I didn’t tell you about the sweets earlier. You would have finished the whole thing by now if I did. And I don’t think your human body can break down so many sweets without a few side effects," Yuan said and threw one into her mouth.

And that was when Aaliyah remembered. She still hasn’t told Yuan what happened to her while she had been caught in the raging waters. The fins she had grown, the ability to breathe and swim properly underwater, and her strength that had grown maximally.

Yesterday Aaliyah had sunk her head into the water in the tub while she soaked to see if the same thing would repeat itself. She was still able to breathe, and the fins had also grown after she spent almost five minutes breathing in water.

Also, she could see even more sharply inside water than she could on land.

"What are you thinking of?" Yuan asked, pulling her back to the present.

"Oh, just a few things that happened to me in the games. It was terrifying," She whispered.

"Now that you’ve mentioned it, we’ve been too busy for the past few days for you to gist me everything that happened in there. Now I’m all ears,"

The speakers in the bus had Fergus’s voice coming out of them, and the volume was too high for the Vampires to take. They all covered their ears and sunk in a call of groans as the old man announced, "Get ready. We would be arriving at Olympia soon!"

It sounded like something stabbed him in the throat.

"Mr. Fergus, do you mind turning down the Volume of your speaker? Our ears won’t survive another announcement,"

A boy sitting in the car back said boldly without fear. He had glasses on and Scruffy brown hair.

The weird eyeball suddenly popped out the back of Mr. Fergus’s head and glared down at the boy, while the one in front started to twitch again.

The boy fell back, trembling a bit, "I’m going to let the management know about this anyway,"

He didn’t sound as bold as he did the first time.

Then, the eyeball went back.

"Well, that’s not normal," Aaliyah murmured to herself after what she had just witnessed.

"We’ve arrived," Yuan said next to her then leaned in to whisper next, "We are going to be received by a teacher. Be on your best behavior!"