★ kee speaks filler chapter, it's so shitty goodnight 

"Remind me again why we can't travel by loop? Bunny hopping, is that what it's called? Like island hopping? Loop hopping?"

"The term you're looking for is leapfrogging, and we can't because as far as I can tell, none of you seven are peculiars. There are more reasons, but that's the major, er, factor of it all."

I listened to the conversation from my seat, water bottle in one hand and the other tapping my leg excitedly. Arden, Philip and I were already seated inside the van while Aerron and RenRen helped load some things in the back. Elize talked with Beatrice while also helping and Mia looked around. I sat beside Arden in the second row while she got the window seat. I had brought with me everything I thought I needed for the first few hours of the trip: my phone, my water bottle and...my emotional support best friend. He was still outside shoving a lunchbox behind the last row of seats. 

Arden sat quietly, studying the leaves outside as they swayed in the weak breeze. She held a pen in her hand, running her thumb along the heart-shaped charm that hung from its end. A drop of sweat ran down her temple. 

"What does us being normal humans have to do with that?" 

"Because," Philip said, impatience lining his words, "Normals can't go into loops. We'll get flung back or something."

"Sorry, then." RenRen grumbled and disappeared from the back of the van. 

"Actually, that last part is not entirely true—" Millard started to explain, but he was interrupted by Aerron as he put the last bag in with a clatter. They slammed the trunk door shut and went to their seats. Aerron walked past me and I said, "Ew, don't sit beside me."

He rolled his eyes. "Why would I ever do that?" He sat in the last row, behind Arden. 

Beatrice was tying her hair in a bun in the driver's seat, clearly bothered by the heat. "Is everyone inside? We're already running quite late." Beside her, there was a shuffle. 

Millard did a head count. "Don't close the door, yet, Laurence. One, two, three, four, five, six. Where's Mia?"

"Here!" She quickly took her place in the back row. "Sandra. I think we should call this van Sandra."

"Sandra it is, then. Is everyone ready? No liquids that need to be excreted, no bags left in the house?" Beatrice asked.

No one answered. Beatrice took that as a yes. "Alright, then. Here we go." She switched on the air conditioner, stepped on the gas and we began to roll out of the driveway. 

Everyone else was fighting a battle with the heat, but no one was complaining. I just knew Aerron was itching to get that sweater off. I mean, 10 A.M. sunlight could get pretty harsh, and being in a closed vehicle didn't help much. On top of that, twelve year olds and highschoolers who were at puberty age packed in a van together? Yikes.

As Beatrice announced that we would take one bathroom break before entering the expressway, I could almost feel myself shaking form excitement. We were here! We were going on an adventure! Our weapons were hidden under our seats and our bags (only one or two each person) were stored in the back, and we were complete! What could go wrong?

Mia's voice rang out from the back row. "Nasusuka ako." ("I feel like throwing up.")

Half of us turned around. "WHAT?"

She shrugged. "Just kidding."

Elize chuckled. I relaxed, facing front again and adjusting my seatbelt. We had plastic bags in case anyone actually threw up, right?

Oh, how I loved car rides. The low rumble of the van—I mean Sandra—was like a never-ending song. It didn't have any special noises, but it was loud enough to keep me content and soft enough to not bother me. The movement was fun, too. Little bumps and dents in the road was what made it exciting. I took in everything that sped past us like a sensor detecting images. 

Car rides were nice. They were comforting, and I loved watching the buildings and people and other cars from the windows. There was so much going on, and I didn't have to worry about it because I'd be presented with a new thing to look at within the next half-second.

I stared as the buildings slowly changed styles, and the shadows of the sun adjusted. It was pretty quiet in the van, except for the occasional mumble or two from the row behind us. 

I nudged Arden. "You excited?"

She nodded enthusiastically and cracked a smile. "Yes, very excited. I can't believe we got away with this."

"Me neither."

It was so quiet. All the small talk that was started by us was unbelievably dry. Eventually it had started to become unbearable. I envied RenRen in front of me, who was laying down. If he was asleep then that meant he didn't have to endure the painful silence. The static noise of the van's wheels turning began to feel like an itch just waiting to be scratched. Millard coughed.

Soon, the streets we were on turned into roads, and we were on the skyway. The sun had grown even harsher, and even though the air conditioning in the van was on, I could feel the heat if I touched the plastic of the window.

"Woah, a river." Mia gasped at the view and made heads turn towards her side. 

"Looks like shit water," I remarked. 

I could feel Aerron glancing at me. "If your shit water's that color, I'm concerned."

"Oh wow. You're concerned about me?"

"Shut up."

Well, I was right. It wasn't really a pretty sight, but hey, it was a river, and we were bored kids on a car ride. Below us, the yellowish-brown strip of water stretched out from our left to our right. There were no boats or animals in the water, which I thought was a good thing, because if I myself had dipped my hand in that water, I would have been washing like it was a graded activity. In other words, the river was super dirty. 

When I looked around, I saw more roads, more low rooftops and more cars. Unpainted cement, too, so there were a lot of dull colors. 

"Where are we?" Elize asked. 

"Manila Skyway," Beatrice replied. "We're heading north."

"Where north?"

"A few of the Birds, Horace, and Ophelia said the lab's north, near a beach. However, Ophelia's a mess, almost exhausting herself a hundred percent because the lab's location keeps changing."

RenRen sat up. "Huh?"

"She's finding it hard to pinpoint the location. Ophelia's exact words were 'I feel like I'm about to black out.' I would have told her to keep going, honestly. I don't understand her peculiarity completely, but I still wonder how and why it gets harder for her to do like that."

I bit my lip in doubt. "So we're just aimlessly heading North?"

Beatrice adjusted her hands on the steering wheel. "Yes, but also no."

"We'll probably stop at the edge of Bulacan," Millard said.

"Don't stress yourself about it, Diana. We're the guardians here, you just need to keep yourself safe."

Elize huffed. "I'm so bored. Can we play a game?"

"Uh, Charades?" Arden suggested. I laughed nervously. I always managed to embarrass myself in charades. But then again, we hadn't even reached NLEX yet and some of us were already getting bored. And did I have any better suggestions? No, unless tackling Aerron or RenRen out of spite was an option.

For the next hour and a half, we played Charades, then moved onto Word Association. Slowly, we got comfortable with each other. Voices were raised and laughs were exchanged. The cities turned into green fields and urban hubbub turned into provincial peace. Right before we got onto the expressway, we stopped by a gas station and I could already smell the air getting crisp from all the nature.

There were a few bumps in the road ever once in a while, and even farm animals. It was fun to watch, because I would yell something like "goat!" every time we passed one and everyone would turn their heads and gawk, watching it disappear as we sped past. 

Mia, who spent her summers in the province with her cousins until she was 10, told stories about a few things we passed on the way. 

"See, that one's a balete tree. It looks like it has long hair, right, RenRen?"

"Huh? That one?"

"Yeah, the big scary-looking one. They're said to be gates to the realm of engkantos, you know."

Sometimes Beatrice or Millard would join, responding to questions or telling one of us to sit down. They joined a few times in word association, too, but Beatrice couldn't wait her turn and Millard would make references to events that none of us knew of. Either way, it was still fun.

It was like our usual hangouts, except we were in a moving vehicle and just needed to keep each other entertained. And boy, did we succeed! Who knew we had so much common in terms of humor? Did we even try to interact like this before? Was it really just 80% bickering and seriousness about the Creatures before today? Hmm. We should have talked casually more.