This is Episode 5-20 of a serial urban fantasy & paranormal story.

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Part 5-20: Maw

By lunchtime, my swarms patrolled the skies in hazy clouds. They had standing orders to cluster above any signs of trouble. I’d been able to recruit every single hive: there were sixteen in total. When attached to my helpers, the supercluster of bees all followed my thoughts as requested.

With air superiority hopefully secured, it was time to see what terrors the house beheld. I picked my way up the hill, unsure as to why the place made me so edgy. It should’ve been no scarier than, say, an abandoned old office building, yet the quaint shutters and prim shingles seethed with some invisible menace.

There was also an inset porch, innocent in all respects except that it felt way too clean. It wrapped around half the bungalow in a tidy L-shape, sheltered from the sun by the overhang of the roof. A flower pot hung from the support post on the corner, and from it poked a squat little cactus.

“Bastard,” I said. “Guys, I think the house is a fake. At least, Clockworld version is. Serious heebie jeebies all around and I think its architect goofed at least one detail.”

“What do you suppose it is concealing?” asked Deluxe. “Assuming that’s the illusion’s purpose.”

“Dunno, but I am sure we’ll hate it. Going in.”

I approached the front door, feeling better now that I’d been able to put a finger on what was so off about the place. Still suspicious, however, I pressed my hands against it and made to pass through to the inside.

But I couldn’t.

“It’s a barrier. From me, or ghosted folks like me,” I said. The door was locked, the round knob twisting not a hair, as if it were set in concrete.

“Well,” said Fergus, “We knew there’d be a prerequisite.”

“You think Eden’s playing fair this time?” I asked. At the same time, I sent a request out to my protectors above.

“Normally I’d say you could trust it as far as a pig could spit, but I’ve gotta hella odd feeling in between my ears, hey?” he said. “Like, all these past times it’s been all double trouble five alarm red alert, or some cousin to dread or dying. But right now, I can’t shake the feeling that all’s as it should be, like we just finished setting up a thousand dominoes without bumping any over, and are ready to press record and get a truckload of Internet points.”

“I take it to mean The Minder is content with the current outcome,” summarized Deluxe.

“I am oh so very happy for him,” I said, though the news was actually welcome. I didn’t know if I really trusted the fucker as far as a damn gnat could spit, but he kept making good on his promises. So if his mood was jolly, maybe we’d played this one right. So far.

Twelve bees hovered in and lighted on my arm. Their wings stopped moving as they explored my skin, and I supposed it’d be a strange sight to anyone in the real world who happened to be paying close attention: a bunch of bees hovering in a line.

“What’d you just do?” asked Fergus.

“Huh? I’m getting ready to sting myself.”

“There was, I felt… it was a burst of, ahhh,” he exhaled in frustration, and when it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to reel in his explanation, I plowed ahead with the plan.

“Sorry buds, or babes. Gonna need you to all take one for the team,” I told the bees, and instructed them to stick me.

My arm burst into searing fire as they all complied simultaneously, and I pushed that fire out through the Queen’s Band and into the door, which I’d kept one hand on.

Blue, white, black—then the door dissolved. I bid the bees farewell, and they flew off. Maybe they wouldn’t even die—I saw no stingers lodged in my skin; indeed, they’d stung thin air. Perks of having a spirit for an ArchQueen, I supposed.

Ahead of me: a cave. Complete with mushroomed walls and dripping stalactites.

“Alena, there’s a car approaching,” said Persi. “A black vehicle with darkened windows passed me and went down the driveway.”

I looked away from the fairytale ahead of me and back along where I’d arrived. The superswarm grew thicker over the driveway.

There was no obvious place for the agents to go, apart from the house, unless they were keen to harvest some honey. My head start on them would be measured in minutes, no doubt.

I asked the bees to form a wall behind me, then plunged into the impossible cavern’s maw.

 

 

Continued in Part 5-21

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