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Chapters (98)
  1. Author’s Note
  2. Tuesday
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. Wednesday
  21. 1
  22. 2
  23. 3
  24. 4
  25. 5
  26. 6
  27. 7
  28. 8
  29. 9
  30. 10
  31. 11
  32. 12
  33. 13
  34. 14
  35. 15
  36. Thursday
  37. 1
  38. 2
  39. 3
  40. 4
  41. 5
  42. 6
  43. 7
  44. 8
  45. 9
  46. 10
  47. 11
  48. 12
  49. 13
  50. 14
  51. 15
  52. 16
  53. Friday
  54. 1
  55. 2
  56. 3
  57. 4
  58. 5
  59. 6
  60. 7
  61. 8
  62. 9
  63. 10
  64. 11
  65. 12
  66. Saturday
  67. 1
  68. 2
  69. 3
  70. 4
  71. 5
  72. 6
  73. 7
  74. 8
  75. 9
  76. 10
  77. 11
  78. 12
  79. 13
  80. 14
  81. 15
  82. Sunday
  83. 1
  84. 2
  85. 3
  86. 4
  87. 5
  88. 6
  89. 7
  90. 8
  91. 9
  92. 10
  93. 11
  94. 12
  95. 13
  96. Tuesday
  97. 1
  98. Afterword

“You’re pretty comfortable too, Dad. Maybe it just runs in the family.”

“All right. Keep your secrets. For now. But promise me that someday, before I die, you’ll tell me. Promise?”

Jack knew a trap when he heard one. This one was a cousin of “When did you stop beating your wife?” If he promised, he’d be admitting there was something to tell.

“Let’s not talk about you dying, Dad.”

He sighed. “I’m not going to get anywhere, am I?” He poured more Scotch into Jack’s glass. “Maybe this will loosen your tongue.”

Jack laughed. “No one’s ever tried to ply me with liquor before. Bring it on!”

11

The shadows was gettin’ long by the time Semelee was ready to make her move. Even us in both eye-shells, it had took her a while to get Dora in place. Like any other alligator snapper, she was slow and kinda clumsy. Nothin’ like Devil.

Poor Devil. Luke said he was doin’ right poorly and looked like he was fixin’ to die. That made her feel bad.

But she shook off the sadness and fixed on what she aimed to do. Now that she finally had Dora where she wanted her, Semelee was ready for the next step.

She moved away from the lagoon and walked through the hummock until she came to the bees’ nest. She didn’t get too close. These was killer bees and once they got mad they’d swarm and wouldn’t stop stingin’. They didn’t know how.

She fixed the shells over her eyes and concentrated…and sees the inside of the hive. Her vision’s all weird, like she’s lookin’ through dozens of eyes at once…

Semelee lowered the shells and picked up the rock she’d brought along. She tossed it at the hive, then put the shells back over her eyes, real quick like.

…and once again she’s inside the hive with that weird way of looking at things. But the hive’s different now. It’s filled with angry buzzing—real angry. They’re movin’ toward the opening, hittin’ the air and the sunlight, and then she’s flyin’, movin’ right with them.

She sees herself, standin’ in the shadows with the shells over her eyes. The swarm homes in on her like she’s the absolute worst thing in their world, like they gotta protect the hive from her or die tryin’. Sweat breaks out all over her body. Maybe she shouldn’t have done this. Maybe she should have thought of another way. Cause if she can’t turn them, they’re gonna kill her.

She pulls at them, pushes at them, there’s somethin’ worse than her, somethin’ that’s a bigger threat to the hive and they’ve gotta get him, gotta stop him or the hive’ll be destroyed.