Semelee wasn’t sure if it was the bravest or craziest thing she’d ever seen, but she did know it was horrible to watch.

More than watch. Semelee was in close with the wasps, inside them as they gouged the old lady’s flesh, crunched her bones. She could almost taste it, and gagged now at the memory. They was so fierce they didn’t even let her body fall to the ground. They ate her upright, even slurped sprays of blood right out of the air. And no matter what Semelee did she couldn’t pull them away. She wanted to drop the eye-shells but was afraid the chew wasps would turn on the clan who’d gone there just to see what these ugly-lookin’ things could do.

Finally, when they were through, there was nothin’ left of the old lady but the skin of her back. For some reason, the chew wasps wasn’t interested in it. They gobbled her up from head to toe, but left that rectangle of skin.

And when they was finished they started listenin’ to Semelee again. She quick got them outta there and back to the sinkhole. Soon as they was back where they belonged, Semelee yanked off the eye-shells and got real sick.

Back at the old lady’s house, Luke did two things, one smart and one dumb. The smart thing was pickin’ up the two dead chew wasps and bringin’ them back to the lagoon. If people came lookin’ for the old lady and found those, it’d be in all the papers and everyone’d assume they came from the Glades. Soon there’d be scientists and hunters and cops and thrill seekers all over the place, including the lagoon. The clan’s whole way of life’d be messed up.

The dumb thing Luke did was bring back the old lady’s skin. He—

The boom of another grenade—sounded like it must’ve exploded over by Horse-ship —yanked Semelee back to the here and now.

“Why, Luke?” She finally opened her eyes and stared real hard at him. “Why’d you do such a fool thing?”

“I wanted to keep it. You know, kinda like a souvenir. I like all those marks. They’re almost like a map. But never mind that. Y’gotta try those wasp things again, Semelee! You just gotta!”

She didn’t want to tell him that she was afraid to. She hated the way they made her feel…like all dark and ugly inside, with this endless hunger. Even with the gunfire, the explosions, the howlin’ wind, the leakin’ roof, the thunder and lightnin’ all around her, this seemed like a better place than where she’d been last night.

But she couldn’t just sit around and do nothin’ while the whole clan got massacred. She had to do somethin…and there was only one thing she could do.