CHAPTER
6
Carrick couldn’t see Lily and her coven leave—they were moving much too fast for his eyes to follow—but he could feel that one moment there were people in Lily’s suite of rooms, and the next it was empty.
He cursed silently to himself. Lillian could have used those speaking stones to send him enough power to follow them had he thought to ask, but he’d been banking on Lily’s coven staying one more night. They’d cased the city all day, and then there was that long silence this evening—which he was sure was them plotting to make a break for it—but Carrick had his little brother pegged as too cautious to leave right away with no supplies and no horses. Someone else must be calling the shots. Maybe even Lily herself. She was rash enough.
Didn’t matter. They had vanished and now Carrick had no excuse to give Lillian. Mala didn’t concern him. She wanted Lily gone one way or another, so she wouldn’t care much that they had fled the city. Mala had served her purpose by giving him enough cover to get him out of his plush jail cell. Lillian, however, would demand to know where Lily went. He was supposed to be watching her and filling in the gaps of information that Lily wasn’t sharing with Lillian in mindspeak, like the existence of the speaking stones and Grace’s fixation on solving the riddle of the two Lillians. Lily had been very forthcoming with Lillian, but that didn’t mean she was sharing everything, and Lillian wanted to know everything about Bower City before she attacked.
Carrick scanned the smooth floor. He didn’t think he’d be able to track Lily and her coven across marble, but he had to at least try. Still angry with himself for his miscalculation, he started down the main stair and through the foyer. Something told him that the coven had headed toward the government buildings. Maybe it was Lily’s power he was sensing, or his brother’s ever-lingering sadness, but he followed his hunch all the way to a door into nothing.
He had no choice but to call to Lillian and explain what had transpired. She was tired when he contacted her. Her sickness was unraveling her at the very moment she most needed to be whole. Carrick didn’t doubt that she would live to see her plans through, though. And if she didn’t, there was always Lily.
Lillian looked through Carrick’s eyes at the door into nothing. I think they went down there, he told her. I can’t make the jump without your strength, My Lady.
I can fuel you, but once you go down there I won’t be able to reach you to give you more, Lillian replied.
Then I’ll have to be careful with what you give me, Carrick said.
Very well.
Carrick was so consumed with receiving Lillian’s strength, so focused on the fearlessness he felt as he plummeted into the darkness, that he didn’t notice the Warrior Sisters following him.
Lily staggered closer to the Queen, staring at her. Workers were shuttling up and down the Queen’s body, some of them cleaning her, while others marched to her mouthparts and away again, delivering a steady supply of royal jelly. Her gargantuan abdomen heaved, and the Queen’s human hands, claw-like with tension, gripped at the velvet pillows.
“What are you doing?” Una hissed when she saw Lily move closer.
“She’s in pain,” Lily said.
There was no way to read the Queen’s face. Her black faceted eyes held no emotion, and her mouth—a wet, tubular proboscis and waving mandibles—was downright nauseating, but still Lily could tell she was suffering. She stepped forward and took one of the Queen’s human hands as her pale abdomen heaved again.
Lily wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t think spoken words could be heard or understood. She tried to reach out to her in mindspeak and felt a distinct vibration clashing with hers. It was a harsh sensation that made Lily draw back immediately, like ice-cold water washing across a sore tooth. Lily knew what it meant, even if she’d never experienced it before. She looked at her coven, truly afraid.
“She’s someone else’s claimed,” Lily said. “A witch controls the Queen.”
“Grace,” Juliet said, needing to voice it aloud to make it real.
“If Grace controls the Queen, does that mean she controls the whole Hive?” Una asked.
“That’s a good bet,” Breakfast said, grabbing Una and pushing her back toward the bottleneck. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
Lily saw Caleb pull a pilfered steak knife out of his boot. She put out a hand to stop him. “No, don’t! If you kill her, the entire Hive will be alerted. We’ll never get out of here alive,” she said.
“Oh, we’re getting out,” Rowan said. He snatched Lily up into his arms before anyone could tell him not to and started kicking at the wax around the Queen’s belly to get into the room beyond.
“Rowan! Where are you going?” Tristan snarled.
“We’ll never be able to jump up that long drop. We have to go this way,” he snarled back.
The Queen’s belly spasmed next to Rowan’s head. Lily laid a hand on the swollen skin as she suffered through another contraction.
“Poor thing,” she whispered, torn for a moment and wanting to help.
She saw the look of distaste on Rowan’s face as he went back to kicking his way through to the next room. The rest of the coven seemed to collect themselves from their initial shock and joined him. The wax was thick and soft, and it absorbed their blows rather than shattering, making it difficult to move aside.
Lily thought for a moment that the Workers covering the Queen would attack them, but they didn’t. In fact they hardly took any notice at all, and continued on as if blinded by their single task of tending the Queen.
We may not be so lucky with the Sisters, Rowan said in mindspeak, picking up on Lily’s thoughts.
He broke through the wall of wax and put Lily down. Protect Juliet, Lily told them in mindspeak. She’s the only one besides me who can’t fight.
Breakfast, Caleb, and Una formed a circle, keeping her and Juliet in the center as they moved out. The rest of the Queen’s abdomen lay alongside them as they moved forward.
Careful, Tristan warned them all in mindspeak.
There were lines of little Workers scuttling to and from the body of the Queen on the floor and the coven had to tread gently not to step on them. The Queen’s body was at least thirty feet long and ten feet high and supported by wax buttresses that obscured the end of it.
Stop, Rowan said, raising a hand. There was movement up ahead. Rowan looked at Caleb and tilted his head. Caleb slid forward silently at Rowan’s command and melted in the shadows. A few moments passed.
I think it’s safe, Caleb said. Just move slowly.
They came forward and saw Warrior Sisters lined up at the end of the Queen’s abdomen. Lily stopped short when she saw them, and then noticed that these Sisters looked different. They had lighter bodies, wore no armor, and they didn’t carry whips; nor did they seem to see anything but the task before them. With each spasm of the Queen’s abdomen, a translucent white egg the size of a backpack dropped from her tail into the waiting arms of a Sister. After the large egg was birthed, the Sister waited with her other hand held aloft for a drizzle of tiny Worker eggs that she caught and cupped protectively to her chest before hurrying off with the whole clutch.
I think I’m going to be sick, Una said.
Steady, Rowan replied. Everyone stay calm. Act like you belong here and they probably won’t even notice us.
Rowan led them past the docile line of Sisters to one of the less-used hexagonal tunnels that led upward. The passage let out into a storage chamber that had two dozen wax sarcophaguses. As they weaved their way through them, Lily saw male bodies squirming inside. Their pale and heavily muscled limbs were twisted up with black veined wings. She was glad they all had their faces turned away.
Drones, Tristan said. Keep moving, Ro.
The next ramp opened into a huge cavern. Towers of wax held six-sided cells, each with the dark shape of a growing Sister just behind a protective film. Along one wall Sisters were bringing the newly laid eggs to empty cells. Next to them, Sisters were bricking up the cells with wax from their mandibles. Rowan led them away from the action.
They made their way up a series of ramps and tunnels, and the smell of pollen and honey grew stronger. Workers by the millions buzzed in and out like a black fog. She was scared to inhale and possibly swallow one of them. The walls dripped with honey and Lily could taste pollen dust, bittersweet and chalky, in the back of her throat.
These Workers are coming back to the Hive from the outside, Caleb said. Where are they coming in?
Breakfast spotted it first—a black haze of bee bodies that obscured what was probably the exit. The coven made its way there slowly. True Warrior Sisters, the big-bodied, thick-armored, whip-carrying kind, hovered around the exit. They perched on the dripping walls and licked the honey with their long, tubular tongues. Their heads twitched lightning fast, constantly on alert, but their senses were directed out into the world beyond, not back inside the hive.
This is insane, Breakfast said in mindspeak. Lily felt his heartbeat quicken.
A Warrior Sister detached from the wall and landed in front of the coven with a smacking sound. Her human hand reached back to milk her stinger for venom as she tasted the air, uncertain and trying to decide if there was a threat. She paused, transfixed on Rowan, who stood point. His chest was pumping with blood and breath.
Lily could feel fear rising in her coven like a swelling tidewater that lifted them, weightless and kicking, off the safety of the shore. The rolling draft from a million shivering wings spun the scent of panic throughout the hive in an instant. The rest of the Warrior Sisters by the entrance turned as one.
Rowan was the first to empty his heart of fear and goad the rest of the frozen coven into action.
Move.
Lily felt herself gathered up against Rowan’s chest before the coven swept forward with preternatural speed that blinded her.
They made it outside the hive and into a dark forest before they were caught by dozens of armored bodies. Lily had the chance to catch half a thought going through Rowan’s head.
They’re moving too fast . . . before she felt herself ripped from his arms.
“Lily—no!” he screamed, his hands grasping at her forearms, her wrists, and then sliding to the tips of her fingers and releasing with a snap as they were separated. Lily saw a bright spot at the base of the Warrior Sisters’ throats and knew that under their skin they must have willstones, and that a witch must be fueling them.
Rowan reared up from under a cluster of shiny black armor and yellow-and-black tiger-striped skin, wrenching heads from necks and tearing off wings and limbs in a blur of fury and desperation. No matter how many he killed, more Warrior Sisters came at him. Lily felt a barbed hand grabbing the back of her neck and slamming her down to her knees. The ground was dry and prickly with fallen needles. She looked up and saw her coven fighting among the trunks of colossal redwood trees. Her coven had formed a circle around Juliet to protect her, but their strength was failing.
Lily. Save us, Una pleaded in mindspeak. She was covered in Workers, each of them poised and ready to sting. They were holding back, waiting for the order from their witch.
Lily took a breath and the wind followed, spinning and screaming as it fell toward her. Digging deep, she searched for anything left inside to give her coven.
Lily, don’t, Rowan said. You’ll be using what you need to stay functioning. Your body will shut down and you’ll die.
The Warrior Sisters looked at her. The air stopped dead, debris hanging suspended in the air, as Lily prepared to drain herself dry and transmute the last of her strength.
“You can’t win, Lily Proctor,” said a familiar voice. “You’ll only get your coven killed if you keep fighting.”
Lily raised her eyes and saw Grace being held aloft by a host of Warrior Sisters. Her black willstone was surrounded by a halo of eerie purple-green light as it transmuted the energy she was feeding her claimed. The Sisters brought Grace to the forest floor. She stepped down from their inter-clasped hands with such practiced ease it was clear she’d done it an uncountable number of times before.
“You have no pyre and nothing left to give your already-overtaxed coven, while my claimed are fresh for a fight,” Grace continued, stepping forward smoothly.
“Your claimed,” Lily snarled. “I thought you didn’t do that here.”
“I said we don’t claim people here. The Woven are not people,” Grace said. “Tell your mechanics to stop struggling. You’re vastly outnumbered and out of options.”
Lily sagged between the two Warrior Sisters holding her by the arms. She reabsorbed the dregs of her strength and the witch wind let go of its half-drawn breath, allowing the floating debris to fall back to earth. Lily’s heart continued to beat, her nerves kept firing, but every muscle went lax with exhaustion.
Rowan bucked against the hands restraining him. Grace nodded once and he was released. Stumbling with fatigue, Rowan pitched himself forward and fell to his knees in front of Lily, trying to pull her away from her captors and into his arms. Another nod from Grace, and the Warrior Sisters backed off and let him. He ran his hands lightly over Lily, scanning her.
“You see, Toshi, as touching as Rowan’s display may seem, he’s actually her slave,” Grace said.
Lily’s head snapped around and she saw Toshi being brought to the ground by the Warrior Sisters. His uneasy look and stumbling steps made it clear he’d never traveled by Hive before.
“It isn’t love. If she dies, he’s left without his addiction,” Grace continued, acting the part of benevolent teacher. “I spared you a lifetime of dependency and servitude.”
Toshi nodded and put on a studious face. “I see. Yes. Of course you’re right, Grace.”
Lily gave him a sad smile. He looked shell-shocked and sorry. Ivan had been right. Toshi hadn’t known how Bower City worked, and now that he did it was too late. The Hive ran Bower City, but Grace controlled the Hive.
Lily had to look away, and as she did she saw a flash of white and a long, pale tail disappearing behind one of the towering redwoods. Lily shook her head, knowing she must be delirious. That couldn’t be who she thought it was.
They’re trying to separate us, Caleb said.
Lily looked and saw Juliet being pulled out of Caleb’s protective grip. Lily started to panic. Out of all of them, Juliet was the most vulnerable. The Hive could sense that, and she knew they were going to exploit it. But Juliet was not the type to shut her mouth and go quietly.
“You’re not saving Toshi, you’re saving yourself,” Juliet said bitterly to Grace as she struggled against the Sister’s grip. “Your law against claiming is to keep another witch from gathering together a coven powerful enough to challenge you.”
“There is no coven powerful enough to challenge me,” Grace said, her eyes blazing. “My coven is the Woven. I own this continent.”
Lily felt a collective moment of understanding dawn on her coven. Finally, all the pieces fit together.
“You use the speaking stones to communicate with them—no. To control them,” Lily said, trying to keep Grace talking and draw it out as long as she could. “That’s why the Woven don’t go underground. Going underground would cut them off from your orders to keep every other witch behind her walls. Your orders to kill, kill, kill.”
Grace caught a whiff of Lily’s mockery and sneered. “Well, they are simple things,” she replied. “Best to give them simple orders.”
“Simple minds are probably easier to claim, too. You don’t even have to touch their willstones, do you?”
“The lower species have a less defined sense of self. The Hive doesn’t even see themselves as individuals, and neither do the wild Woven. They don’t have will, not the way we know it. They wouldn’t be much good to me if they did.”
Lily forced herself to sound admiring. “Creating Woven so they grow willstones inside their bodies was sheer genius. But I bet remote claiming through the speaking stones has some flaws. Some of the higher Woven have will, and you couldn’t fully claim them, not without their consent, and not without touching their willstones. They’ve resisted and broken free from you, haven’t they?”
Grace smiled slowly. “There have been a few breeds that were useful at the start and then harder to control after a few generations.”
“The Pack. The Pride. The Coyotes—I bet the Coyotes were the first to break free. The Pack and the Pride would have stronger instincts to follow because they already follow an alpha,” Lily said. “That’s why you eventually switched back to insects with the Hive. They don’t even have a concept for disobedience, do they?”
“Enough about my coven,” Grace said, growing impatient. She snapped her fingers at a tight cluster of Warrior Sisters, and they parted to reveal another passenger among them. “Let’s discuss yours.”
Carrick stepped forward. His shoulders were hunched and his head was cocked like a crow’s. Lily went stock-still. Just seeing Carrick was enough to steal the heat from her blood.
“He’s not mine,” Lily rasped, her disgust at the thought evident.
“I know,” Grace replied. “Which brings us to the reason I’ve kept you alive this long. Why I had my Hive retrieve you instead of kill you to begin with.” Grace folded her hands neatly. “Explain to me how there can be one Lillian Proctor here in front of me, and another in Salem. I tried to play nice, but Toshi couldn’t seem to charm the information out of you. Carrick wouldn’t tell me, and I suspect his witch—the other Lillian—wouldn’t mind killing him if he tried. I think I’ve played nice long enough. Explain how there can be two of you, and I’ll let this one live.”
Grace tilted her head and two of the Warrior Sisters hauled Juliet away from the group and pushed her down on her knees in front of Lily.
“No—she’s not mine, either. She’s not my claimed,” Lily stammered. The panic she felt grew wings and flapped around in her chest like a broken bird. “You don’t need to hurt her. Please.”
Grace waved Lily’s pleading away, her frustration mounting. “I know she’s not yours. You’ve had your true mechanics carrying her about, so I can see that you are unable to fuel her. But you still love her like a sister, don’t you?”
Lily nodded numbly, her eyes locked with Juliet’s.
Juliet gave Lily a sad smile, her breath fluttering on the edge of a sob. She looked younger, like when they were little kids. Her skin was so pale her wide eyes look bruised. Lily had seen that stricken, terrified look on her sister’s face many times, but always when it was Lily who was close to death, and not herself. Lily would give anything for that to be the case right now. A thousand times over she’d rather be the one to be in danger. Not Juliet. Lily scrounged through her head for something—anything. She looked at Rowan, but he shook his head at her, his eyes as desperate as hers. He had nothing left. The rest of her coven had nothing left. There was only one person Lily could ask for help, and Lily couldn’t believe it had taken this long to think of her.
Lillian. They have Juliet.
She felt Lillian’s drowsy mind rousing itself from sleep. Lily felt Lillian’s pain wash over her like lava, before Lillian shielded her from it.
“I’m waiting,” Grace said through clenched teeth.
“Okay. Yes. There are two of us. Two Lillians,” Lily said, ready to tell her everything to buy time. “More than two. There are an infinite number of mes, of yous—of everyone—in other universes.”
“You sound like a shaman,” Grace said, laughing. Then her brow furrowed, half believing.
Lily, I’m lighting a fire. Hold on, Lillian said in mindspeak. Carrick will assist you.
Carrick started to ease himself away from the Warrior Sisters around him. Lily felt Rowan stiffen as if he were listening to someone else’s mindspeak.
Carrick has flint and steel, Rowan told Lily. We need to make a distraction so he has enough time to scrape off a spark.
“Yes, a shaman. A shaman taught me,” Lily blurted out. She cast around for something to cause a distraction.
“A shaman taught you what? How to farsee? Spirit walk? How can either of those things explain the fact that there are two Lillians?” Grace asked. “I’ve been alive for a very long time, but I’ve never seen this before.”
A flash of white slid around the back of a redwood. Lily was desperate enough to try something that was still just an inkling, rather than an idea. She reached out to the confluence of scents, and the sharp but strange sensations she’d experienced many months ago when she found a willstone buried under the pale coyote’s skin. It was the thing that had put the idea of going west into her head in the first place—a connection that she hadn’t imagined possible. It had taken her this long to understand.
Pale One. Help me.
“I really hate waiting,” Grace said sadly.
Lily knew that there was a universe where everything worked out perfectly. Somewhere in the worldfoam a version of her had realized that the pale coyote was one of her claimed earlier. Somewhere in the worldfoam a version of Lillian had been awake, with a fire already going, and she’d been able to intervene sooner. But this was neither of those worlds. And Lily ran out of time. The sisters shared a last desperate look.
“It’s okay,” Juliet whispered, her huge eyes full of forgiveness that Lily would never believe she’d deserved.
Grace didn’t even flinch when the Warrior Sister broke Juliet’s neck with one sharp tug. Lily watched the light go out of her sister’s brown eyes. From life to death in a moment, and it was as if the body that fell to the ground wasn’t even her sister. Couldn’t be her sister. No. Her sister was a joyful spirit, full of warmth and hope, not a blank rag doll lying small and broken on a bed of dry redwood needles.
“Juliet?” Lily whispered. She’d get up. She wasn’t dead. “Juliet!” she shouted, as if to wake her.
“Toshi. Get her largest willstone,” Grace said. “Leave her the other two so she’s conscious enough to feel what I’m going to do to her.”
Lily didn’t know if it was her scream or Lillian’s scream or if both of them were screaming at the same time, but the sound was inside her and outside her and everywhere in a moment. Everything seemed to slow down. Everything went red with rage.
The pale coyote leapt over Lily’s head and attacked Grace. The Hive turned as one to their fallen witch, and as they did, Carrick brought his hands together and cast a spark at Lily’s feet. The resinous needles that lay around her erupted into flame and Lily stood up, planting her feet in the fire and drawing the heat into her willstone. A Warrior Sister backhanded Carrick. He fell to the ground and lay still.
Lily’s witch wind boomed. The redwoods creaked in the sudden gust. Grace looked up at Lily with fear in her eyes.
Gift me, Rowan begged. I’ll tear her apart.
No. The Hive is too strong. I can’t lose you, too.
“This isn’t over,” Lily promised Grace. She drew as much heat into her as she could, summoned her covens’ willstones, and catapulted them all across the worldfoam and back to her universe.