by Kate O'Hearn
Astraea had never felt so small and insignificant in her entire life. All the queens loomed above her as she was pushed forward. Hissing and spitting sounds rose louder all around her. She didn’t have to understand their language to know they were threats.
“Come forward,” a voice called.
The mass of queens parted, giving Astraea a clear view of what lay ahead. The First Queen.
Astraea stopped and stared, horrified by the sight before her. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t breathe. She had never seen anything so terrifying in all her life. The queen was impossibly large. Easily three or four times larger than Melissa. Her front half did look like Astraea’s insect friend, but the other half was completely different. The queen’s distended abdomen was grotesquely long and swollen and seemed to ripple as though there were something moving inside. Astraea couldn’t see what was happening at the back end because of all the Mimics hovering around. But if she had to guess, Astraea thought the queen was laying eggs.
“You have been looking for me?” the First Queen asked. “Well, here I am, Astraea.”
Once again Tibed looked back at her and grinned. “This is going to be wonderful. Your death will start the end of your family’s rule.”
He strutted forward until he reached the First Queen. He bowed. “Your Majesty, I am Tibed, the one who has given you Titus.”
The First Queen bent down until her head was just before him. “You are the one that betrayed your people.” Her purple eyes narrowed.
“I serve only you.”
The First Queen rose again. “I hate traitors of any kind.” A large foreleg shot forward with lightning speed and caught Tibed in a brutal grip. She hoisted him off the ground.
“Your Majesty,” he cried. “Please, I helped you!”
“We did not need your help, Titan!” She tossed Tibed across the chamber and screeched.
Astraea watched in horror as several queens charged at Tibed. She couldn’t see what happened next, but she could hear Tibed screaming, and then there was silence.
Astraea turned away, looking only at the queen.
“Bring her forward.”
The young queens started to shove Astraea forward. Each step brought her closer to the First Queen. Finally she arrived and had to look up almost to the ceiling to see the First Queen’s head.
“Your turn,” the First Queen hissed.
Astraea started to scream.
30
AS JAKE AND THE OTHERS prepared to attack the city, Zephyr returned to the group. She touched down, covered in a film of foamy sweat.
“Are you all right?” Triana cried.
“No!” Zephyr cried. “I’m as far from all right as you can get! We’re in so much trouble! There are Risen Queens everywhere! I mean everywhere! Not to mention all the Mimics and Shadow Titans! Although it’s nighttime, the city is lit up like it’s day. There had to be thousands of Mimics, all gathered outside a big building. It was surrounded by Shadow Titans at least four rows thick. Then some more queens arrived. I thought for sure they would see me, but they were focused on getting into the building.”
“What did she say?” Jake asked Render. “Please tell me.”
While Render translated Zephyr’s words, Vulturnus started to pace. “That building must be where the First Queen is.”
Zephyr nodded. “Before the other queens arrived, I watched the queen that took Astraea carry her into it.” Zephyr shook her head in pain. “She looked so small and so scared. I wanted to slam down on the ground and drown them all! But I couldn’t risk the queen killing Astraea.”
“If all the surviving Risen Queens are gathering together, then the spawning is nearly finished,” Melissa said. “Soon they will be old enough to move to their own worlds. They will be given a number of Mimics to take with them, and then they will spread.”
“If they do that, there will be no stopping them,” Vulturnus said. “World after world will be overrun by them. Millions of innocent people will die.”
“Billions,” Jake said. “More than that. Earth has just over seven billion people. I don’t know about Titus or Xanadu, but that is a lot of people. All enslaved or worse.”
“We must get Astraea out of there,” Zephyr said.
Darek looked at the freed prisoners. “Maybe some of them should go back to Xanadu or Titus to plead with Jupiter to help us. We have to tell him what we’ve seen and what is happening. It must be stopped before it’s too late.”
“He won’t listen to them,” Cylus said. “Pegasus left ages ago. He would have found Jupiter and told him what we’ve discovered. Plus all the prisoners we’ve freed and sent back. Jupiter and the others know what’s happening here, but they still haven’t come. It’s just us.”
“We can fight,” one of the prisoners called. “We may not be many, but we are ready to stop the Mimics.”
“And,” Jake added, “Chiron and the others are around here somewhere.”
“Plus there’s me,” Melissa added. “And that big guy over there.” She indicated Lergo.
“There are enough of us if we are careful,” Cylus said. “So let’s stop talking and get moving.”
They started toward the city. Lergo moved forward and was slithering beside them instead of behind them. As they got closer, the light from the city made the area bright enough for Jake to see by. But with the passing of each step, they knew they were heading into a slaughter. The kind that deep down they knew they couldn’t possibly win.
“Even if we only stop a few queens, that’s still a few worlds that we can save,” Jake said.
“At least until my mother spawns again,” Melissa said. “Or my sisters.”
“That isn’t helping, Melissa,” Jake said to the Fallen Queen.
“Oh, sorry,” Melissa said. “Yes, let’s stop my sisters.”
They picked up more stones as they walked and used the last of their venom to coat them. Nesso tried to give more, but she was out.
“I’m sssorry,” she said softly.
“Don’t be,” Jake said, stroking her softly. “You’ve been awesome.”
Just before they reached the first houses, they stopped and huddled together. “I’ve been thinking,” Tryn said. “If we go charging in, they will get us fairly quickly. I suggest we try to sneak in.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Jake cried. “Have you seen all of us? We can’t sneak in. How do you expect to hide Lergo?”
“I don’t,” Tryn said. “But what if Angie asks Lergo to go in first and he does his Lergo thing of smashing buildings and squishing Mimics and Shadow Titans?” Tryn looked over to Cylus. “Would you, Render, and Darek take charge of the prisoners? Divide them up and from hidden places start taking out Mimics. The rest of us will try to find another way into the First Queen’s building.”
Cylus nodded. “Good plan.” He looked at the other centaurs and then the prisoners. “All of you, come with me. We’ll distract everyone while they go for Astraea.”
Zephyr snorted. “You do all realize that they already know about us, right? I mean, that queen came into our camp and took Astraea. She saw Lergo; she saw the centaurs and me. They will be expecting us.”
“We don’t have much choice,” Tryn said. “We must get Astraea away from there.”
“Yes, we must,” Zephyr agreed. “All I’m saying is, ours won’t be a surprise attack.”
Vulturnus nodded. “But they don’t know what we’re capable of. Let’s go get my sister!”
* * *
As agreed, Angie sat high on Lergo and directed the snake to go first. When it slithered past everyone, Jake felt sick about asking a girl his sister’s age to lead a monster into battle. But with everything at stake, they didn’t have much choice.
“Angie, hold on tight!” Jake called before they moved off.
“I will. Go get Astraea!”
The rest of them followed closely behind the slithering snake. When they moved past homes and entered a more built-up area, they parted. The centaurs galloped ahea
d with their groups of rescued prisoners running with them, and moved into positions around the palace.
Tryn and Jake used their boards, and Triana and Vulturnus rode Zephyr. “Follow me,” Zephyr said as she climbed higher above the brightly lit city. “The palace is just ahead.”
Melissa was flying with them. When Jake looked over, he was sure he could somehow detect fear on the Fallen Queen’s triangular face.
“I don’t think we stand much chance,” he said softly to Nesso.
“But we will be together to the end,” Nesso said.
“Yes, we will.”
Up ahead was a building that looked much larger than the palace he’d seen on Titus, or any of the libraries or universities from home. He doubted even Brutus the giant could do much damage to it. “It’s a fortress!” he called.
“Every fortress has a weakness,” Tryn said. “This place was built by the indigenous people, and we know they didn’t believe in locks. So there must be plenty of ways in.”
The sky around them was free of the flying queens as the group neared the palace. Zephyr flew to the rear of the building. “I found a place that’s sheltered. Follow me.”
They touched down in the treed area. The back of the palace loomed, immense before them. Windows lined the wall, and light shone out from within.
“Why aren’t there any Shadow Titans back here?” Jake asked.
“I don’t know,” Vulturnus said. “Perhaps they didn’t think we’d ever get this close.”
“That,” Jake said darkly as he looked around. “Or this is a trap.”
Crossing a narrow path, they reached the wall of the building. When they approached the nearest window and peered in, they received the shock of their lives.
“Look how many queens there are,” Zephyr cried. “I saw a few, but not that many!”
Jake didn’t need to understand Zephyr to realize what she said. They were all shocked at the number of Risen Queens in the building.
“Look, there’s Astraea!” Triana pointed to the middle of the room. “Right there; you can see her just between those queens.…”
It was difficult to see Astraea because of all the tall queens around her. But occasionally they could catch glimpses of her being shoved forward by the queen directly behind her.
“She’s bleeding,” Jake said.
“Yes,” Melissa said. “That’s because of these.…” She showed the sharp spines on her praying mantis foreleg. “My sister would have carried her in these.”
They followed Astraea as best they could as she was pushed forward. When she stopped, they all heard her screams through the glass.
Melissa’s head was taking up most of the window as she and Jake peered into the room. She turned to him. “I think she just saw my mother.”
Tryn looked at Melissa. “What will the First Queen do to her?”
Melissa lowered her head. “You don’t want to know.”
“I will tell you,” a voice said lightly. “But you won’t like the answer, spawn.”
They all turned and saw that they were surrounded by hundreds of Mimics and Shadow Titans.
Jake looked up at Melissa. “Tell them to stay back.”
Melissa gave the order, but the Mimics didn’t follow. They kept advancing. “We’re too close to my mother; they won’t listen to me.”
“That’s right, you filthy fallen failure. You will die here with these spawn.” The Mimic looked at the others around him. “It is time to end this.”
31
“SILENCE!” THE FIRST QUEEN SCREECHED.
The young queen behind Astraea smashed her in the back and knocked her to the floor.
“That’s better,” the First Queen said. “I am Langli, and you have come to kill me.”
Astraea turned to look where Tibed had been tossed, but there was no sign of the traitor. All the queens that had attacked him were standing again.
“Tibed served his purpose and is now gone,” the First Queen said. She lowered her head closer to Astraea. “You have come to kill me. Isn’t that so?”
Astraea remained silent as the First Queen’s head hovered before her.
“You have much to answer for, young Titan,” Langli continued. “You have repeatedly killed my children, denied them their food, and destroyed two precious queens. That is unforgivable.”
Astraea heard herself talking back to the queen and had no idea where the words were coming from. “You have invaded my world and taken my people. You have even more to answer for!”
The First Queen’s head rolled back, and she screeched loudly enough to rattle the glass in the building.
The Risen Queen behind her pounced on Astraea and picked her up in her sharp forelegs. She carried Astraea forward and lifted her up until she and Langli were face-to-face, only a hand’s breadth apart.
“You will die, Astraea of Titus. Not like Tibed, whose death was quick. You will die slowly and it will be painful. But not before you witness the end of one other.” The queen looked up and screeched.
The young queen placed Astraea down on the floor at Langli’s legs. Then she backed up as one of her sisters entered. She was holding someone in her forelegs. Astraea dreaded finding out who it was. But then her horror became complete when she saw it was Riza. The Xan was unconscious and limp in the Risen Queen’s vicious grip.
“Riza!” Astraea tried to run to her, but Langli’s sharp foreleg caught hold of her in its tight, insectile grip and lifted her off the ground.
“You are going nowhere, foolish spawn. I told you, you will bear witness to the end of the last powerful Xan. And then you too will follow her into oblivion.”
Astraea was held firmly in Langli’s foreleg as the young queen carried Riza forward. The Xan had lost her pearlish glow and was covered in slime that Astraea recognized as the same slime from a Mimic nursery. Riza had been used like Emily, to feed grub queens.
Langli’s purple eyes thinned to slits as she peered at Astraea. “Did you really think you could defeat us? The powerful Xan couldn’t, and countless others before you couldn’t. What makes you think you were so much better than them?”
This time Astraea said nothing. The grip around her waist warned that if she said one thing wrong, she would be crushed without hesitation.
“Nothing to say, spawn?” Langli taunted.
Astraea looked at Riza and said, “Why do you need to hurt the Xan? Can’t you spawn on your own?”
The queen gave a strange impression of a laugh. “Of course I can spawn without them. But with the Xan’s power, I can produce many more strong eggs. Then, being the generous mother that I am, I feed what’s left of the Xan to my young queens. We all share in the banquet of power. This time, I was fortunate to have two Xan at my disposal. This has been the biggest spawning ever, and we will now spread across the universe.”
The First Queen focused on Riza. “It is time for me to regain my strength so that I may bear even more queens.” With her free forearm, she reached out and lifted Riza’s limp body from her daughter’s grip.
Langli looked sideways at Astraea, as though challenging her, as a tendril came out of her chest. It moved slowly forward until it landed on Riza’s arm. The Xan let out a soft whimper.
“Ah,” Langli sighed. “Delicious…”
Astraea watched in horror as Langli’s tendril pulsed and drained power from Riza. She had to do something. Had to stop the queen from killing Riza, even if it meant the loss of her own life.
Astraea started to shout and struggle. This caused the queen to laugh with a sickening, squeaking sound. While she shouted, Astraea carefully moved her arm to her bracelet. She slid open the cover, freeing Frick and Frack.
“Stop! Please, you’re killing Riza!” Astraea prayed the two snakes understood her message. “Pull your tendril back!”
“Why would I do that?” Langli said as she started to close her forearm slowly on Astraea.
Astraea howled as the sharp points cut deeper into her abdomen. The pain drove a
ll thoughts from her mind while the spikes cut into her. She prayed for darkness and an end to the suffering. But it wouldn’t come. She was trapped in the foreleg as the First Queen killed her slowly.
“Please, stop,” Astraea cried weakly.
The First Queen started to laugh, but then a choking sound started. “Wha-what is happening?”
The grip on Astraea loosened and she fell to the ground at the queen’s insectoid feet. Riza landed in a clump beside her. Looking up, Astraea saw her two tiny snakes biting into the tendril.
Langli’s pupils widened until the purple iris could no longer be seen. The queen’s front end started to quiver, and she staggered. She started to screech in twisting agony and sway on her legs as the snake venom took hold.
Astraea caught Riza by her thin wrist and hauled her back just as the First Queen shrieked a final time and crashed down to the floor. She thrashed and convulsed before becoming still.
The young queens in the chamber started to shriek and rock their heads back and forth when they realized their mother was dead. Finally they all turned to Astraea and started to click and hiss.
With her body hurting from the dead queen’s sharp foreleg, Astraea pulled Riza farther away and drew her dagger. She stood no chance against the room full of Risen Queens. Almost in unison, they started to flutter their wing covers and hiss even louder.
“This is it, Riza. I’m sorry I couldn’t save us.”
The queens took several steps forward, and the hissing turned to full, angry-sounding clicks.
In the little time she had left, Astraea thought of all the things she would miss in her life. Her parents, her brothers, and most of all, Zephyr. Her wonderful, funny, and sarcastic four-legged sister. She regretted not seeing Tryn and his beautiful eyes again, or seeing Jake finally make it home to Earth.
So much would be lost in the next minute. All she could do was stand up slowly, hold her head up high, and face whatever came next.
But the attack she expected didn’t happen. Instead, the queens in the chamber turned from her, looked at each other, and started to fight.
