“The queen is hungry,” Edgar snapped. “Feed her.”
I barely had time to wonder what was on the menu before Shannon and Eva each wrapped an arm around me and propelled me toward the enormous ant.
I came face-to-face with Raven, who had Jaci and Ramona flanking her. They lined us up and then pushed us closer to the ant’s mouth.
The queen’s mandibles reached for us, but it didn’t seem like she was really that hungry. More like she’d already eaten a huge meal but would take the last cookie on the tray just because it was there.
Raven’s eyes went wide with fright and she struggled to free herself from her captors. She managed to wriggle loose and then she ran from sight. I stared after her, stunned. My fellow virago had deserted me when I needed her most. I knew she was a pacifist, but that was taking things a little too far.
The queen was disinclined to chase after her food. Instead, she turned her attention to me. Without warning, her giant pinchers snapped an inch from my face. My long red hair was probably the equivalent of waving a red flag at a bull. I didn’t want to test that theory.
When she didn’t manage to grab me, she spewed something noxious, but I ducked just in time. It sprayed all over Shannon.
I nearly gagged when I looked up and saw Shannon licking the stuff off her hands with every appearance of enjoyment. Eva joined her and licked the stuff off Shannon’s arm like it was an ice cream cone. Ramona scooped some off the ground and ate big handfuls.
I used their momentary distraction to break free, but then Jaci ran toward me. I thought she was going to tackle me, but instead she joined her friends in a fungus feast.
I spotted a door directly behind the queen ant, but she wasn’t going to let me simply waltz on through. I looked around, but there wasn’t anything I could use as a weapon.
Queenie lunged at me again and I jumped out of the way. Suddenly, she was more motivated to eat me. She attacked again and her huge mandible caught me a glancing blow and knocked me to the ground.
I was lying there, stunned and out of breath, trying to figure out my next move, when she charged again. What worked on a monster-size ant?
A lantern, probably dropped by one of the Lovelies in her haste to chow down on the disgusting fungus, lay on the ground just out of my reach. I rolled over and grabbed it and held it up in front of the ant, but it barely seemed to register with her.
She was quick, but I was quicker as I rolled again, away from her, and then onto my feet. My only hope was to run for that door. I hated to leave Eva, but I didn’t have any other choice.
I ran, faster than I’d ever run before, with the queen behind me and gaining on me. I made it to the door, but to my horror, it wouldn’t budge.
I spotted a metal curtain rod and grabbed it, just as the queen pinned me to the ground. I dropped the curtain rod.
A large drop of slime from the ant’s jaws hung an inch away, and as I turned my head from the stench, I saw the rod, just out of reach. I stretched my left arm and grabbed it.
Ms. Love picked that moment to reappear, directly between the queen and me. She ran at me, fist raised, but I grabbed her arm and bent it back until she grimaced with pain.
“Don’t hurt her!” Edgar screamed. I wasn’t sure if he was talking about his pet or his mom.
I shoved his mom straight into his pet’s jaws. There was a loud scream and I looked away.
When I looked back again, Ms. Love was gone. There was a pool of blood seeping into the dirt and next to it was a single finger. I bent over and threw up.
My stomach was finally empty and I glanced over my shoulder to see the mutant ant bearing down on me again. The queen was still hungry. As the ant’s jaws descended, I hit her with the curtain rod with all my might.
There was a shriek of pain and then a rain of noxious red spores.
I wiggled away from her body before it collapsed on me, and then tried not to throw up again. The ant’s head had exploded.
I took the stairs two at a time. I needed to get help, just in case something had happened to Raven. I didn’t want to think about what that something might be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
At the top of the stairs,
I could hear footsteps. Help had arrived! But when I opened the door, it was Raven.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said. “We’ll lock them in the closet until we figure out what to do with them.”
We dragged Edgar into the closet first and then made repeat trips to round up the Lovelies. We left Eva for last.
“I hate to leave her in there with him,” I said.
“It’s not like we have any other choice,” Raven replied.
“I know,” I said. “It’s just, she’s my best friend, you know?”
“I know,” Raven said. “But how do you think Eva would feel if we let her bite someone else?”
“Help me move her.”
“Let’s hurry!” Raven said. “Before Ms. Love gets back.”
“I don’t think she’s coming back,” I replied. She looked puzzled but didn’t ask any questions.
After they were all tucked inside the closet, it was a tight fit. We put a chair under the door handle.
“We’d better check in with Flo,” Raven said. “She’s probably frantic.”
Raven hung up her cell. “Flo says they’re on their way. But we should leave the building. Just in case they get out of the closet.”
We were outside when Andy, Dominic, and Flo arrived a few minutes later. “Where are the girls?” Flo asked.
“Locked in the closet with Edgar,” Raven answered.
“Are you okay?” Dominic asked his sister. “No injuries?”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Quit fussing.”
“Jessica, you call Rose and tell her we have enough fungus for an antidote,” Flo ordered.
I reached in my jacket, but then I remembered. “I lost it in the cavern,” I said.
“Here, use mine.” Raven held her phone out to me but wouldn’t meet my eyes.
I took it from her reluctantly. She’d choked under pressure, and I didn’t want to have anything to do with her at the moment. Viragos needed to be able to count on each other. I couldn’t figure out if she’d run because she was scared or because she was a pacifist, but either way, that wasn’t the reaction I wanted from a fellow virago.
I gave Rose the news and she told me that she and Natalie were on their way to the store.
“We need to get Edgar out of that closet before they eat him,” Flo said.
“It would serve him right,” I replied.
“We need answers,” Flo snapped. “And Edgar is the only one around to give them to us.”
We trooped back inside the store and I showed her where we’d stowed the Lovelies and Edgar. She opened the closet door and dragged Edgar out by his collar.
Flo sat him in the office chair. “Talk,” she ordered, but Edgar crossed his arms and remained irritatingly silent.
I was stymied. Why would Edgar want to turn a bunch of girls into zombies in the first place?
“Why did you do it?”
“I needed workers to take care of the queen,” he said. “The fungus made it so the girls were . . . obedient.”
“You turned girls into zombies because you needed help taking care of your pet?” I wanted to slug him, but instead I settled for hurting his feelings. “The queen is dead,” I told him bluntly.
A single tear rolled down Edgar’s face.
“What’s the cure?” I demanded, but he just shrugged in response.
“You’re going to let all those girls remain in that state?” I asked. “I can’t believe that even you are that low.”
But apparently he was. He refused to say anything else and no amount of begging and pleading worked. So we tried threats, bribes, but he still wouldn’t answer one more question.
“I’m tempted to shove him back in there with them,” I said. Low moans came from the closet. I hated to think of Eva slowly disappearing and leaving just a flesh- hungry shell, but if we didn’t do something fast, that’s what would happen.
“We’ll just have to figure it out without him,” Flo said. “Hopefully the antidote will work.”
Natalie, Rose, and Slim arrived.
Slim asked me about the whereabouts of Ms. Love.
“She could be down there in that enormous ant farm,” I said. “But I shoved her in front of the queen. I didn’t see what happened to her. Then I killed the ant queen.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Flo said, and she headed down to the basement with Slim. To my surprise, Rose and Natalie didn’t need the fungus we harvested. They already had an antidote ready. They took vials of the cure into the closet where the Lovelies were trapped.
I paced up and down until they returned. “Did you find a body?” I asked. “I didn’t see whether or not the ant got her.”
“Yes,” Flo said. “At least part of one—a finger. The acting police chief is checking prints now, but we’re pretty sure it belonged to Ms. Love.”
After an agonizing amount of time, Natalie and Rose emerged from the closet.
“Did it work?” I asked.
Dominic took my hand while we waited to hear Rose’s response.
“I won’t know for a few hours.”
“How did you figure out the antidote?” I asked.
Rose replied, “Dominic was a big help.”
“Dominic?”
“He managed to find another bottle of the perfume,” Rose said.
“Where did you get it?”
“Selena,” he said. “That’s where I went.”
“Just to get the perfume,” he added, after a quick look at my face. “I remembered that she had mentioned Edgar had given her some, but she hadn’t bothered to open it yet.”
Rose continued. “I knew it was a fungus in the perfume, and I assumed the treatment would be similar to treatment for other fungal infections. Then, with Natalie’s help, I made a few adjustments.”
“You girls should go on home,” Flo said.
“No way,” I replied.
“I’m staying, too,” Raven said.
Hours passed. I tried not to look at the clock. Rose finally checked on the Lovelies and then came back.
“Did it work?” Raven asked.
“I think so,” she replied. “Eva said she wants a double cheeseburger and the rest of the girls seem hungry for real food, too.”
“At least no one is requesting brains,” Andy commented.
We all had to laugh at that, but it was tired laughter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
We were still trying to
figure out how to tie up a few loose ends.
“What about the mutant queen?” Raven asked. “What are they going to do with the body?”
We all looked at each other. What could you do with the carcass of a fifty-foot-tall killer queen? There was a long silence.
“Shrinking spell,” Natalie finally said. “I’ll do a shrinking spell on her.”
It seemed like hours before Slim and Natalie came back up the stairs.
“Well?” Flo asked expectantly.
“All done.”
“You’re sure the spell will hold?” I asked.
Natalie nodded. “I’m sure.”
Flo made a quick, quiet phone call, then hung up. “Slim, why don’t you take everyone to the diner and feed them? They must be starving. I’ll wait here. I need to update the council.”
“What will you tell Mr. Bone?” I asked. Nicholas’s dad was the leader of the city council.
“The truth,” Flo said.
“The truth?” I stared at her. “Will he believe you?”
“You’d be surprised what he’d believe,” she replied, then cracked a smile at my doubtful look. “Jessica, you have a lot to learn about Nightshade.”
I guess I did. Strangely enough, I was looking forward to it.
Raven walked ahead with Slim and Natalie, which left Dominic and me to walk side by side. Things were awkward between us, even though he had been worried about me.
I cleared my throat. “I guess I owe you an apology.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t believe you when you said things weren’t right between you and Selena.”
“You were a little busy trying to save your friend,” he said gently.
When we reached the diner, Slim said, “Lunch is on me.”
We grabbed a booth and Slim whipped up burgers and fries for all of us.
He’d just served us, when Flo, Andy, and the Lovelies walked in. Shannon, Jaci, and Ramona seemed a little dazed, but otherwise back to normal.
Flo guided them gently into a booth, but Eva walked right up to us on her own.
“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” she said.
I jumped up. “Eva,” I said, “do you remember . . .”
“That I was a zombie? Sure,” she said.
I hugged her. “I am so sorry that I didn’t figure it out sooner,” I said.
“Are you kidding?” she said. “I’ve always wanted to write my own horror novel and now I have actual experience. It’s better than a movie.”
“I’m so glad you’re back to your old self,” I said. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said. Then her attention wandered and I followed her gaze to see who she was looking at.
Evan and a couple of his friends were walking in the front door. He gave us a wave but didn’t come over to talk.
Eva’s hopeful smile vanished.
“He has a right to be mad at me,” she said. “I was mean to him. I completely ignored him. For Edgar.” She shuddered. “What’s going to happen to them? Ms. Love and Edgar, I mean?”
“Ms. Love either escaped or was eaten,” I told her. “I’m hoping for the second one. But Nightshade City Council has Edgar in custody.”
Eva sighed and glanced over at Evan again.
“Go talk to him,” I urged. “Tell him what happened.” His two friends had left the table to feed quarters into the jukebox.
“He’ll think I’m insane,” she said.
“If he does, then at least you’ll know,” I told her.
“Know what?” She tilted her head, puzzled.
“That he’s not the right guy for you,” I said. “He’s alone right now. Now go.” I gave her a little shove.
It didn’t take any more encouragement. She went over and said something. Evan looked up, seemed to be considering something, and then gestured toward the empty seat next to him.
“That was nice what you did,” Dominic said.
“She deserves a little happiness after what she’s been through,” I said.
“So do you,” he said.
The moment was interrupted when Natalie came in with Poe on her arm.