Endocrine Kingdom

39. Insects

Olivia awoke to the sounds of singing. She excitedly leapt out of her bed in the log cabin. In no time at all, she was promptly dressed in her blue sweater and jeans. She looked at her hooded cloak hanging in the corner of the cabin.

"Your time will come again, old friend," she said to the cloak in a mock gravelly voice. She turned to a table behind her and looked down at Mother Martyr's veil. Davy had previously asked if she wanted to take it for herself and make use of its lightning powers. Olivia had declined. Her powers were cool enough already, and she wasn't too keen on having to carry some crazy lady's nasty old hat around everywhere anyway. It was probably better for them to keep it in the cabin for safekeeping. She smiled and picked up a plate before going out the front door.

She was in a bright, green forest, a vivid blue sky shining overhead. She bounded down the dirt path in front of her as colorful insects flew up to greet her, singing in perfect harmony.

It's such a wonderful morning!

Sunshine all abound!

There's no way I can lose my smile,

When I know that you're around!

Olivia blushed as she approached the nearest tree. She held up her plate and three slices of sizzling, freshly cooked bacon plopped down right on top of it. As she continued down the path, Olivia struggled to imagine how anyone could not immediately fall in love with a meat forest.

She passed Mandy the spider, who gave a friendly wave with one of her eight appendages.

"Good morning, Olivia," Mandy said. "You are rockin' that sweater, girl!"

"Thanks," Olivia replied graciously. "Did you have a good night?"

Mandy gave Olivia a wicked grin. "You could say that," she chuckled. "Terrence and I had some fun with some friends."

"Oh you two," Olivia laughed. "Hope you stay out of trouble."

"Heh, don't worry. We will," Mandy chortled as Olivia continued down the path. Olivia had failed to notice the cluster of feathers stuck to Mandy's hairy mandibles or the ripped black tank top at Mandy's feet.

Olivia finally reached a wooden picnic table in front of a large tree. Sitting at the table, not yet completely awake, but eating a bowl of cereal was Davy. Olivia sat down next to Davy as the insects encircled the two of them, still singing about sunshine and smiles.

"Good morning," Davy said.

"Good morning, buddy," Olivia replied. She began to tear into her bacon. "How could you guys ever not love this place as much as I do?" she asked.

"It used to look kind of different," Day answered. "The first time we were here, everyone was trying to scare us. Things are a little different now that Steve owns the place."

A door opened up in the large tree and Steve stepped out. He was wearing a robe and holding a cup of coffee and was clearly not happy to be awake. A group of butterflies flew up to him and continued to sing.

"Honestly, I think I liked it better when you were screaming at me," he said to the butterflies.

A shiny blue dragonfly wearing a miniature top hat flew up to Steve. "But we were just acting then," it sang to Steve in a comically high-pitched voice. "We love to sing, and we love you, Steeeeeeve!"

Steve grumbled and swatted the dragonfly away. He sat down at the table across from Davy. "When are we going to do something?" he asked indignantly. "It's been like a week."

"Yeah," Olivia interjected. She looked up at the forest around her in wide-eyes wonder. "A week of magic!"

Davy understood Steve's agitation. He had a feeling that once he came back home to Bayou City, he would receive some sort of sign on where to go next. But Steve was right. They had been back a week, and there had been nothing. Davy needed something soon. He needed an excuse to keep not going to his law school classes, though he would never say that out loud.