Honeybee | Wanda Maximoff {AU}

Chapter Nineteen: Cerana

Music is "Skin and Bones" by Marcelo.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Apis Cerana

Commonly referred to as the eastern honeybee or Asiatic honeybee, Apis Cerana is found in southern and southeastern Asia. Their primary method of communication is the "waggle dance." This dance is performed by workers to let the others in the hive know that they have discovered a rich source of pollen or nectar. The worker bee will briefly reenact the recent journey to a patch of flowers, then extend their antennae to share the "dance sounds," as the frequency of the bee's antennae closely matches the vibration of its wings. After receiving the information from the single worker bee, the others will be able to find that exact patch of flowers.

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Chapter Nineteen: Cerana

Only one place is big enough to hide five hundred bees at short notice, but no one is happy about what that is. It's dark, it's not anywhere near the forest, and it's a place where anyone could walk in and find out. However, it's the only option we have right now.

The occult shop it is.

Getting there is hard, but doing so without hurting any of the bees and not letting any humans see is even harder. After gathering his strength, Stephen works together with Loki to create a bubble-like sphere and a disguise for it. All the bees pile inside--all except for Melizza, of course--and Loki creates an illusion, making the sphere of bees look like a giant balloon. Sure, it's weird to be walking around the town with a huge-ass balloon in tow, but what the hell. I can take a few looks from judgmental adults if it means saving what's left of Melizza's hive.

"How did you find me?" I sign along the way. "How did you know I was in the forest?"

Loki and Stephen turn to each other. "We saw you run out of the dorm building like a bat out of hell," Stephen replies. "I was on the way back from Anesthesiology I, and Loki was heading to the cafeteria."

"We thought you might be in danger, so we followed you," Loki puts plainly.

"Well, it's a good thing you did."

As soon as we get to the occult shop, I push inside, and Stephen carefully pulls the huge balloon in after him. It barely fits through the door, but with some good old-fashioned magical manipulation, it works just fine. I flip the open sign around to the closed side and close the curtains as Loki checks the back rooms for anyone.

"We're clear," he states, returning to the front room.

Stephen pulls the balloon down, and Loki drops the disguise. The sorcerer opens the door to the clear sphere, and slowly lets the five hundred bees fly out. They spread out across the shop, landing on bowls of crystals and bags of herbs, glass cases of magical tools and shelves of figurines. I can hear the soft hum of their voices in my head, but none are distinct. Though much calmer than before, they can still tell that this isn't home.

"This is only temporary," I tell them through the hive mind. "Just until we get rid of the other bees."

"Here are we safe?" one of them asks.

"They will come back!" another states worriedly.

I try to exude calm and confidence as I respond, "You're safe here. Stephen is going to put up magical barriers to keep them out. No one is going to come here, okay? I promise."