He blundered through row after row of womb combs, his blood chilling at the thought of the horrors they unleashed. Desperate now, Toshi ran toward what he hoped was the back wall. His feet made a squelching sound and seemed to stick. He was standing in wax.
Relief over finding the hive quickly gave way to fear as he hurried down the ever-narrowing passageway. The smell of honey grew so strong it made him dizzy. He saw evidence that others had recently come this way in the wax. He followed the footprints left by Lily’s coven to a bottleneck. He climbed through, his heart in his throat, and saw the Queen. She was writhing on her velvet throne, her body twisted and racked with pain.
Toshi hefted his crossbow, aiming it directly between her bulbous, rainbow eyes, and then lowered it. He forced himself to raise the muzzle of his weapon again. His hands shook as he watched her spasm and clutch at her pillow in mute agony. The healer in him wavered, and the one precious second he’d been granted passed him by.
Rough hands grabbed him and wrestled him to the floor, knocking his crossbow out of reach. Toshi saw male torsos under their insectoid heads. The drones had squat bodies that were thick and square as bricks. Bristling hairs stuck up from their shoulders and backs. As they tried to rip off his arms and legs, Toshi noticed their stunted wings would never fly.
He felt his limbs straining as they were pushed into unnatural positions, but they didn’t break. Still full of Lily’s power, Toshi fought back. He reached past the waving tubes in their mouths, grabbed ahold of their hairy, ovoid heads, and started wrenching them around. He rolled, and they rolled with him, pouncing on top of him in a pack and swarming over him.
The knot of them crashed through a wax wall and Toshi felt warm, sticky honey flowing over him. He jumped up to his feet, only to be knocked back again. More drones joined the fight as the sticky, bloody ball of them pushed through another wall. Toshi scrambled to get his feet under him and noticed that he was being pushed back and uphill, away from the Queen’s chamber.
He threw himself against them, pushing and shoving and trying to make his way back as they formed a blockade to steadily inch him out of the hive. He dug in his feet, only to feel them sliding back in the wax. He killed one after another desperately, trying to get back to the Queen.
He tasted fresh air and felt earth under him as the pile rolled. The drones had evicted him from the hive.
Only two wheels of clouds darkened the sky. Only two beams of light pierced their centers. Tasting victory, the Hive surged forward, throwing themselves against their foes with reckless abandon.
Lily was torn. Half of her hung from her iron-and-diamond shackles. Half of her gasped for breath on a pile of ash.
Hang on, said one half of her to the other. Survive this battle, and we can heal you. Toshi can save you.
The part of her left in ashes spoke for the last time.
I have seen myself as many things. I have been the hero and I have been the villain. I may never be a hero again, but at least I can make my final act a heroic one.
I summon Carrick to me. He doesn’t want to come, so I force him. He fights me, his limbs stiff, but my will is stronger. He picks me up in a gruesome parody of a bride and groom, and carries me into the redwood grove. He can feel how hot my skin
is, and he knows what it means. He is not the first mechanic I’ve marched to his own death.
As we near the exit of the hive, we pass by a pile of drones fighting one of Lily’s claimed. The one who can heal me. For a fleeting moment the thought of salvation shines a light in my dark mind. Toshi could cure me. Take all this pain away. I don’t have to die, but the war would go on, and many others would die in my place.
I don’t give Carrick the order to stop. We pass by my last chance at life and I grow hotter until my body bursts into flames. I smile. I choose this for all of them. I choose this for Rowan.
Carrick carries me into the mouth of the hive. Drones step up to stop us, but we have become a blowtorch that scares them away. Carrick would scream in agony if I would let him. But I won’t.
Wax melts as we pass. The walls and ceilings drip and sizzle. We make our way to the Queen’s chamber as the hive dissolves around us. Carrick carries me to the Queen and lays me down beside her. In death I will become the bomb that was denied me.
I think of Rowan. I’m grateful that my final thought is of love.
Time to die.
Half of Lily ended. The other half took refuge in her coven.
She saw Toshi. The fireball of Lillian’s passing was heading right for him. It emerged from the hive and roared toward him. Lily jumped Toshi away before the fire could consume him.
She saw Rowan. He staggered, his heart skipping, when he heard the explosion. He knew Lillian was dead. He looked up into the sky and saw the Hive break ranks just when it was about to be victorious.
She saw Tristan. He wheeled his raptor and aimed his crossbow at a dark clump of Workers, but the tight swarm suddenly dispersed and flew off in every direction before he could fire.
She saw Una. Una felt her lion slow. She cut off one more Warrior Sister’s head, and then turned to see what her lion was looking at. The enemy was running away.
She saw Caleb and Alpha. They stood back to back, fighting a ring of Warrior Sisters who surrounded them. Without warning, the Warrior Sisters dropped their whips and leapt into the sky.
She saw Leto. His left leg was broken. It stuck out awkwardly. He hauled himself up onto his right knee as he watched the retreat, unable to rejoice. Too many dead Walltop soldiers were scattered around him for this win to feel like victory.
She saw Breakfast. He swung his ax and blinked the sweat and soot from his eyes. He saw a flash overhead and paused to look up. The Hive was flying away.
Again, she saw Rowan. Alaric raced past him. He was running toward the main gate of Bower City—and to the pyre that was still ablaze on the ramparts.