CHAPTER SEVENTEENA Cruel Illusion
The floor beneath my knees looked crusty and neglected. My breath rasped in my lungs, causing white puffs to appear before my face. I shivered against the chill of the deserted hive, not sure how I got there. No sounds echoed from the Outer to distract me or tie me to its influence. Wrapping my arms around myself, I smelled the fading scents of the colony and inhaled their sweetness while I still could. Feeling more precarious than before, the hive swayed in the wind, forcing me to raise my arms for balance. My bones ached and the bloodstained sheet tore as I hauled myself upright. Scraps of cloth littered behind me in a faint trail.
I hadn’t asked to come. A familiar, gentle flicker in my chest indicated a lone bee still walked the hive. Leery of Galves
