CHAPTER 21
I watched the cracks in the ceiling, knowing what was happening on the third floor, in that dark room. No longer Eve—the Queen—waited for her eggs to become larva, then pupa, and finally, fully realized children, the next generation. Soon, the others would be gone, replaced by the new tenants of the Monarch Hotel. And me, their caretaker, along with Marsha … we’d be here too.
Marsha moaned softly and snuggled closer, her hair brushing my chin, her head on my chest. Beneath the blankets, her bare feet rubbed against mine and her arm curled around my waist. She was coming awake, slowly, gradually making her way toward consciousness.
“It’s so cold in here,” she said dreamily.
The windows were covered in ice and caked with snow.
At the foot of the bed, clouds tumbled and spiral
