Page 119 of The Hive Queen

The chatter quiets, and my pulse quickens as we move forward, entering a carved-out area of the cave that is as large as our cabin.

Wax covers the walls, changing the original shape of the nature-made space and conforming it to straight lines and angles. Basketball-sized white orbs pulse gently, illuminating the space in soft light. I lean closer to study the one nearest me, and a shadow stirs within, taking on a humanoid shape.

My eyes widen in shocked horror.

These aren’t lights, they’re eggs.

Based on the picture from the Library book, I expected them to be small. I look around the room, every wall pulsing with light. There have to be a hundred here.

And at the rate they’re growing, by the time they hatch, they’ll be fully mature monsters.

The amulet warms against my chest as the need to burn the place blazes through me. We can’t let a single one of these things hatch.

Elizabeth looks around. “Where is she?”

A quiet buzz fills the air, the only warning as the Hive Queen swoops in from above, catching the older woman and flinging her into the wall, where she gets caught in the soft wax.

Savannah lets out a shout of anger, and the tattoos on her body burst to life. With a hard thrust forward, magic travels down her arm and out of her hand in a crackling array of energy.

The Hive Queen careens away from the blast, her wings buzzing furiously as she makes a tight turn mid-air and dives back toward our group, her wicked stinger flashing toward Amalia.

The slender woman dances backward, her hand coming forward in a flicking motion as she releases a narrow metal dart.

It sinks into the base of the Hive Queen’s stinger and explodes, detaching the lethal weapon in a spray of golden blood.

The Hive Queen shrieks, the sound sending stabs of pain through my ears.

“Take that, bitch!” Amalia shrieks back. “You’re not the only one who learns!”

The Hive Queen zips away, vanishing into one of the wax walls.

Trent turns in a tight circle. “Shit, where did she go?”

A scuttling sound echoes around the room, coming from every direction, but Flint points unerringly to the left. “There!”

O’Hara flings out his hook, the sharp implement smashing through the soft wax.

With a grunt, he yanks back on the chain, and it goes taught. “Got her.”

The chain shudders before it slices up the wall, dragging O’Hara along with it.

His feet slip through the wax on the floor before he lifts onto his toes. “Oh, shit.”

Marc and Trent rush forward, adding their weight to ground him, and the chain thrashes wildly.

“Get her out of the walls!” Sharpe races forward and grabs hold of the chain, throwing his body backward.

Johannsson joins them, and their combined strength is enough for them to pull the chain backward.

With a sucking noise, the Hive Queen’s torso emerges from the wax, the hook buried in her shoulder.

Her pincers spread wide, her long tongue whipping forth, and she shrieks again.

Pain drives through my eardrums and into my mind, and I instinctively cover my ears to block the noise.

The ones holding the chain falter, and she bursts free of the wall, diving toward them.

Everyone scatters, opening a path directly to Flint, who stands with his hands shoved over his ears.

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