Page 96 of Five to Love Him

I was tired when night finally rolled around and Conrad and Xander carried in a big vat.

“Is there acid in that?” I asked.

“Leopold, that would be very rude indeed.” Headprincipal Farrow and Coral, a popcorn bowl in his arms, had joined us in the kitchen. “Acid would give the mound indigestion I should think, and I wouldn’t want to put it through that.”

“What exactly is a mound?” I asked.

“Hmm.” Farrow looked at Coral. “How would one describe them?”

“Like a moorland that sees and feels and comes after you if you disrespect it.”

“That sounds…huh.”

“You should stay here, Leo. We’ll stay with you. You have rings under your eyes. You must be tired after all of this.”

My hive was standing by the table and watching Xander and Conrad move the vat before Conrad unlocked the door. They were holding hands, had been touching themself for most of the afternoon and evening.

“No, I want to see. But you don’t have to come.”

“We have to see,” they mumbled from one mouth.

I totally got that.

***

The thing was, we didn’t all fit in the cars, so we got two 47 cabs, just for the four blond hivelings, my hive, and me. One of my hivelings rode with the other hive, but four remained with me. The drivers were pretty unimpressed, but then that was to be expected of a 47 cab.

“We are sorry about carrying you out of the house earlier,” one of the hivelings said to me in the back of the cab as we left our house behind.

“You were freaking out. Don’t apologize.”

They nodded. “We have not been who we want to be for you over the last forty-eight hours. After…after we escaped, we went from one day to another, but when we met you, you gave us back joy and laughter, and we were happy. We want to be worthy of that.”

My throat constricted. They were a hive of five, and yet they had been terribly alone.

“You know, I haven’t been who I wanted to be for way longer. I could tell you were giving me more than I was giving back, but I didn’t really do anything about that. I left you alone with this shit. I want to make you happy, but I also want to be there when something like yesterday happens. I failed you because I didn’t see something was haunting you.”

“You—oh. Oh no. That’s not what happened.”

The headlights from another car hit me in the face.

“Yeah. That’s exactly what happened. But—” I reached for the hands of the two hivelings on either side of me. “Today was long, and if you’re okay with that, let’s just agree that I’ll be here for you and you can hold on to me all you want, and then tomorrow we can talk. How does that sound?”

I was looking at the one on my right, but there were sniffles from more than just him.

“Yes. We can do that. Thank you.”

I sighed and leaned back in the upholstered seat.

“No problem. Oh, hive?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

***

St. Auguste didn’t have a curfew, given that there were nocturnal students, but there were certain areas that were supposed to be quiet when most of the students slept.