37. LEOPOLD
thirty-seven
T he other hive got there fast, knocking on my door rather than ringing the bell. I still heard and rushed downstairs.
I opened the door, and my jaw dropped. I’d expected them to come by with maybe two of them, but no, there was a group of six here, and most of them wore disguises.
“May we come inside?” one asked, and I stepped away so they could.
Once the door was closed, they took off their wigs and fake glasses and put all of it in a duffel one of them was carrying and put down by the door.
“Wow, you’re good at that.”
They shrugged. “We like getting around, and that’s a lot easier this way. Where is the hive?”
I pointed at the stairs. “Up there. I don’t know what to do.”
Some of them headed straight up, but two stayed back.
“What happened? Did you get hurt?”
I rubbed my eyes. I had to look like a real mess, and I was still wearing my thin summer sweatpants over an old tee.
“Did I get hurt? I wish. It’s…something really bad happened to him. I don’t know if I have the right to tell you.”
This hive was sandy-haired, and now that I was looking at those two sets of eyes, I felt myself calm down. Like my hive, they exuded an air of calm and competence. They weren’t as good-looking though.
“If it helps, we’re a nurse, and we wouldn’t give away another hive’s secrets. The more we know, the better we can help.”
I nodded, rubbed my eyes again. I had to accept that I was no good to them, that I had failed horribly at being a mate.
“I’m not sure what happened, they just had, like, an episode. Broke out crying and wouldn’t respond. And I know they don’t do that. They have their life together, you know.” I looked at the new hive, their mismatched but very neat clothes. “Of course you know. Well, I got them upstairs, and I got the one who was at work to take a cab home, and he got here okay, but they were still just crying and shaking. After a while they started apologizing, and then they told me what had happened.”
I swallowed bile. What they’d had to go through, it was just too fucking much, and they’d been all alone dealing with the aftermath. They’d had to, because they had found themself a gleaming one who wasn’t good at giving, who had been taking all this time.
“What did happen?” the other hive asked, still calm.
I looked at the stairs. “Is he going to be okay?”
“We don’t know yet.”
And with that, I started crying in front of this other hive, pathetic human that I was. Why Instructor Arick had ever expected great things from me was beyond me.
“I…sorry, I just…I fucked up.”
“We don’t think that. Tell us what they told you.”
I took a deep breath. “They said some sick fuck captured them and abused them. They were kept apart, some of them had to work, and some were sexually assaulted over and over. That’s what I got.”
One of the hivelings in front of me let out something like a growl, and the other one put his hand on my shoulder.
“Ah.”
“I didn’t know! I should’ve fucking noticed something. I didn’t.”
“You’re a hive’s gleaming one. Your hive would have tried to keep things like this away from you.” Their eyes narrowed. “We know what that feels like. If our word means anything to you, we don’t think you did anything wrong, nor did your hive. Can you tell us why did this happen now? What triggered it?”
I opened my mouth to answer, realized I had nothing, shut it.
“I don’t know, but he didn’t want me to leave when I said I would get the one who’d gone to work when this all started.”
“All right. Well, one of them is dehydrated. I see you made them tea. I’m going to get some saline bags in case we need those later on, but for now, I’d like you to go upstairs and try to get them to drink something.”
I nodded. “I tried that. Tried the food too, but I could barely get them to speak.”
“I think that will pass. Do you have a straw? That should work better than a spoon.”
I turned and hurried to the kitchen to grab one, then went upstairs. My old room was crowded now, but the sandy-haired hive moved out of the way to let me get to my hive.
He’d moved them, had brought them closer, and the hiveling who worried me most, the one who’d grown so cold to the touch, they’d put that one next to another, had made sure their hands touched.
I remembered that the hive did that when they were anxious, a way to calm themself.
“I should have thought of making them touch,” I said.
“That’s okay. You were worried. Hive, Leo is here, and he’s worrying terribly about you. He’s scared and angry for you. Leo, sit. Help him drink.”
I huddled into the small crowd, let the blond hive put the limp hiveling in my arms, and with their help, I managed to get the tea into my hiveling’s mouth, using the straw to give them one small sip after another.
After a few of those, I kissed the hiveling’s forehead. “Hey, I love you. And it’s not going to lose its power because I say it often, okay? It’s just as true now as the first time I said it.”
I saw the blond hive nod. “You’re doing well. We’ll be staying for a while. Giving them something that will help them sleep should be good.”
I shook my head. “They said they were drugged. I don’t want you to do anything that makes them scared or drags the trauma back up any more than this.”
“We’re fine,” one of my hivelings mumbled, and I reached out to stroke their hair. They didn’t even have the strength to lift their head off the pillow they were lying on. They had Bruno in their arms, and I wondered why I wasn’t even able to bring them the comfort my old teddy bear was.
“We understand that, Leo, but something mild is going to help them. If you stay with them and are here when they wake up, it will allow them to get the rest they need while feeling safe.”
My eyes stung, but I forced myself to look up. “You’re a nurse?”
“Nurse practitioner, actually. We wouldn’t hurt them.”
“Okay. If you think it helps. Hive, I’m not going to leave you, I’ll be here. It’s my turn to keep you safe now, I guess.” The other hive nodded, and one of them left. “Uhm, you can make yourself at home by the way. And thank you for coming over on such short notice.”
“It’s no problem. If we don’t help our own, then where would we be?” All of the blond hivelings looked at me and my hive. “We wish we’d been there when they really needed help.”
“Yeah, me too.”
One of my hivelings grabbed my wrist, their grip still strong despite everything.
“No, Leo. You might have gotten hurt. We don’t want that. We don’t want that, ever.”
I put my hand on theirs, glad they were looking at me now. “I don’t want you to hurt either, hive. You made me fall for you, and now I want to keep you as safe as you’ve been keeping me. Comes with being in love, I guess.”
“Leo,” they said before their burst of energy fizzled out and their eyes fell shut.
“I’ll be here, my hive. I’ll watch over you.”
The blond hive made a satisfied sound. “We’ll be downstairs while we get the medication. Shout if you need anything.”
“I have everything I need here,” I said and went back to making the limp hiveling still leaning against me drink sip after sip, sip after sip.