Several drones entered the chamber. They didn’t do anything other than watch her and make clicking noises to each other. She took this as a positive sign.
“Sorry, fellas. It’s nothing personal.”
Diana struck the boiler several more times. Each blow sent shock waves through the nest and drew the attention of more and more of the Hive. Three of the giant beetles arrived too, but none made a move to stop her. She kept her guard up, expecting a rush any moment. It never came. And after a few minutes of smacking the boiler, everything went back to normal.
It was a bit anticlimactic, actually. She wasn’t even sure when the change happened. She just looked up and noticed that the nest and all the bugs were gone, that she was back in the ordinary basement.
The part of her that had seen too many horror movies knew that this was the fake-out, the false moment of triumph. When the monster jumped from the shadows, she’d deal with it. Diana climbed the stairs out of the basement. There was no bug behind the door. And when she checked the world beyond the front door, everything was normal. As normal as she could expect.
“Good job, Number Five.”
She turned. West stood in the doorway of his apartment, eating a hamburger. She was unsurprised to see him alive.
“Thought you’d gotten eaten,” she said. “I saw your arm, your toolbox.”
“Lot of arms out there. Lot of toolboxes,” he replied. “But if you didn’t see me get eaten, you didn’t really see anything, didja?”
“No, I guess I didn’t.”
West offered a crisp salute before retreating to his apartment, and Diana, accustomed to such things, didn’t give the incident another thought. Except to be glad that the world outside her building wasn’t a hellish landscape of mutant insects. Just the one she knew, with a healthy dose of cosmic monsters and indescribable horrors sprinkled here and there.
It wasn’t much, but she’d take what she could get.
CHAPTER TWENTY
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Diana met Sharon at a sushi restaurant. The thought of sushi used to make Diana queasy, but that was before the transference with Vom. Now she could eat anything. She limited herself to conventional edibles, though this wasn’t always easy. Every so often she’d spot a succulent pigeon or smell a halfeaten burger in the trash. But years of living as a human had given her enough self-control to avoid surrendering to her less discriminating urges.
She glanced through the menu. Everything looked delicious.
“So I have to say I’m surprised you called,” said Sharon. “I thought you were a bit freaked by how our last encounter ended.”
“The four-armed monster werewolf thing?” said Diana. “Yeah, I’ll admit that threw me for a loop at first.”
“So why did you call?”
“I don’t know. Guess I just needed someone to talk to who could understand it from my perspective. I have friends, but…”
“But they’re from the old life,” said Sharon. “Even if they were willing to listen, they’d just think you were crazy.”
“Why shouldn’t they? I’m still not sure I’m not.”
“I’ve been there. Except I was lucky enough to choose my fate, not just fall into it. I can’t imagine what that must be like. I’m just glad you felt comfortable enough to call me.”
“I hope it’s not an imposition,” Diana said.
“Don’t even worry about it. It’s nice to have a friend outside the church.”
“You go to church?”
Sharon smiled. “Nondenominational. Primal force worship.”
“Like Wicca?”
“Not at all.”
Sharon offered nothing more, and Diana didn’t feel comfortable enough to pry.
“So you actually chose to live like this,” she said. “That just seems…” She trailed off, unwilling to finish the thought.
“Crazy?” asked Sharon in a flat tone.
“Oh God. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you. Not after you were nice enough to—”
Sharon cracked a grin. “I was just messing with you.”
Diana chuckled uncomfortably.
“Sorry. Couldn’t resist,” Sharon said. “I don’t know. I guess it is kind of crazy to want to touch something beyond yourself, something greater than you can ever truly comprehend. But isn’t that human nature? This universe is far stranger and more beautiful than most of us will ever know, than most of us will be givenance to know. When the opportunity came, how could I not take it?”
Her gaze focused on some distant point and an expression of hushed wonder crossed her face. It was almost an intimate moment.
“I suppose I hadn’t really thought about it,” said Diana softly.
Sharon didn’t reply. She stared off into space for a few more seconds before shaking off her silent delirium. She glanced around the restaurant as if seeing this world for the first time.
“Sorry. That’s happening more often lately.”
“No problem.”
While waiting for their food, they chatted. It was all small talk. Nothing about monsters from beyond or otherdimensional weirdness. It wasn’t that they were avoiding the subject. It just seemed irrelevant. It was nice to talk to someone like a normal human being. Strangely, Diana found it hard to engage in harmless conversation with normal people. She just kept wanting to explain how little they knew. But Sharon knew just as much as Diana, and this freed them to talk about nothing important.
“So are you seeing anyone?” asked Sharon.
“There’s this guy,” replied Diana. “But I’m not really sure about it.”
“Is he cute?”
Diana nodded. “Yes, he’s cool. But he’s like us.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“I don’t know. I just get a weird vibe off of him sometimes.”
“Bad vibe can be a dealbreaker,” agreed Sharon.
“But I’m not sure I can trust my vibe-sensing powers anymore. He seems like a good guy and it’s not like I have a lot of options. Don’t see how I could date a normal person the way my life is now.”
“I hear you.”
“What about you? Anyone special?”
“Sort of. It’s complicated.”
Diana waited for Sharon to elaborate. She didn’t.
“Sorry,” said Diana. “Didn’t mean to pry.”
“No, it’s all right. I asked you, didn’t I? Seems only fair. I’m in a relationship now. I guess that’s what you could call it. It’s more of a professional capacity, but it takes up most of my time. Makes it hard to meet anyone else. Although I’m not sure I’m interested in anyone else.”
“Crush on the boss? That can be trouble.”
“You have no idea. Especially since he doesn’t see me that way.”
“How do you know?” asked Diana.
“Because he can’t. I know he cares for me, but he doesn’t have the capacity for anything more than we have. Anyway, he’s leaving. I knew he would be one day. I just didn’t expect it so soon. But it’s probably for the best. I
