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I COULD GET USED TO eating every day thought Avalon as she ran her slice of bread through the thick gravy coating the bottom of her bowl. Peet had warmed up a pot of stew and they had set to eating silently, while the box on the side table buzzed noisily. Everyone ignored it, until the meal was finished. Priorities said they needed to eat and relax a touch and let the anxiety and excitement wane, before tackling the next steps. Throughout the meal, Avalon told them what all she had found and seen after they lost communication. Alexa gasped at the bee attack and ‘ooh’d’ at the description of the dinosaur bones, and overall made Avalon feel like a hero, except she really didn’t feel like much of a hero.
Pushing the empty bowl away with a sigh of satisfaction, Mitch smiled at Avalon. Peet filled the bowl of his curving pipe with tobacco and lit it with a match puffing contently. “Go fetch the box, Avalon. You should open it. You are the one who retrieved it all.”
Avalon brought the buzzing box back to the table and gingerly put it on the table, opening it up. She hesitated, then reached inside and lifted out her backpack. She carefully pulled out all the items she had collected.
Once all the items were arrayed on the table, she sat back down. Alexa picked up the photo and stared at their mother and father. Her lips trembled and she put the photo down.
“I feel stupid. I went to all that trouble and I never even found the fertilizer,” said Avalon.
“That’s not true,” said Peet, pulling the pipe away from his mouth and gesturing at the items. “You found the fertilizer all right, only it’s a living, biological fertilizer rather than a chemical one. Not only did you retrieve the fertilizer, but also their food source. You brought back the basis of their research, samples that we can analyze. You did a great deal, for a young one.” The pipe clamped between his teeth once again and he grinned around the stem.
“But what good will it do, if the bees kill everything they come in contact with?”
“We don’t know that is the case. It might have just been a defensive instinct that was triggered by the person who came into their space, and was seen as an intruder. More testing is needed around that.”
Mitch leaned forward and flipped open one of the hinged plates, observing the colony. Those that were hatched buzzed angrily against the glass. “We can’t leave them in there forever, they will die. But we don’t dare release them to the outside, not knowing what has been done to them or what effect this,” he pushed at the bags of bone and paste, “has on them. They look like ordinary honey bees to me.”
Avalon eyed the bees. They did look like ordinary bees, but the bees had all disappeared around the time of her parent’s kidnapping. Somehow, they were tied to the bees and the bees to them. “We need to find some scientists who can tell us about these things. Someone who can help us get to the bottom of everything, quickly. We need our parents found.”
Mitch and Peet stared at her. Mitch met her eyes and nodded. “We need to find your parents. We have their research, and the samples, which surely is based on their research. I do not believe the government would have killed them. They needed them too badly.”
Avalon and Alexa grabbed hands under the table and squeezed. “Then we vote to go after my parents.”
Peet studied the faces around the table then coughed. “I believe I know who to contact to help find them. Have you ever heard of the SOS gangs? Mostly they are associated with the hoodlums that spray paint bee graffiti on buildings, but the SOS stands for ‘Seeds of Survival’ and they are an underground environmental group that is all about forcing the government to share their research about why the land is dying. I bet they could tell us where your parents are being held.”
“Could you find a contact for them, Peet?” asked Mitch. “When I have tried to locate them in the past, they melted away like snow in the desert. Of course I was in uniform then.”
Peet pulled the pipe from his mouth and grinned, displaying yellowed teeth. “Sure, I can put you in touch with them. You are sitting across the table from one. Why do you think I keep a shotgun behind the door?” He chuckled. “Scared away more than one government nosy party. Until now, I only suspected what was behind those security doors. Now thanks to this young one, we know for sure. It is time to find the Gainsboroughs and recruit them into the SOS.”
Avalon yawned. Dawn was just breaking and her eyelids drooped shut as the effect of falling adrenaline and a full stomach took their toll.
“Come, it’s time we got some sleep. We will tackle the plan for how to find your parents after a good rest.” Avalon was only too happy to fall into bed, her sister curled under the blankets beside her. They were going to find her parents! The thought was as comforting as the food, and as she slid into sleep, her last thoughts were of her father’s jacket and the bee symbol stitched on it. She wondered for the first time, where he had gotten it. Another mystery to be solved. Smiling to herself at the thought of asking him herself, she drifted off to sleep.