Music is "Daisy" by Zedd feat. Julia Michaels.

Picture is Claudia Doumit as Sarai.

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Amegilla Cingulata

Commonly referred to as the blue-banded bee, Amegilla Cingulata is a native of Australia. They are a rapidly moving bee with a unique way of pollinating flowers. The term "buzz pollination" has been applied to the way it clings to flowers and vibrates powerfully to release the pollen. This species of bee is a key part of the food production on the continent, contributing to at least thirty percent of the crops grown. It is distinctive from other kinds of bees due to the pale blue stripes on its abdomen.

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Chapter Seven: Cingulata

Wanda is gone before I wake up the next morning. Again. Just when I thought we might actually be getting somewhere, she goes and disappears again. For all I know, she might have not even come home. Her bed is in the exact same shape as it was last night, and none of her possessions have moved. I guess that's a good thing. I let Melizza sleep on her moss bed for the night, telling her we'll finish our conversation today.

But the truth is that I already know enough. I need answers, and I'm not so sure this honeybee can give them to me. There are magic and mysticism involved here, on both sides of my family. Whether or not my mother was a Witch and my grandmother was a Queen of the bees, those are irrelevant. I need to know how these things will affect my life and my life only.

Melizza is still sleeping on the moss bed when I get out of the shower and get dressed. I carefully style my dark, wet hair into a thick braid that stops at my mid-back. I grab my backpack and my books from the side table and turn for the door.

Melizza starts buzzing as she flies to land on my shoulder. "Good morning, Sarai," she greets quietly as I shut the door behind me.

"Good morning, Melizza," I tell her mentally. "Was the moss bed comfortable enough?"

"Oh, very muchest so! Thank you."

I continue to walk out of the dorm building, towards the large library at the center of the campus. If I'm going to find answers anywhere, it's there.

"Where are we going?"

"To the library."

"What's a library?"

"It's a hive filled with knowledge."

Melizza makes a buzzing sound of understanding as she tucks herself under the collar of my coat to keep out of the autumn breeze. I see Carol and Pepper making their early morning trek to the cafeteria. They wave when they see me, and I wave back. Carol quickly signs the obvious question, and I respond with, "Already ate. Going to study at the library."

She nods and gives me a thumbs up. I see her join arms with Pepper as they enter the cafeteria building. I turn my eyes back to the path that leads to the steps of the library building. It's a large, brick structure with a dome on top. When I get inside, I can see the sky through the glass dome. Architecturally, it's stunning, and I can't help thinking of my mother when I lay eyes on it. Usually, it makes me happy, but today it breaks my heart. Did I ever know her at all?

Melizza is quiet as I take the several stories of stairs to the third floor. This is where all the books on the environment are kept: flora, fauna, and everything in between. The bookshelves are spread out intermittently between the desks and chairs. Windows line two of the walls, while the others are covered with encyclopedias and digests.

I find my way towards the section on bees. Done alphabetically, it's not far from the stairs. Several other students are crowding around those particular shelves, most of which I recognize from my class with Wanda.

I begin pulling books from all over. Some are on the hive structure, while others are on the mythos surrounding bees. I take whatever I can carry and place the books on the nearest desk, in the corner away from the other students.

For the next couple hours, all I do is sift through the books, trying to find something that's even remotely close to what Melizza told me. Human Queens of bees. Magic. Witches. Curses and blessings. It's all a lot to take in, and yet I find little more than a chapter on the goddess Hera and the god Apollo. And those stories are sketchy, at best, and much older than anything modern and scientific.

Suddenly, standing in front of the broad spectrum of knowledge available, I realize I have no idea what I'm looking for. I already know some about bees. They're a huge part of my degree, but what could I find that sounds anything like what Melizza has told me? It sounds more like magic than science. I don't think I'll be able to find out anything about the hive-mind, human Queens, and magical spells from my college library.

"Is there not someone you can ask?" Melizza suggests in my ear. "A human that knows more than you?"

Something clicks inside my head, and I instantly turn towards the little bee on my shoulder. "That's it! I know just the person."

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I knock quietly on Professor Maximoff's office door, trying not to disturb him in his free time between classes.

"Come in!" he exclaims, and I push the door open.

His office is much more chaotic than I would've expected. There are books and papers piled everywhere, even on the small desk. Yellow post-it notes cover his computer and much of the wall next to it, written in a sloppy handwriting that I can't decipher. Maximoff himself appears to be concentrating deeply on a paper on the top of the stack.

When he glances up, he smiles kindly at me. "Oh, hi! You're...Sarai Rizkallah, right?"

I nod, signing a quick, "Yes, that's me."

Professor Maximoff nods understandingly and gestures to the seat across from his desk. As I sit, he sighs, "Forgive the mess. I haven't quite settled in yet. The beginning of the year is always chaotic." He pushes some of the papers out of the way so I can see him from across the desk more clearly. "You're Wanda's roommate, right?" I nod, and Maximoff grins. "Oh, I thought so. I think she's taken quite a liking to you. You'll be good for her, I can tell. Wanda needs more friends, especially since Pietro..."

He trails off, shaking his head and bringing the conversation back to the topic at hand. "So, what can I do for you, Ms. Rizkallah? And don't worry: I understand American Sign Language quite well."

I start signing my story to him, filling in the unusual gaps with a white lie. "Wanda and I are working on our project for your class," I explain, "and we've decided to do a paper on the European honeybee."

Maximoff grins wider. "I love it. Go on."

"We're having a little bit of trouble finding out certain parts of the history of the honeybee," I continue. "Things like myths, legends, and that kind of stuff. You know, stories of magic that might exist around bees. Do you know where I might be able to find stuff on that?"

Maximoff's expression changes slightly, looking more amused than concerned. "Sarai, you do know this is supposed to be a scholarly project, right? Magic doesn't have a place in science, just like religion and politics."

I nod fervently. "I know, I know. We just wanted to give a full picture of how honeybees have impacted humanity. No one can doubt that myths and stories have played a huge part in our development as a species and our connection to the bees themselves."

He nods slightly. "I see your point, there."

"Do you...know of any sources I can find?" I conclude. "Anything...strange or mysterious?"

What I can't tell him is that I don't need to confirm the possibility of magic and bees being connected. I know that the human tether to the bees goes much deeper than either of us knew. Human Queens have been around for as long as bees themselves have, according to Melizza. I know there are Witches among us. I know all of this is real. Even though I doubted it at first, I can feel it in my bones.

But I need to know where they come from, how the Queens came to be, and how my being one of them impacts the bees. Not only will it lead to answers about my family, both maternal and paternal, but it might give me a solution to one of the biggest problems our planet is facing. Bees have been disappearing for the last seventy-five years. Maybe the human Queens haven't been doing all they could to defend them, or maybe something worse is happening.

Screw the paper. Fuck the Fair. This is about more than that now; this is about the future of all bees.

But I can't tell anyone any of this. I have no proof except for a little bee under my collar. I have no one else to agree with me because my mother and grandmother are dead. I'm the only proof I have, for now, and I have nowhere else to go.

Maximoff sighs and taps his knuckles on the desk as he thinks. "I really can't think of anything that I would consider a credible source," he admits. "Nothing that could look good for your paper. What you're talking about, that's stuff out of mythology or those astrology books my niece reads. That's not science. I wouldn't worry too much about that part of your paper, Sarai. Focus on other things."

Though disappointed, I nod and stand to my feet. I can tell from the tone of his voice that Maximoff isn't going to give me any more information if he even knew it to begin with. He's a man of science, not magic. I wouldn't expect him to believe in any myths of human Queens and Witches.

Another idea pops into my head as I shut the office door behind me. I've tried science and that didn't work out. But there's another route that I haven't taken yet, one that's more open-minded and promising. I pull out my phone and Google the directions to the nearest occult shop. I find one a few blocks away from the college and turn for the door.

This is my last shot.

END CHAPTER SEVEN.