Angela Ant's Arc

Chapter 10 of 10

Angela came down from Summer Sun's palm with the new rules set. Mirror only. Daylight only. Tracie on the step first. But halfway across the field, running toward the log, she remembered the other problem waiting for her at home. Her own colony still thought Summer Sun was a giant to fear. If any sister saw Angela wave a mirror at the cottage, they would call her a traitor and seal the tunnels behind her. She reached the mound at midmorning. Tracie was already there, standing on the top ridge with her boots planted wide, watching the guards below. "They're talking," Tracie said. "Two foragers saw you climb onto the giant's hand yesterday. They told the queen's runners." Angela's feelers dropped. "How long do I have?" "Until sundown. Then they close the north tunnel. Your tunnel." Angela climbed the ridge and looked down at the openings in the mound. Ants moved in and out in tight lines. Every one of them could smell a stranger. Every one could smell fear. "I have to tell them," Angela said. "Tell them what? That the giant is kind? They'll say the witch said the same thing once." "Then I show them." Tracie's antennae twitched. "Show them how?" "Bring her to the mound. Close enough to smell. Far enough not to crush it." "They'll swarm her ankles." "Not if you go first. You've stood on her palm. You carry her scent. Walk in ahead of me and let the guards read you." Tracie was quiet. Then she nodded once. They went back across the field the short way, because there was no time for the long way. Angela climbed Summer Sun's step and told her plain. Summer Sun listened. She did not ask why. "How close?" Summer Sun said. "Ten of your steps. Sit. Don't reach." "Hands in my lap." "Yes." They crossed together, Summer Sun walking slow behind Angela's line. At the mound, Tracie went in first. She stood in the north opening with her arms out so the guards could pass their feelers over her vest, her boots, her shoulders. They found Summer Sun's scent on her and did not sting. Angela climbed to the top ridge. Summer Sun sat down in the dirt ten steps out and folded her hands. "Come smell her," Angela called down. "All of you. One at a time." The guards came. They climbed Summer Sun's shoe, her ankle, the hem of her dress. They tasted the air around her wrists. Summer Sun did not move. She did not speak. She let them read her for a long time. When the last guard climbed down, the runners went back into the tunnels. The north opening stayed open. Angela slid down the ridge. Her legs shook again, but for a different reason now. "They know you," she said up to Summer Sun. "Good," Summer Sun said. "Now the witch knows I've been to your door."