Honey Shroom's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Honey Shroom was halfway across the meadow when the second hive box erupted. The bees spilled out in the same tight spirals as the first, their hum rising to match the pitch of the others still circling above the clover patch. He stopped and turned in place, scanning the meadow. The first box sat at the western edge, the second near the center. Both erupted within minutes of each other, but he'd changed nothing at either location. He looked toward the tree line where he'd moved his smoker two days ago. The metal shaft caught the late sun, its ornate bee pattern still visible from here. Too far to affect both boxes. He'd tested that distance before. A third cluster of bees lifted from a box at the southern edge. Same spiral. Same high pitch. Honey Shroom's chest tightened. The pattern wasn't spreading from a single point — it was appearing in multiple places at once. He couldn't track a source if there wasn't one source to find. His careful observation meant nothing if the disruption moved faster than he could see. He walked to the nearest pole he'd set last season to mark the wind patterns. The tall marker stood at the meadow's center, its base surrounded by trampled grass where he'd checked it daily. He pressed his palm against the smooth surface and felt it: a faint vibration, steady and wrong. Not wind. Not bees. Something underneath. The bees weren't reacting to what he'd done above ground. They were warning him about something below it.