Arach by C.M. Simpson (books to read for 12 year olds TXT) 📕

she was already pinned against the wall by the door, one very large, very angry, unfamiliar human holding her in place. Two more very large, unfamiliar humans, armored in red and gold, had entered, and were heading in my direction. Well, fuck.

I backed into the chair and then hit the bed behind it—which was when Mack and Tens caught up with me. Doc hadn’t quite been quick enough, and had been picked up and tossed over to Delight’s captor for holding. He was currently pinned under a big, red boot.

“I should just let them have you,” Mack growled, pulling me back into his chest, and dragging me down to the floor.

Like that was going to be any help. One bladed forehand, and we’d both be meat on a stick.

“Nice, Cutter. Real nice.”

Tens hadn’t appreciated the imagery. I wondered if the wasps would accept an apology.

“I doubt it,” Mack muttered, as a red-gloved hand curled around his throat from behind.

For an instant, I thought the wasp would just try and haul him off me, but it didn’t. It squeezed, until Mack went limp. Only then, was he lifted away, and passed back to the warrior waiting behind the one looming over me. I glared up at it, sick with fear for Mack, and for Tens, and deadly afraid of what was about to happen next.

“You could at least check!” I told it, and it reached down and lifted me from the floor.

I don’t know what I expected it to do, next, but I wasn’t going to beg. I might be wrong, but I might also be right—because I seriously doubted they’d gone sniffing their queen, when they’d inspected everyone else on board.

And I really doubted they’d checked each other.

The bodyguard looked at me, her expression mixing fury and exasperation in equal parts.

“What? You don’t like my logic? Mack doesn’t pay me to be popular.”

Mack groaned from off to one side, but I didn’t let him distract me. I kept my eyes on the bodyguard’s face. Mack probably hadn’t heard a single thing I’d said; he was probably just regaining consciousness.

“I ought to kick your ass,” he muttered, and I hoped the vespis knew he was talking to me.

“We know.”

Well, that was both good, and not. It crossed my mind that, if the queen was not the queen, then her bodyguard might not be her bodyguard, either, in which case…

“Put a sock in it, Cutter!” Delight… also unimpressed.

Whatever.

The bodyguard set my feet back on the floor.

“Turn around, Cutter,” the queen said, and I froze.

The voice in my head sounded very much like the queen’s voice, but I remembered what the arach impersonating Mack had sounded like—and drew no comfort.

“You have serious trust issues,” Delight snarked, and then grunted.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’d just been bounced off the wall.

“Turn around.” The queen, again, as persistent as hell.

“You had better be what you should be,” I said, glaring at the bodyguard, and was surprised when a human hand came over my shoulder to press its palm against the bodyguard’s chest.

“Girl’s got a death wish,” Tens muttered.

Like that was at all helpful!

“Turn.”

That was an order—and it sounded like one I’d better not ignore. I took a breath, and turned, sliding slightly to one side so that the arm reaching across me was no longer coming directly across me. A suddenly strong grip on my shoulder stopped me from moving further, and I opened my eyes.

Up until that moment, I hadn’t been aware I’d closed them.

The queen stood, less than a foot away, her face a mask of patience, as she waited. I wondered how long that would last, and saw her lips twitch.

“You are most entertaining, Cutter,” she said, and I heard several snorts of disagreement from around the room. I swallowed. Up this close, she was somehow frightening in her solemnity.

“I’m not trying to be,” I managed, and her face softened in what might have passed for understanding.

“I know. Watch.”

Like I had a choice. I don’t think I could have looked away if I’d tried. The air around the queen shimmered with a wavery quality, and her features melted into the more familiar form of the vespis monarch I’d seen before. Seen from a foot away, she was terrifying, and I couldn’t move a muscle. There was only one thing I could say.

I’m sorry,” I said, as soon as my vocal cords were working. “I meant no disrespect.”

The queen’s amusement echoed around the room, and she morphed back into human form.

“Now, say sorry to my guards,” she said.

I was very tempted to say that they were big bugs, and had broad shoulders, but I didn’t. Even so, I’d forgotten they were psi, and the hand on my shoulder tightened. That just made it more tempting to sass them, but the queen’s face was losing all trace of amusement, and I decided that I might just have pushed my luck as far as it would go.

17—Taking Back the Orbital

Apologizing to the guards didn’t take long, but the one who’d brought me to the queen didn’t take its hand from my shoulder, as the others turned Mack, Delight, Tens and Doc loose. I watched as Doc warily accepted the hand offered by his former captor to help him up from the floor. Delight just stayed, leaning on the wall, watching what was going on around the room.

I was relieved when Tens and Mack were let go, not so relieved when I went to join them, and was held in place. Mack caught that moment, too.

“Your Majesty?”

“With your permission, captain,” she said, “I would like Cutter to remain with my guards, and work with them until we dock. We will need her to help to clear the arach infestation from the planet, and it would be better if they built some rapport before the operation began.”

For a second, Mack’s face mirrored my disbelief, but then his expression closed to reveal nothing of his feelings, and he nodded.

“I will need a