by A. C. Wise
“Homesick?” Eduardo slips up beside her.
“That’s the word.” Guilt needles her, she should be happy, blessed with all this love, but she can’t quite shake the restlessness.
“I know the feeling.”
“Is there a phone I could use somewhere? I’ll pay for the long-distance charges.”
The way Eduardo looks at her reminds Esmeralda so much of her mother. They have the same eyes, and Eduardo’s are so full of kindness that Esmeralda can’t help being hopeful. Family is family after all. Eduardo gestures to a nearby house owned by one of the people at the party, and Esmeralda slips inside.
The strains of music follow her, fading away to be replaced by the thump of her heart. Esmeralda finds the phone, but still hesitates before lifting the old-fashioned plastic receiver. She dials before she can change her mind, pressing the phone to her ear and closing her eyes. On the third ring, her mother answers. Esmeralda has to swallow hard before she get out even the simplest words.
“Hi, Mamá. It’s…Christina.” She grips the phone harder, wiping away a silent tear before answering her mother’s question. “Mamá, everything is fine. I just wanted to talk.” Really talk, this time, Esmeralda thinks. “I missed you, and I wanted to talk, that’s all.”
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well, and pour into a chilled martini glass.
Despite her name and the color of her outfits, I’ve always associated Esmeralda with red, even more than Ruby. It’s a secret red, deep and hidden, like a jewel at her heart. Besides, after that spooky shit with the church in Mexico—Starlight told me all about it—it seems fitting. Esmeralda went into the land of the dead and brought her uncle back home. Okay, I know that isn’t quite Persephone’s story, but it seems apt—death and family and all. Esmeralda didn’t lose her uncle like Orpheus lost Eurydice. She found her. She’s even trying to organize a reunion between her mother and her uncle. What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on that wall! Not that I’m hoping for disaster. I think it’s sweet. I’m happy for Es. We’re her family, but her family is her family too, you know? We all have to find our place in the world. I’m glad she found hers.
THE ABANDONED FACTORY LOOMS BEHIND BUNNY, FRAMING HER AS she takes up her battle pose and looks at each of them in turn, a leader sizing up her troops.
“Penny, you and Esmeralda go through the right entrance. Sapphire and Ruby, to the left. CeCe, you stick with Silk and keep an eye on the perimeter. Starlight and I will go in head-on. Everyone got it?”
Three pairs of heads nod at Bunny, standing in the center of the semicircle they’ve formed in front of her. Only M doesn’t nod, arms crossed, standing outside the Glitter Squadron huddle. As the group breaks, M slips away, disappearing into the shadows of the ruined building.
Starlight presses against Bunny’s side as they approach the abandoned factory’s front door.
“Sweetie, you’re tangling my spangles,” Bunny says.
Starlight pulls the glittering ropes of her dress free, and gives Bunny more space. Es has been teaching her how to sew. She’d thought it would be fun, trying to recreate one of Bunny’s outfits, but now she feels a little silly. They’re twins in shimmering silver flapper dresses and laced up go-go boots, ‘twenties glam and ‘sixties swing mashed into one. Bunny’s trademark ears and her harpoon set them apart, but still—it’s no wonder the other members of the Glitter Squadron think of her as Bunny’s little shadow.
After Mars and Machu Picchu and the thing with the gargoyles in Texas, she should be one of them, all sequins and poise. But sometimes she’s afraid they still see her as the frightened girl who could barely do her own make-up, knock-kneed in her roller skates, and cowering in front of a trio of space eels. She’s grown up so much since then; not just a roller girl anymore, but a glamorous roller woman.
Gathering herself, Starlight moves slightly ahead of Bunny, picking her way over the shattered bricks and debris littering the factory floor. Bunny glances at her askance but says nothing, and Starlight continues on, steps precise. She squares her shoulders, chin up, as if the smashed-out windows and the shadow-haunted corners don’t bother her.
Starlight assesses their surroundings, then clicks on her flashlight, playing the beam over the abandoned machinery hulking around them—primordial bones, pulled up from the depths of tar pits and put on display. She turns her beam toward the far corner, illuminating a fall of debris spilled from a hole in the ceiling.
As her light touches the ragged hole in the floor above, something creaks, and despite herself, Starlight jumps. Her pulse punches against her skin, but she takes a deep breath, keeping the beam of her light steady. It’s only one of the other members of the Glitter Squadron, it has to be. Even though they know better than to make a sound. Something skitters over her foot, and she swallows a scream.
Her flashlight beam jerks, an involuntary reaction. The edge of the light catches a shadow slipping away, leaving an impression of something unnaturally large, with too many legs, and something like horns.
“What…”
Bunny elbows her for silence. “Lights off.”
Starlight swallows, but obeys. As her eyes adjust to the fresh darkness, there’s another sound. A chirr of wings. A flash, followed a split second later by the bark of Penny’s gun. Instinctively, Starlight falls back as Bunny moves forward, harpoon loose and ready in her hand. Penny fires again and there’s a crash, the sound caroming off the factory’s empty spaces.
A shape darts past her, close enough to touch. Starlight whirls, trying to follow the motion and a sound like pebbles across the skin of a drum. As she tries to orient herself, someone crashes into her. Hard. Starlight goes over in a tangle of limbs, the flashlight knocked from her hand and landing with a faint crunch beyond her reach.
She flails, and hands flail back. Hands, skin, human flesh. A lot of it. Starlight twists, getting her feet under her. “Get off!”
Before she can deal with the person who landed on top of her, a beetle the size of its namesake car barrels toward her. Its carapace is crimson and spotted with Rorschach black splotches.
She scrambles to stand as panic flows through her veins. She braces for impact, bereft of even the flashlight to defend herself. Starlight doesn’t like guns, but right now, she wishes she’d let Penny talk her into borrowing one of her weapons after all.
“Behind me!” Penny appears, yanking Starlight back and firing.
CeCe and Silk rush in from outside, drawn by the noise, just as Bunny vaults over a fall of debris. She drives the point of her harpoon into the giant bug, slowed but not stopped by Penny’s bullets. The beetle’s wings clatter, a warning sound. Bunny wrenches her harpoon free, readying it for another blow when something whistles through the air.
Bunny jerks as a stone cracks against the beetle’s shell. The creature spins toward the new threat at the same moment as something else flies out of the dark. A boomerang.
“What?” Penny says.
A second stone whistles through the air, bouncing harmlessly off the beetle’s carapace. This time Starlight tracks its source, and her mouth drops open. A man with a sling dangling from one hand drops with an athletic grace from atop one of the broken machines. He’s barefoot. In fact he’s naked except for a leopard print g-string.
Starlight finally turns to see the man who collided with her, undressed almost identically, except his g-string is a green that pure jade would envy. Dust coats his dark, oiled skin. A third man appears, retrieving the boomerang. His g-string is silver, the color of shark skin.
For a moment, everything stills, fabulous women and scantily clad men blinking at each other in confusion. Then the beetle rattles its wings, and time lurches forward again. Bunny stabs her harpoon into the point where the beetle’s head meets its red, armored shell.
There’s a sickening crunch and Starlight turns away. When she looks back, Bunny is pulling her harpoon free, standing atop the conquered beetle. Everything about her stance is
a challenge; her grip on the harpoon no more relaxed now that the immediate threat has passed. She brushes a strand of frosted blonde hair out of her face, and fixes her gaze on the man in the leopard-print g-string. Only now his tiny undergarment is tiger striped. Starlight blinks. Did she only imagine the spots before?
“Just who the fuck are you supposed to be?”
“We could ask you the same thing.” It’s the man with the boomerang who answers, Australian accent and all.
“None of your fucking business, that’s who.” Penny moves closer to Bunny, pistol still drawn.
“Ladies.” Sapphire approaches holding up her hands, then glances at the three near-naked men. “Gentlemen. Let’s all be civil here. None of us are covered in chitin, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that puts us on the same side.”
Penny sets her jaw, keeping her stance hard, but Bunny steps down from atop the beetle’s carapace.
“That’s better.” Sapphire flashes a charming smile. “Now, let’s start again. We’re the Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron. Enchanted to meet you, I’m sure.”
“We’re the G-String Men.” A fourth man emerges, posture relaxed as though he’s out for a mid-day stroll, not in an abandoned factory fighting a giant beetle. His hair is a sun-bleached surfer’s tangle, his skin tanned to match. “Exotic dancers by day, world-saving heroes by night.” He punctuates the words with a thrust of his bedazzled crotch. “Though sometimes it’s the other way around.”
A bottle spins away from his foot as he approaches Bunny. Without asking permission, he lifts Bunny’s perfectly manicured hand, and touches his lips to her knuckles. Starlight flinches, ready for Bunny to tear him apart, but for the first time in Starlight’s recollection, their unflappable leader is too stunned to react immediately. Not that Starlight blames her. The incongruity of the whole thing, and the idea of saving the world in nothing more than a glittering g-string. It’s ridiculous.
“Name’s Zack,” the man says. “But no one calls me that. I’m the Big Kahuna.”
He scans the other members of the Glitter Squadron, tossing a wink at Starlight. Heat rises to her cheeks, and she looks away.
“It would be my honor to give you ladies free tickets to our next show.”
“We’re not interested in that right now.” Penny’s voice cuts across the stunned silence. She kicks the beetle with the side of her boot before getting right in Big Kahuna’s face. “What do you know about this thing?”
Kahuna’s expression doesn’t change, which only makes Penny’s nostrils flare. Her fingers twitch, but Bunny steps in smoothly, drawing their attention.
“Any knowledge you can share would be helpful. We should pool our resources.” Despite her disarming smile, it’s clear she’s still poised for a fight.
“Suits me.” Kahuna shrugs.
“Lovely.” Bunny’s smile doesn’t touch her eyes. “If you’d care to follow us, we can talk more comfortably at our headquarters.”
Penny frowns, but keeps silent. Ruby and Sapphire exchange glances, like true twins, communicating volumes without speaking. When no one raises an objection, Bunny nods once, satisfied, and moves toward the door. A line of glittering women and scantily-clad men falls in behind her.
At the door, Starlight glances over her shoulder just in time to see M coalesce from the shadows. Moving cat-silent, M crouches by the fallen beetle. One leather-clad finger dips into the mess of the beetle’s head before it is touched to M’s lips. Starlight turns away but not fast enough to avoid seeing M shudder, not entirely in revulsion. Not fast enough to avoid the sickening mirrored response from her own body.
She runs toward Bunny, hurrying to catch up.
BUNNY READS THE MOOD IN THE PARLOR. CECE AND SILK STAND together in the far corner, CeCe ever so slightly in front of her new wife. Sapphire and Ruby occupy the opposite corner, Ruby worrying her lower lip with her teeth, Sapphire with her chin up and shoulders back, deliberately not looking at the G-String Men.
Three of the men share one of the parlor’s long couches, Kahuna in the middle, legs splayed, leaning back. The other two sit forward, feet planted firmly on the ground. Boomer, the Australian, stands behind them with his arms crossed. Penny and Esmeralda occupy the couch across from them, Penny looking as though she’s just waiting for an excuse, Esmeralda’s smile tight. M is nowhere to be seen, which is not unexpected. Bunny isn’t worried about M. She’s worried about Starlight, standing in the doorway, sneaking glances at the G-String Man barely in green.
“Star, sweetie, why don’t you grab us a pitcher of sangria.” Bunny arranges her features carefully, smooth as her hair and the lines of her dress, keeping her voice light. “I’m sure we could all use a drink.”
Starlight jumps, a guilty blush coloring her cheeks as she hurries from the room. Bunny shifts her attention to Kahuna, a different kind of tension crawling beneath her skin. Her jaw wants to clench, but she refuses to let it.
“Why don’t we start with introductions?” Her smile is as sweet as she can make it, sickly so, she hopes.
She needs Kahuna to see what’s behind her painted lips without her parting them; Boomer may be the one in sharkskin, but Kahuna is the one with teeth.
“Well, you know me and Boomerang already.” Kahuna flashes his smile on cue; Bunny doesn’t let her fingers close into a fist at her side.
“And this here is Bad Kitty.” Kahuna points to the man in the animal print g-string, which turns from tiger stripe to a shade of tawny as Bunny watches. She doesn’t let her surprise show, moving her attention to the man in green as Kahuna gestures to him. “And this is Flash Jr.”
Bunny lets the Glitter Squadron introduce themselves, keeping an eye on Starlight as she reappears with the sangria. Bunny doesn’t miss the way her blush returns as she hands Flash Jr. a glass.
“So what do you know about these killer ladybugs?” Penny asks, impatience winning out.
“Ladies first,” Kahuna says.
“Not funny.” Penny reaches for the gun that Bunny is now extra glad she insisted Penny leave in her room.
Bunny clears her throat. “I suspect we know about as much as you do. About a week ago, a homeless man was found dead outside the factory with strange marks on his body. Another corpse was found yesterday, same markings. Your turn.”
The G-String men exchange glances; Bad Kitty is the one to speak up.
“We didn’t know about the beetles, not specifically. We were at the factory to investigate odd seismic activity. Tremors. Nothing big enough to be called an earthquake.” Bad Kitty looks away, mumbling like someone used to being disbelieved, if not outright ridiculed.
“We thought it might be Mole People.” Bad Kitty shrugs. “We fought them in Switzerland a few months ago.”
“I read about that in the National Inquirer. That was you?”
Bunny turns. Starlight’s eyes widen, and she covers her mouth, murmuring, “Sorry.”
“We’d been asking around,” Bad Kitty says. “Some folks were willing to talk to us, but the stories were inconsistent, jumbled. No one was quite sure what they saw, just something strange. Most people just clammed up. I think they thought we were cops.”
“We weren’t even wearing our cop outfits.” Bunny turns in time to see Boomerang wink, but he withers immediately at her attention, and she looks back to Bad Kitty.
“Is it any wonder?” Sapphire rolls her eyes. “If you were a cop, would you believe some raving lunatic claiming to have seen a giant beetle? Of course no one wanted to talk to you.”
“Luckily, we’re not cops.”
A muscle in Bunny’s jaw twitches despite her best efforts; she clenches her teeth to still it. Even though he hasn’t spoken in five minutes, Kahuna’s presence still sets her on edge. She takes a deep breath. There’s an ache gathering at the back of her neck, threatening to creep upward. She resists the urge to rub at the spot, too aware of how carefully she’s holding herself.
“I suggest we divide into teams. Do some investi
gating.”
“Whatever you say, boss lady.” Kahuna tosses her a mock salute.
Bunny shifts. She’s on the verge of thanking him oh-so-politely for his negligible contribution and kicking his all-but-bare ass out the door. But leadership is compromise, and making use of the resources at hand. And sometimes leadership is keeping unknown elements where you can see them. Her first priority is to keep her girls safe.
“Penny, CeCe, Silk. Tomorrow, I want you to go back to the factory with Flash Jr. and Bad Kitty. Investigate, but play it safe. If you see any sign of those creatures, get out. Esmeralda, you’ll take Star, Ruby, and Kahuna. Try to track down those kids who found the first body, and talk to anyone you can who reported seeing something strange. Boomer, Sapphire, and I will do research.”
Bunny lifts her chin, waiting for someone to contradict her. Some expressions are better shielded than others. Starlight’s raw as a wound, and Bunny feels a moment of guilt. It’s not that she doesn’t trust her; she’s a good kid. It’s the world around Starlight she doesn’t trust. Penny is uninterested in hiding her resentment. And Kahuna is openly amused.
Fine. Sometimes leadership is being unpopular, too. As the room disperses, Bunny catches Starlight’s attention.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Starlight glances toward the door; Bunny doesn’t miss where her gaze lingers.
Starlight sits. And now that they’re alone, Bunny is rattled. Space eels and killer deer she can handle; here, she’s out of her depth. Ridiculously, a half-formed memory of a very-special episode of Blossom rises to Bunny’s mind: Clair Huxtable inexplicably appearing in Mayim Bialik’s kitchen to illustrate the female reproductive system in pink icing.
“Look, sweetie, I don’t know if you’ve ever…”
Starlight’s mouth twists downward and she isn’t quick enough to hide the expression. Bunny can’t help picturing her the way she looked when she first came to the Glitter Squadron. Her expression is transparent—the words building up to push back against Bunny even before she’s finished her sentence oddly make her look more vulnerable now than she did before Bunny first did her make-up.