Beetle Juice (24 page)

Vanja changed and flew back. Soon she had a report:
They are gaining rapidly. They'll catch us before we reach the trail.

Wizard smiled. “We are prepared. Remember your illusion penetrating technique.”

They came to the quicksand bog. Then it disappeared, becoming more rocky hills, as before.

Could you simply make us invisible?
Wetzel thought.

“Not readily. The scene is a set piece. We are moving targets I would have to fix on individually. I would lose control over the other illusion.”

They focused, and the bog became apparent. They made their way around it, carefully, not hurrying. They needed to know exactly where they put each foot.

The three poachers caught up to the brink of the bog. They saw the fleeing party not far ahead. With a cry of victory they plunged on.

Into the bog. All three of them.

Wetzel looked back. He saw the three men floundering in the seemingly solid ground. The illusion did not cover them, just the land. It was weird.

He put his foot down on a stone, and his ankle turned. Pain shot up his leg, and he almost fell before he caught himself and balanced on the three other legs. Oh, no!

The others, alerted by the flash of pain in his mind, closed in around him. “You can't walk on that,” Vanja said. “Can you change to human form so you can use just your hind legs?”

No. That would not shield the male scarab sufficiently when we traverse the Amoeba.

“Ouch.”

“Can you use your horn to heal yourself?” Veee asked.

No. I can heal others, not myself.

“Wizard?” Veee asked.

“I could help, but only if I let the illusion lapse.”

“That's not yet safe,” Tod said.

MaleBug is almost ready to mate,
LadyBug reported.
I feel his growing urgency. Oh, I want to be there for him!

And Wetzel's system was almost ready to pass the capsule out. It would have been timed perfectly, if only he had not been foolishly distracted and hurt himself. Now he could walk only three footed.

“MaleBug? Vanja asked. “Maybe that does make sense.”

Wizard dismounted. “Magic is not always the answer. We need a splint.”

They foraged and found suitable sections of wood. Wizard and Vanja worked together to fashion the splint and tie it on with cloth from Veee's shirt.

Wetzel tried putting his foot down. It seemed to be able to bear weight, but was still painful.

“I don't like doing this, as it could facilitate injury,” Wizard said. “But I will fashion a pain block. That's minimal magic.”

The pain faded from the ankle. Now Wetzel could walk normally.

“But be careful,” Veee cautioned. “Treat it as if it still hurts.”

That was good advice. Wetzel took a few steps, favoring the foot though it no longer hurt. He knew the pain was there, and treated it with respect.

“And I will walk,” Wizard said.

“We may need more of your magic,” Veee said. “You must save your strength. I will carry you.”

Wetzel looked at her with surprise. Was she joking? For one thing, she remained manacled.

Then she stooped, and Wizard draped himself over her shoulder. She straightened up and walked. She was a woman, and her hands were bound, but she was doing the job.

They moved on, not as fast as they would have preferred, but adequately. The poachers, having extricated themselves from the bog, still faced the illusion. They couldn't see to pursue effectively. Maintaining the illusion had been the correct decision.

Then something else happened. Female scarabs appeared, flying in from all around. They came to land on Wetzel.

The breeding!
LadyBug thought.
They are aware of the potential, as I am. Oh, I don't want to lose him!

Wetzel hadn't considered this aspect.
You have been helping us to locate and rescue him. That surely counts for something.

It does. We have been in touch. MaleBug likes me. He wants to breed me. But if there are others, he has to consider them too. He has to be fair.

There were dozens of scarabs clinging to his coat. Refuge would need a population of mature scarabs. So this was good. But he did feel for LadyBug.

And for himself.
LadyBug, you have been my constant companion these past few days. You enhance my powers. With you, I can send as well as read. You are also a virgin. I love our mock sex sessions! I wish I could keep you with me.

I wish I could stay with you too. It is wonderful the way you enhance me, and I love being your mock lover. But my destiny is to breed if I possibly can manage it.

Of course,
he agreed.
I want you to fulfill your destiny, as I wish I could fulfill mine.
Then he got an idea.
LadyBug, if you go to Refuge with MaleBug, and you breed with him, that's wonderful for you though sad for me. But if he should breed with one of the others, you could return to the Amoeba to be with me again.

She considered.
I will do that, Wetzel. It is better than dying unfulfilled.

They reached the Amoeba trail. Wetzel walked toward it.

“Haaa!” it was the verbal and mental cry of victory.

It was Zora. Wetzel read her mind. She had recovered from the spider bite enough to treat herself medically, and then recovered enough strength to go after them herself. Sheer willpower had driven her. The bog illusion was gone and she had caught up.

She turned on the pain box she had searched out in the brush. Wetzel froze in place, locked in sheer pain.

The other team members froze similarly. They were all immobilized by pain. They were all captive. Again. Along with MaleBug and all the female scarabs. All of them were trying to repel the poacher, but Zora's hardened immunity prevailed.

Then Wetzel rose into the air. He floated past open-mouthed Zora, who simply could not believe what she was seeing. He landed on the end of the trail, and the pain abated.

Wizard had used his levitation magic to carry Wetzel across the line, saving the day.

Then, as Wetzel watched, Zora herself floated up above head height. And abruptly dropped to the ground. The pain box flew from her hand and bounced across the terrain.

At that point the others stepped forward to join Wetzel on the trail. Veee was still carrying Wizard.

They gazed at Zora, who evidently could not see them. She was battered but not seriously hurt. And in a bewildered rage. Her recaptured prey had done something impossible, then vanished. She couldn't understand it.

“Thank you, Wizard,” Vanja said.

He did not answer. Still strewn over Veee's sturdy shoulder, he was unconscious. He had given his all. When his body no longer worked, his magic had remained.

Now Wetzel truly understood why they had been so careful to preserve Wizard's full strength. Every bit of it had been required.

At last they were completely safe from the brute poachers, and so were the approximately fifty other females Wetzel carried on his coat.

They made their way along the trail toward RedBrick Village. Progress was fair, but Wetzel was increasingly uncomfortable for another reason. He needed to poop. He couldn't risk it here; he had to get to the well.

And MaleBug needs to breed. He can't wait much longer.

They came to RedBrick. Vanja flew ahead to alert the men. She returned to report that they were ready to assist in transportation. They had rounded up a horse-drawn wagon they would use to transport Wetzel to PinkPebble and the well. Also tools to remove shackles.

After that it was easier and faster. Wetzel for the first time in his life got to ride a horse-drawn wagon instead of hauling it. They reached the well, and he hurried across to put his hind end over it. He pooped voluminously. The villagers applauded. He felt the mind trace of MaleBug as the capsule emerged and dropped down into the well.

He's there!
LadyBug thought.
I must follow!

Farewell!
Wetzel replied. There was so much more he wanted to say to her, but no time to say it.

He felt her mind as she flew from his head, down the well. The fifty other female scarabs followed in a cloud.

His job done, Wetzel changed to man form. He put his head over the well, hoping to receive a key thought.

And there it was. The immense bliss of seminal inflation, expanding extraordinarily, followed by sudden cessation in a literal explosion of joy.

LadyBug had won the choice. LadyBug had bred. LadyBug was no more.

Wetzel sank to the ground with mixed joy and grief. They had accomplished their mission. They had saved the precious scarab from extinction. Yet he wished he could have had LadyBug with him to stay.

Hands came to him, guiding him away. “I will cheer you to the extent I am able,” Veee said. “You performed splendidly. We all know that.”

“Give credit to Wizard. He saved us all in the end.”

“You know what I mean. You did your vital part.”

“It's the right thing,” he agreed. “I am glad for LadyBug. She achieved her life's ambition. But I love her and miss her so much.”

“You lost your virgin,” Veee agreed. “That is one thing I can't help you with any more.”

She truly understood. He turned into her, put his head against her solid shoulder, and sobbed.

•  •  •

Soon they were back in their old room in the house on PinkPebble. It was much as before, with Wizard being tended by Veee, who was now free of the manacles. The men had seen to that detail.

“When we recover,” Tod said, “We shall have to consider our future as a team. Are we game for another such challenge?”

“Oh yes,” Vanja said. “I love this adventurous life.”

Tod smiled. “Maybe the next mission will be able to provide you with more men to seduce, so you won't have to be so sexually starved.”

She smiled back. “That would be nice.”

“I'm game,” Veee said. “Though I don't need more sex.”

They looked at Wetzel, who now had a bandage on his healing wrist. “I'm game also,” he said. “I have yet to find my virgin.”

There was a knock on the door. It was Pinkie. “I am here on business, after an excellent night with Red,” she said. “As you know, all three of my girls who nighted with the unicorn got pregnant. Paige too; that makes four. We are now in a much better situation with respect to male company, thanks to Vanja's effort, but we still would like to keep Wetzel for our own. I am going to make him an offer he can't refuse.”

Wetzel shook his head. “I have already committed to continuing with the team. I must keep searching for my virgin.”

“Precisely. We have found her for you.”

All of them looked at her. “We're not sure you understand Wetzel's situation,” Vanja said. “He longs for a virgin he can keep. To marry and sire children by, yet have her remaining virginal throughout. No ordinary woman can do or be that. It is a paradox, his personal curse.”

“Exactly. We searched and located that virgin in another village, and brought her here. Her village was glad to let her go; she is unmarriageable in the ordinary manner. Wetzel can have her, provided he agrees to settle down in PinkPebble and service any other of our girls who desire it. The roles are not incompatible.”

Something was up. “Maybe I should meet this girl,” Wetzel said warily.

“This way. You may night with her.”

“I doubt I will need to. After the first connection my interest will wane.”

“I doubt it.”

“Because of my curse. No necessary fault in her. But I would not want to lead her on with expectations of marriage when that is simply not feasible.”

She just smiled.

“What is her name?”

“Virginia, of course.”

“What are you not telling me?”

“She doesn't remember. Not beyond a day, if that. That's why no man would marry her.”

“She's an amnesiac?”

“Not exactly. She merely lacks the ability to remember events after she sleeps. It is a fault in her memory processing. She can speak, she can read, she knows the conventions of society, she can do routine chores, she knows her name. She's a nice girl. She merely can't remember personal things.”

“This must be a horror for her!”

“No. She doesn't remember. Each morning someone must acquaint her anew with her situation, in a kindly manner.” Pinkie faced him momentarily. “She is emotionally virginal every morning.”

Wetzel paused as that sank in. Virginity for him was not really of the body, or even of the mind, but of the emotion. That novelty of first experience. “Oh, my.”

“She needs someone to love her, to have the patience to brief her each day, to protect her from molestation or affront or teasing by others. She needs a man to appreciate her for what she is. We believe you can be that man.”

“But if it is all gone the next day, how can there be any continuity?”

“It is too bad she can't have a telepathic scarab on her head, as I gather you did, to refresh her memory each morning. As it is, you will have to do that job. It should not be burdensome.”

“I am not at all sure of that.”

“Here we are. I will introduce you, then depart. In due course you may inform me of your decision.” She knocked on the door.

In a moment it opened to reveal an ordinary young woman of perhaps eighteen. She had brown hair, brown eyes, a pretty face, a slender torso, and an innocent, faintly nervous expression. The essence smote him like a hammer made of air.

She was indeed a virgin. It radiated from every aspect of her.

“Pinkie!” she said gladly.

“Virginia, I have brought a man to meet you. I think he will like you, and be your friend.”

“I need a friend,” Virginia said. She turned her gaze on Wetzel. “Hello.”

He was already falling in love with her. “Hello, Virginia. I am Wetzel.”