Fear resided in them, but it seemed to melt away. The beetle stepped forward.
She reached a hand up and laid it on the creature's back. Its hard shell felt smooth and almost metallic, warmed by the sun. With that touch, their energies blended and Lucy could feel the emotions of the beetle—fear and curiosity, then after several long moments of sharing that intimate space of connection, trust.
Now came the tricky part. She reached for a crevice in its shell to grab onto, and swung her leg over its body and around its head, until she straddled its neck. It fidgeted, but a soothing breath of calm from Lucy settled it. The horns made excellent handles and felt sturdy enough.
She could tell from their connection that she wasn't hurting him, and that it too had tapped into her emotions. The beetle had a similar energy to Mr. K and the other beings in this magical place that were not natural. She theorized that Mr. K had fed the earth and water with his roots, and animals ate from his tree, so whatever genetic alterations he'd endured had affected this whole area. More proof that we really were all connected, and that you couldn't mess with one thing without altering so much more.
Using images and emotions, Lucy projected to the beetle where she wanted to go. At first, nothing happened, but then it started to move forward, first slowly, then a bit faster. She imagined stopping, and the beetle stopped. Next she projected an image of them moving backward, but the beetle sounded its horn and refused to budge.
Okay, it doesn't like going backwards.
When she felt sure she understood what to do, she urged it forward, moving faster until she could barely hang on. Adrenaline rushed through her as she realized that this might not have been the best idea. What if it didn't stop? What if it dropped her on her ass? Still, the rush of the wind and the speed and excitement pushed aside any doubt, and she smiled and hung on for the ride of her life.
She pictured it flying, and they left the ground. The wings extended, humming in the wind, sun glistening off its back as they pushed their way through the sky with more grace than Lucy would have thought possible for a beetle.
When they turned into the grove where Lucy and the boys camped, she exhaled a sigh of relief. The beetle slowed to a stop in front of a gaping Luke and Hunter.
Lucy laughed. "You guys look like guppy fish trying to catch dinner.
Once Luke got past the shock, Lucy could tell he was torn between Christmas morning bug boy excitement and concern for his twin who sat atop a giant beetle. "Lucy, what...?"
Hunter had no hesitation. He was 100% worried. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?"
She slid off and mentally thanked the beetle and asked him to stay. She felt its tension and nerves, being so close to the guys, so she showed it her plan and led it to a pile of rotten fruit she'd hidden away. It ate lunch while she went to explain the plan.
"He's our way out. He can fly us back up to the island and to where the others are waiting. We've run out of time and we have to save those kids."
Luke kept looking from Lucy to the beetle and back. "How'd you do it? How'd you train it?"
"I didn't train it. I connected with it through meditation and it agreed to help us."
Hunter raised a skeptical eyebrow. "It agreed to help us? Did you get that in writing?"
She mock punched him. "Don't be a downer. Do you have any better suggestions for escape?"
He didn't say anything—because they all knew he had no better ideas. None of them did. This was the only way.
Mr. K's branches slumped, and Lucy could feel sadness pour from him. "Guys, I have to go talk to Mr. K. Can you pack up our stuff and get ready to go?"
Resigned, Hunter nodded.
Luke was already sneaking up to the beetle to get a closer look.
Lucy grinned at him, then sobered when she thought about Mr. K. His branches wrapped around her and caressed her in hugs as she approached him. "You heard?"
"Yes. I felt the moment you connected with the beetle. Seems I taught you too well, and now you're going to leave me."
For the first time, she felt the buried secret. He'd known she could do this and hadn't told her. "How could you keep this from me? You said there was no way out."
"I said that if I told you the way out, you wouldn't be able to do it. And you wouldn't have. You had to learn these lessons before you could have done what you did."
That made sense, but still.... "I knew how to do this for a few days now."
"I'm sorry. I should have told you then, but I can't stand to be alone again. Having you three here has made my life so full and happy. The thought of this empty valley, void of any human interaction, is just too much."