Firefly.

Amazed, she opened the package.

It was a beautiful gold brooch made in the likeness of a dragonfly, with gossamer wings and turquoise eyes.

"Oh, my Lord!" she breathed, enchanted. "But this can"t be mine! I"m not the dragonfly! May is! I must tell her."

"Mid doesn"t make mistakes like that," he said. "He must want you to have it."

"Can I call out safely?" she asked.

"Yes, but-"

She went to the phone in the kitchen. "May"s number-do we know it?"

"Yes." May had given him a slip with the number, just in case. He gave it to none.

She dialed it. In a moment she was talking to a surprised May Flowers. "This gold dragonfly arrived, and you"re the bold day flyer, so I know it is for you," she said.

May laughed. "none, Mid may have gotten us confused symbolically, but he would have addressed it to me if he wanted me to have it. He likes you; this is his way of saying it. That brooch is yours. Ask Geode."

"Thank you. I did." none looked across at Geode. "She says you were right." Then she returned to May. "Oh, May, you must see it! I"ve never had anything so lovely!"

"Wear it," May said. "I will surely see you soon enough."

none hung up, and saw about pinning the brooch to her dress, awed. To Geode, she looked yet more beautiful in her delight.

* 31 - MAY HUNG UP the phone. So Mid had adopted none! That was good, very good. It simplified things. For Mid did not do that casually. Once he adopted a person, he stood by that person as long as that person stood by him. none would not be thrown back into the cruel world she had left.

Things were definitely looking up, after the horror of yesterday. May was now free of Bull, for whom she mourned not a bit, and free of her apprehension about AIDS, and now Mid had endorsed her action with none. All that remained was the firefly. And Frank, of course. If only he weren"t married!

But first she would rest. She had had a hard night, and her elation about its outcome could not sustain her indefinitely. She would sleep today, and return to work tomorrow.

The phone woke her late in the afternoon. It was Frank. "There"s a lead on what could be the firefly," he said. "I don"t know if it"s solid, and I"m tied up with paperwork today and tomorrow. Are you interested?"

"I am," she said, trying to shake the fog of remaining sleep from her head.

"I"ll stop by and give you the details in half an hour, when I get off duty."

"Thank you." He could have done it on the phone, but she didn"t choose to point that out. She wanted to see him.

When he arrived, she was in a bathrobe, fresh from the shower and feeling better. "Come in, Frank."

"Actually, I need to take a statement from you," he said. "We got a call-someone saw your black eye."

"My estranged husband returned and gave it to me," she said evenly. "I managed to get rid of him, and haven"t seen him since."

"Do you wish to prefer charges?"

"No. I merely want never to see him again."

He made a note on his pad. "Thank you, Ms. Flowers."

"So we are covered," she said.

"Yes. I"ll file a routine report."

"What is the firefly lead?"

"Someone saw a monster serpent down in the Heatherwood section. We have had odd reports from that region before, and none have amounted to anything. But when we get a call, we have to investigate, or make sure it"s covered. It"s probably just imagination, but if our firefly is a serpent-"

"Give me the address, and I will go there tomorrow morning."

He gave her the address. Then: "I"ve been thinking about something you said this morning."

"Anything I said, I meant, Frank."

"Well, you didn"t actually say it. You implied-and I told you I was married. But after that-"

"You wanted me."

"You got it," he said, managing to flush. "I cursed myself for a fool. I mean, my marriage is on notice, and the moment something happens to ruin this job-I guess I don"t want to be single, and that"s why I hung on so long. I know you had a bad experience in your marriage-"

"If you"re attracted to me now, in this condition, you might continue to be when I recover."

"I don"t care how you look!" he said. "You"re an independent cuss, and I like that, and you know where you"re headed, and I like that. But you know, if I lose my job, it"ll be h.e.l.l to get another, so it isn"t as if I"m any bargain. So about all I can do is be honest and say yes, you turn me on, and if you ever repeat your offer-"

He broke off, for she had opened her bathrobe. She wore nothing beneath, other than a small elastic bandage on her left nipple. "I think I antic.i.p.ated you, Frank," she said. "I"m forty, and I"m no slender starlet, but if you like what you see, it"s available."

"I like it. But you"re still bruised-that breast must hurt-"

"Yes, I would rather not be touched there yet. But elsewhere, yes."

"Now?" He hardly seemed to believe it.

"Do you want me now?"

"Oh, G.o.d, I do!"

"I have discovered that I do not truly enjoy the single life either," she said. "I also remember my thoughts when under the influence of those pheromones. It occurs to me that men are not all the same."

"That"s for sure!"

"Take me, Frank. I want it to be you."

"You got it!" He stripped. He embraced her and kissed her, standing, trying not to press against her sore breast. He had an erection which seemed to be both his pride and his embarra.s.sment; evidently his wife had not been much for doing things by daylight.

May did not ordinarily go into matters like this, and her interest in s.e.x was not great. But there was something she needed to know about Frank, and this seemed the best way to learn it. "How would you like me?"

"Oh, d.a.m.n, I don"t want to put my weight on you. You want to be on top?"

"I"m really not the aggressive type, in this regard."

"Are you sure you want to-?"

"Frank, let me explain. s.e.x per se has never interested me much, and Bull made it a point to make it unpleasant. But I would do anything for one I love, and it pleases me to be honestly desired by one I respect, at this age. You will have to do it, but I will cooperate to the best of my ability. I want you to enjoy it."

"But if you don"t-"

"I enjoy having you enjoy it. That"s sufficient." He tried to laugh. "You are so honest it gets painful. But that"s another thing I like about you. You don"t p.u.s.s.yfoot around; I know where I stand with you."

"There are men who prefer deception." Or violence, she thought.

"Maybe if we sit."

"As you wish, Frank."

He sat on the edge of the bed. She tried to spread her legs and put her knees down outside his hips, facing him, but the bed was so bouncy and unsteady that it threatened to dump them. "Maybe if you turn around," he said.

Bull had had her do that. But she kept her face set and turned, and sat carefully on him. His member came up between her legs, and she used her hand to guide it in. Again she was ready, wet inside, even though neither the position nor the act was truly to her liking.

He reached around her to take her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands, hefting them as if they were two great nuggets of gold, squeezing the right but not the left. "Oh, May, you are some woman!" he whispered.

Then he was climaxing, his arms locking around her body just under her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, his member bucking inside her. "d.a.m.n, I came too soon!" he exclaimed.

"It"s all right, Frank." There had been no violence.

"But I wanted you to have it too! d.a.m.n, I"m sorry, May! I didn"t realize how excited I was!"

She smiled. "It is a woman"s dream to be so s.e.xy that a man climaxes without control. That seems to have been the case."

"You"re awful good about it. I let you down."

"No, you didn"t, Frank." She stood a bit, to disengage, and reached to the side of the bed to take a tissue to tuck into her crotch. She handed another back to him. Then she turned and pushed him gently down on the bed. She joined him there, lying on her side. "Just kiss me."

They kissed, and this was the essence. Bull had twisted meanness with s.e.x and alcohol, and she was well wary of that. Frank had just enjoyed the s.e.x, even losing control. No alcohol, no violence. He had wanted her to like it, and had been chagrined rather than aggressive when it went wrong. That showed his underlying nature in the way that counted most for her. Perhaps in time, with him, she would enjoy the act. Certainly she enjoyed the relationship.

"I messed up," he said. "But even so, it"s the best s.e.x I"ve had in years. You"re special, May."

And that sent a thrill through her that the s.e.x had not. She kissed him again. "Me too. You too."

He laughed, then sobered. "I thought you were joking about it being your best when it was nothing, but then I remembered what your husband did to you. May, it gets a lot better than that!"

"It already is."

They lay there, not talking further, kissing, and kissing again. It had looked very much like love before; now there was no reasonable doubt.

But soon he had to dress and go, for there were appearances to maintain. She remained pleasant. There really was no s.e.xual meanness in Frank; now she was sure. He was safe to be with.

In the morning she donned dark gla.s.ses and went to the address in Heatherwood and talked with the man who had seen the giant snake. There was no doubt he was shaken, but considerable doubt as to what he had seen. The man had gone to shoot a racc.o.o.n he thought had been raiding his property, and gone near a giant live oak tree, and the c.o.o.n had become the monster serpent. He had fled, and reported it. He had a fear of snakes, and always killed them when he saw them, but this one had been a monster of such terror he didn"t dare get close.

May went next to talk with the owner of the property on which the big tree stood. There was a nice two-story house virtually embraced by the branches of the oak. She paused to admire the tree; it was a phenomenal sight, its ma.s.sive limbs twisting out in all directions. She remembered how she had climbed on branches like that as a child; this seemed to be an eminently friendly and climbable tree.

Then she went to the door and knocked. A startlingly pretty young woman answered, with l.u.s.trous black tresses and a figure such as a starlet would envy.

"Excuse me, I am a journalist investigating odd appearances," May said. "There was a report of a large serpent in this vicinity, and I wondered whether you had any information."

The young woman laughed. "Josh, another one!" she called back into the house. Then, to May: "Come in; we"ll explain."

May entered and was introduced to the woman and her husband and her husband"s children, a boy and a girl. He was Josh Pinson, and she was Brenna, his second wife after he was widowed.

"There is what I call an ambience here," the man explained. "The property was reputed to be haunted, before I moved here. The neighbors know that, and at times their imagination gets the better of them. I a.s.sure you, there is no giant snake, only a giant tree."

He wasn"t lying, May sensed, but neither was he telling the truth. It was as though he had a cover story for something that was n.o.body else"s business. Certainly there was no hostility here.

She probed further. "There have been reports of some kind of monster in this county. One that leaves the skin and bones of animals. Do you know anything about that?"

Both Josh and Brenna were mystified. "Nothing like that here," Josh said. "I really doubt that it could happen here."

Again a partial truth, but no ill intent. How curious! Yet she had a deep feeling that it was all right, that the firefly she sought was not in this vicinity, and had never been. She thanked them and departed, mystified. Perhaps someday, when this was over, she might call on them again, and try to fathom what they were so amicably concealing.

So this had been a false lead, but useful in getting her painlessly back into the swing of her investigation. It also reminded her that none of them had any notion of the appearance of the firefly. A giant serpent? That was possible. Certainly it seemed to be almost silent, yet powerful enough to kill and consume a man in a few hours. Did it swallow its prey, then disgorge the bones? No, not when the clothing was undisturbed. And what of the pheromones? She had never heard of a serpent using them to capture prey. So it seemed unlikely.

Pheromones. That reminded her of s.e.x. She had had s.e.x twice in the past week, after having none for three years. Bull had forced it on her, horribly. Frank-she had really led him into it. She had embraced him when virtually nude, thereby giving him a notion which it seemed was easy to give a man, and then had been receptive to his rather fumbling advance. In fact she had offered, and then antic.i.p.ated, being virtually eager to do it. That was entirely unlike her. She had thought it was just the memory of the s.e.xual ambience of the monster, and her desire to learn whether Frank was safe to love. But could she have been affected by lingering pheromones from her close encounter with the firefly? That seemed possible; s.e.x had suffused the very air in the firefly"s vicinity. She had been there, and then Frank had been there, breathing in that atmosphere. How long did it take to wear off?

But she thought it was more than that. s.e.x normally had an object. When the pheromones had aroused her, she had thought of Frank-and he had evidently thought of her. They had fixed on each other, and that fixation had remained after the urgency faded. Frank, with his tottering marriage to a wife who was more interested in security and appearances than in him. May herself, still recovering from the shock of b.e.s.t.i.a.l s.e.x. It was as though she had a need to eclipse that awful event with something proper, or at least pleasurable.

And it had been a pleasure, she realized. Not the detail of it; she had always found s.e.x to be a messy business at best. But the closeness, the camaraderie of the joint effort. A man, it seemed, could not think straight when he had an erection, but once that was out of the way, he became tolerable company. She had appreciated, for the moment, being a s.e.x object. Making a man so eager that he literally could not contain himself. That was a kind of power. But then, with the edge off his physical pa.s.sion, she had been able to be with him in an unstressed condition. It was that which she most appreciated. In fact, what he had taken to be his error, climaxing too swiftly, had made him apologetic and receptive. It would have been worse had he taken half an hour, prolonging the agony, forcing her to a pretense of pleasure, making it unreal. As it was, no pretense had been necessary.

Frank was at heart a gentle man. She valued that. Perhaps there would be occasion in the future for a longer engagement, with greater privacy, so that the s.e.x would take up a smaller proportion of it.

She thought of Jade Brown-none. It was obvious that she had done something similar with Geode. But he was impotent. Had she been able to get around that, or did she like it that way? May would be able to live with an impotent man, but she had the impression that none was of another nature. Sometimes the least prepossessing women had the greatest appet.i.tes. That story of none-May had had no idea the woman could express herself like that! none had improved dramatically in appearance, and it wasn"t just the clothing May had provided for her; there was now almost a glow to her, an intensity, an inner joy. She was, perhaps, a woman in love.

Well, it did happen. May was no one to deny it. She had thought she could live alone the rest of her life and like it; certainly she had not seen in Frank any prospect for romance! Then Bull had come, and the firefly, and suddenly things had changed. Whether it was her realization that she was not secure from brutality, so needed the protection of a man, or whether it was the ambience of the firefly and its incitement to l.u.s.t-whatever it was, she wanted Frank, and would do what she had to to please him.

Meanwhile, none remained at the Middle Kingdom Ranch, and would need more food. Also, May was curious to see that dragonfly brooch. It was perhaps as important to her as to none, because it vindicated her judgment in putting none there at the house. So she would do some more shopping now, and drive out there, nominally on routine business, actually on emotional business.

This time when she drove onto the ranch she spied an armadillo walking along the edge. She slowed, then stopped, watching the armored brown animal. She understood that they rolled up into tight b.a.l.l.s when frightened. This one merely paused, then moved on toward the fence when it saw that she was not pursuing it. It found a low spot, pawed away some dirt, and squeezed under. Then it was gone through the trees, vanishing in the jungle.

If a solid and relatively clumsy armadillo could so readily disappear here, what of the firefly? They seemed to be no closer to catching it than they had been before. Should she volunteer to stay another night in the cabin, to lure it in?

She shuddered, but pursued the thought relentlessly. Maybe if this time she could do it with Frank. Then, when the firefly approached, they could do the inevitable s.e.x, then wait alertly for the thing and finally make an end of it. The notion had its perverse appeal. Maybe she would suggest it to Frank. He was almost certain to like it.

She drove on, and came to the lovely house. Geode came out to meet her, and then none, when they saw that it was her. She delivered her groceries, then looked at the woman.