Chapter Two: The Hum
The burn is still fresh.
It throbs under my skin like a second heartbeat.
I've tried covering it with makeup, a scarf, even a bandage. But nothing hides it for long. The edges keep darkening, the lines deepening, like it's growing.
At night, I hear it.
Not a sound — a vibration, low and endless, crawling through the bones of my skull. The Hive's hum.
Only… it isn't constant.
For the others, it's always there. Maddening until you give in. But mine comes and goes, replaced by something stranger — a voice I can't quite understand. Male. Calm. Almost amused.
> You're not like them, it says.
And that's why they'll come for you.
I haven't told anyone. Not my mother, not the neighbors, not even the boy in my building who I know is one of them. He watches me too closely. His pupils flare when we pass in the hall. Once, I caught the faint metallic scent of resin on his jacket — the smell they can't wash off, no matter how human they pretend to be.
Yesterday, I saw the first change.
It started with my hands. The skin stretched tight, then cracked. Not bleeding — splitting. I watched dark, hard plates push up through the surface. My fingers lengthened, joints clicking in ways they never should.
I slammed them under cold water, biting back a scream. By the time the water ran clear, the plates had sunk back down, my skin sealing over them as if nothing happened.
If anyone had seen…
No.
I can't let that happen.
Because once the Hive knows I can shift, they'll take me underground.
And I'll never come back.