I watched as bugs flew and ran in every direction all at once, but not a single one of them crashed or even bumped into each other. In the center of the chaotic whirl mass, a strange-looking slug was hanging in a basket, but it was covered in eyes.

“Okay, as soon as we move ahead about five feet, we will be marked, then you just have to listen to the directions and follow them exactly. We are going over to the cave directly across from us with the red paint lining the entrance. Make sure that you are focusing on that when we go, so the Sector Director knows where to guide you,” Raul explained as he pointed across the cavern.

The place he was showing me was hard to see with all the bugs moving around, but I was able to spot it. I hoped I didn’t get lost from these two, but I could just find them after and get to them quickly.

I was hoping that I would be able to find something to track the main leaders of each hive so I could just easily travel down to them rather than take such a long trip. Walking down to each one would eat up a lot of my time, and it would be the night before I knew it.

[Yes, I am sure there will be some way for you to figure things out. If they don’t give off specific energy, then you can ask if the hives are set up the same or if they know the layouts.]

“Alright, I am ready to do this, I think. So, all I have to do is focus on the red entrance and then listen to what I am told?” I asked the guards, and the two of them looked at each other with a smile.

“It will be a bit of a challenge for you, I think, but then again, you are much stronger than us, so you might pick it up faster than most. You are going to have to jump, duck and roll to make it around here,” Zib said with a chuckle, but I just laughed back at them.

The two looked at me with strained looks, but then I sunk into the ground up to my neck. Zib and Raul looked highly shocked as I smiled up at them with only my head protruding from the ground.

“Listen, you two seem like nice chaps, but I am in a bit of a hurry, so do you think that you can just point me in the right direction? I should be able to find the place, but I can sense three places far underground that have strong presences right now. I am sensing them at the center of the island, but I don’t know which location is the right one,” I explained to the now even more shocked-looking Horned beetle guards.

“Wait, how can you know where the three great chambers are?!” Raul asked with astonishment, but he was slapped on the back of his head by Zip.

“Ignore my brother; it will be the one closest to us if you can tell where they are from here. It is best if you go alone if you can get there faster. If we guide you, it will take just under a day with all the stops, but you need to be aware that there are some less than reputable places down here. You should be wary of bad bugs that might try offering you things. Still, I suggest you not accept anything from anyone if you don’t know,” Zip explained to me, and I tried not to laugh but failed, and that got me a “listen hear” look.

“Sorry, I just… sorry. I will stay away from any miscreants and not accept gifts from strangers. I will also look both ways before crossing the roads, don’t you worry. I know the stranger danger protocol!” I said with a grin, and Zip glared at me, but then I disappeared into the ground before either beetle could say anything.

[I hope you are not as stupid as you let on to be.]

‘No, I was just giving them a hard time. I should be able to travel to the first area through the rock, but I don’t know what the inside area is going to be like. I can’t sense anything but a massive amount of energies past that point because there are three massive fifty-foot wide cocoons that all the paths lead to.’

[Just make sure you listen to what he said. Look what just happened in an innocent situation with Tiga, right? Think about what could have happened if she didn’t pull you from the water, and you are also much stronger than her, plus she had no control of her powers.]

This was true, but my fear block made it easy to forget things like that, but maybe that would change when I faced things that were meant to be feared. Regardless, I was taking their words seriously, and I glided through the earth, taking only about five minutes to get to the tunnel that entered the cocoon.

I dropped into the tunnel, landing beside a strange-looking caterpillar that was orange and black with strange spikes protruding out of its body. On top of that, some of the spikes were very long, but most were short and had more spikes coming from them.

“What are you staring at, you monster?” A decidedly female voice asked me, sounding angry.

Being called a monster was a new one, but I guess looking from the other side of the coin, I was far stranger. The longer spikes were starting to move slowly, but they definitely looked dangerous.

“Sorry, I am just going to see Grix-a….” I started to say but was trying to recall the person’s name.

The caterpillar turned her head to me and looked at me with what looked like painted-on tan eyes. This was the strangest thing that I had ever seen, and I was beyond curious to know what she would look like as a girl.

“Grixaitalax, you mean?” The caterpillar asked me.