The Queen of the Cicadas Read online

  “I’ve crossed borders to be here. Would you like to take me in, officers?”

  The two men stumbled in the dark with their faces twisted in dread.

  “Get away! What are you?”

  “Holy shit! Holy shit, it’s true! God help us!” screamed one of the officers.

  Both women laughed. “Your god hears and sees and your god is not pleased, hence the silence. You are now left with me.”

  The woman in the bandana and the skinless one ignored the mother and child as they cornered the officers. Before one could reach for his firearm, the woman in jeans pulled down her bandana, releasing insects into the air. Mommy crouched, making a shield with her body, but Manuela could still see. Out of the stinging horde that attacked the wailing, thrashing men, a butterfly and chicharra flew away to rest on her mother’s knee.

  “Look, Mama,” Manuela whispered. “They aren’t scared, so we shouldn’t be scared. They will protect us.”

  Her mother looked at her through puffy wet eyes, then at the butterfly and the chicharra. The creatures playfully fluttered together. “I will always protect you and your sister inside of me. I think we should call her Mariposa, to remember this day.”

  The ICE officers pulled and beat on the front door until suddenly it opened on its own, releasing the insects. Manuela could hear a woman scream outside, then screeching wheels. Good. They were safe again.

  The woman in the bandana and jeans looked back at Manuela. Without moving her lips, she spoke to her inside her head. “I will see you soon. I will be one of you again.”

  Manuela felt warm inside of her tummy and heart. She thought it might be what adults called hope.

  About this book

  This is a FLAME TREE PRESS BOOK

  Text copyright © 2021 V. Castro

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  FLAME TREE PRESS, 6 Melbray Mews, London, SW6 3NS, UK, flametreepress.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Thanks to the Flame Tree Press team, including: Taylor Bentley, Frances Bodiam, Federica Ciaravella, Don D’Auria, Chris Herbert, Josie Karani, Molly Rosevear, Mike Spender, Cat Taylor, Maria Tissot, Nick Wells, Gillian Whitaker. The cover is created by Flame Tree Studio with thanks to Nik Keevil and Shutterstock.com.

  FLAME TREE PRESS is an imprint of Flame Tree Publishing Ltd. flametreepublishing.com. A copy of the CIP data for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress.

  HB ISBN: 978-1-78758-603-1 • US PB ISBN: 978-1-78758-601-7

  UK PB ISBN: 978-1-78758-602-4 • ebook ISBN: 978-1-78758-604-8

  Created in London and New York

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