Page 21 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
Rodhi whistled. Mitzi and Cilia gave anoooohfrom the back of the class. Gileon squinted at his rhino beetle he’d placed on his desk, perhaps wondering if the giant insect could do the same thing.
Ms. Pincette seemed to follow his eyes and train of thought.
“I’m afraid very few species of insects have the ability to pass messages down the chain of their kind. But while we have these ones here.” She looked up from the fire ants, her eyes analyzing each of us in microseconds. I felt her gaze pause ever so briefly on me, then swiftly shift to Rodhi. “Mr. Lockett, would you be so kind as to—”
Rodhi’s chair was already scraping against the floor from how fast he got up.
“—help me demonstrate,” Ms. Pincette finished, her mouth twitching.
She dipped a hand in the tank, waited for one of the ants to scurry up her outstretched finger, and nodded at Rodhi. “Your turn.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rodhi mimed a salute and dipped his own hand inside until an ant scurried up his finger, too.
“Now.” Ms. Pincette didn’t even blink when her ant trailed up her arm, to her elbow, and turned around to hurry back down. One bite, and her arm would form an itchy, swollen welt. “The trick to connecting with the correct counterpart is to describe your partner to your ant. And in an ant’s case, smell is more important than any other type of description. So, Mr. Lockett…”She turned to Rodhi and spread her arms wide. “Let’s get this over with. Sniff me.”
Emelle shot me a wide-eyed look that I flung back at her.Sniff me? In what version of reality would Ms. Pincette ever ask Rodhi tosniffher in front of the whole class?
All around us, gapes and smirks filled the room. Even Gileon had looked up from his rhino beetle with his mouth hanging open.
Lost for words for perhaps the first time in his life, Rodhi didn’t hesitate. He leaned forward, closed his eyes, and inhaled, looking as if he’d taken his Final Test and passed it early.
After a much-too-uncomfortable few seconds, in which I couldn’t help but squirm in my seat, he pulled back with a sloppy grin. “Got it.”
Ms. Pincette nodded. “And I have your scent down as well, I think. Okay, Mr. Lockett, describe me to your ant.”
Rodhi brought his ant up to his mouth and said in a raw, raspy voice that mimicked the insect’s accent, “I am looking to connect with a beautiful woman who smells like passionflowers in full bloom and the bark of a cinnamon tree when the sun’s hitting it just right.”
God of the Cosmos, that mademewant to blush.
But Ms. Pincette’s cheeks didn’t warm a single shade as she brought her own ant to her mouth and said, in that same accent, “I am looking to connect with a young man who smells like coconut, obnoxious energy, and a hint of clove.”
The ants wiggled their antennas.
“Alright, Mr. Lockett, now we’ll see if we have described each other properly. If you’ll go to that end of the classroom…” Rodhi was already jogging around all the desks. “I’ll stay here, and we’ll swap all the words we cannot tell each other face-to-face. Hypothetically, of course,” Ms. Pincette added with a twist of her mouth.
This had to be the most intimate, awkward lesson I’d ever encountered, and it was only day one of our second year. But I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. We were called Wild Whisperers, after all—and the wild animals of Eshol, much like the faeries who had gone extinct on this very island, relied on a sense of smell more than anything else.
I just never thought I’d hear Ms. Pincette relate Rodhi to a coconut. Wren was going todiewhen we told her.
Everyone had turned in their seats to watch Rodhi bring his ant to his mouth again, this time whispering something that nobody else could hear.
A moment later, Ms. Pincette brought her ant up to her ear, listened as it rasped something, and sighed.
“Yes, that would be something only Rodhi Lockett would say. Well done.” She jerked her head at him, those sharp eyes alight with something I might have dared call humor. “The rest of you…” She faced the class again without whispering her own message to her ant, letting it spiral around her finger. “Please find a partner, grab two ants of your own, and practice across the room from each other.”
Immediately, everyone began scrambling up, and Emelle and I clasped onto each other in a flash. I’d rathernotsniff anyone’s armpits today, but if it had to be someone, I’d definitely pick her.
“Go ahead,” Emelle said once we’d retrieved our ants from the tank. Around us, everyone had burst into conversation—Rodhi now with Gileon, Mitzi with Norman Pollard, and Cilia tentatively facing Dazmine. Emelle spread her arms like Ms. Pincette had. “Take a whiff.”
I did, my knife handle digging into my hip as I leaned forward, my ant tickling my palm where it scuttled back and forth.
“Hmm. Vanilla, I think? And… maybe roasted cocoa beans?”
A flush surged up Emelle’s neck.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh.” She shifted on her desk. “I just… I’ve always thought Lander smells like cocoa beans.”
