“There’s been a slight change of plans,” Coco said as she entered the shack beside the Gate. She dropped a rubber suit of armor in Victor’s lap.

He sat in the dirt and fingered the tread looking up at her. He couldn’t believe she was still alive. “Where’s Adrian? And what’s with all the blood on your dress?” Rudy buzzed around Coco, eagerly anticipating the culmination of their plan.

Coco looked down at the crimson stain that bloomed across the lap of her dress and said, “The blood and the suit are his. The spores can’t be removed without killing the knights. Put that suit on, Victor. We’re going to need you to pretend to be one of them to get me to the Queen. Let’s get moving.”

Victor put on Adrian’s rubber suit, elated at the opportunity to be his love’s knight in slimy armor. Once armored, he held Coco by the arms, and marched her through town.

The people in the kingdom turned and watched, but said nothing. Coco played at having been captured. The duo marched right into the castle, past the guards at the door and through many long corridors. Several knights raised an eyebrow of approval at Coco’s capture, but made no other moves.

Victor soon realized that he had no idea where he was going. He had been dragging her in circles through the castle. They passed the same guard twice and on their third pass he stepped into their path.

“Lost?” he asked, eyeing Coco up and down.

“I’ve brought the Queen a present,” Victor said. He jerked Coco roughly by the arm. “Any idea where she is?”

The guard raised an eyebrow. “We all know she’s in the Compost Garden, taking her mid-day nap.”

“Must’ve slipped my mind. I’ve been out hunting for her. Not posted in a cozy hallway.”

The guard’s chest puffed out and he clenched his jaw. Victor said nothing, half expecting the knight to throw a punch.

Instead the guard said, “Look, I’m just doing my job. Take her to the Queen and get out of my face, alright?” He pointed down the hall behind him.

Victor shoved Coco down the corridor. They followed the sounds of soft snoring and grunting into the Compost Garden.

There were piles of various sized fruit, manure, and mulch, littered with egg shells and flower petals, arranged in the shape of a spiral.

Victor and Coco made their way through the maze, following the sound of the Queen snoring, which grew louder as they neared the center. They found her asleep in a hammock made of plastic six-pack rings hung between two pieces of rebar.

Coco strutted over to the hammock and pulled one side down to the ground. She let go and watched the Queen spill out.

The Queen floundered and sputtered, poking her head out from her mess of a dress. “You!” she shouted.

“Yes. Me.” Coco stood over the Queen. She felt powerful wearing filth, the tattered dress, caked-on shit, and Adrian’s blood. It was a new kind of power to her. Not like the power of sex—like she felt on stage, but REAL power.

The Queen tried to stand.

Coco planted a shit-splattered silver stiletto into her chest and kicked her back to the ground.

The Queen shouted for the guards.

Coco shouted for Rudy.

The Queen laughed “Your fly? He may give me the creeps, but he can’t help you. My guards will STILL take you away!”

“Do you think they’ll get here in time?” Coco smirked at the Queen, though she wasn’t so sure herself. But if she’d learned anything from the years on stage, it was to fake it ‘til you make it.

For the first time since her arrival, Coco saw fear flash across the Queen’s face. They stared at each other in silence, waiting for the other to make the next move.

“What’s that sound?” the Queen said, breaking their brief standoff.

The air around them was suddenly alive with vibration, and strangely shadier.

The Queen looked up at the sky, bewildered by the shadow that had abruptly fallen. Her mouth fell open in dismay and her shrill cries of terror were barely muffled by her hands, as she stood and ran from the center of the garden.

Rudy and thousands of his closest friends swarmed in a buzzing black cloud. They converged on the garden, following the Queen as she fled in panic through the spiral compost beds. She ran out of the garden and past the castle, too afraid to pay attention to where she was going.