Planted

By julia_knox

289 13 50

Seventeen year old Misty Cellars lives in a double-wide trailer where she bargains with a local drug gang to... More

Prologue
Path for the Lost
Carried Away
Postcard Season
How to Fall and How Not to Break
The Circle
Light
The Gravedigger
In the Dark
A Good Family Talk
The Engine Driver
Who Are You, Really?
A Hermit's History of Plumber's Falls
Dust, Moss, Dirt
The Doctor
Crossroads
You Can't Get There From Here
The Scientists
The Teacher
Something in the Water
The Lab

GENESIS: PLUMBER'S FALLS, MAINE. 1921.

41 4 6
By julia_knox

"Noctua pronuba!" echoed a smoky voice through the tunnel near the Plumber's Falls Paper Dam.

Out of the darkness, another voice emerged.

"We are dying from overwork," it said. It was Ellychnia.

The only light that shone was from the blue ghosts, who gathered tightly together.

"We should be grateful they chose this dump town for the industry," growled Phausis.

"Not if they know it makes us sick," Ellychnia snapped.

Light from Photuris began to flicker angrily before giving off a cold chill.

Pyractomena soon grew close to Photuris, offering comfort.

"Noctua pronuba!" boomed Photinus. A surreal stillness permeated the atmosphere. No light shone from either end of the tunnel, and a slow drip emanated eerily in the dampness. The blue ghosts surrounded him. A thousand flapping wings cascaded from the ceiling of the tunnel. The group was still with silent wonder. A brilliant sea of large yellow underwings had filled the space.

"Linnaeus!" commanded Photinus. A large moth came to hover by his side. "Will you join us?" he asked.

The Lampyridae were joined by hundreds of moths, and the group began to chant:

Hieracium

Albiflorum

Hieracium

Albertinum

Hieracium

Horridum

Hieracium

Floribundum

Hieracium

Glomeratum

Hieracium

Gronovii

Hieracium

Praealtum

Hieracium

Sabaudum

Hieracium

Venosum

Noctua pronuba

Of order Lepidoptera

Feed upon the Hawkweed

Save our light.

Then, all was silent, and the tunnel was aglow with many lightly beating hearts. 

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