Which is actually a line from Creepshow, in a segment about bugs. I'm a genius.
ANYWAY. Last time, our intrepid group of envoys were investigating a bunch of weirdness in a small Idaho neighborhood. Blackouts in which all electronics go out, hornets stinging people, break-ins, a murder a year ago and a custodian cutting off his own head with a chainsaw some 20 years ago. They had just learned, from their compatriot Father Will, that a police officer named Milton Hodges had been stung to death by hornets back in August 2011. (Father Will was out today; he got caught up doing diocese stuff. Likewise, Jordan got called away on a family matter, so it was just Blake, Jennifer, Samantha, and Willa.)
The envoys traipse back into Detective Jackson's office and ask about Hodges. He tells them that Hodges died of multiple hornet stings, but he isn't sure why Hodges was actually at the school that night. He'd heard reports that there was a scream and a gunshot, but doesn't know the particulars. Jennifer does some research and learns that Hodges left behind a wife (Lisa) and a daughter (Rina), as well as an older sister (Irene). They also do some checking into the neighborhood and find an active neighborhood watch, the most active of which is a fellow named Eric Hill.
They decide to split up - Willa and Jennifer (who drives in from the ranch) go to talk with Hill about the neighborhood and its history, while Samantha and Blake go to talk to Hodges' widow. They find his daughter sitting on the porch reading and try to talk with her about her father, but they don't get very far. It's the week of the anniversary of her father's death, and she was only 8 at the time - as far as she knows, he went for a walk and never came back. They give her Samantha's card and tell her to have her mother call them, but they don't expect much of a response.
Willa and Jennifer find Eric Hill in his yard and talk to him about the blackouts. He confirms that they happen in August, but isn't sure if it's every year. He also confirms that they affect things like cell phones, and has some very interesting theories about why that happens involving 5G, Obama, and chemtrails. He tells them that a couple of nights before Karen Welch was stabbed last year, someone kicked in the back door of Ryan and Sheryl Briggs and stole a branch saw. They weren't injured, but they didn't get a look at the intruder, either.
Willa and Jennifer walk down the block and talk to Sheryl Briggs, and she confirms what Hill told them - they were getting ready for bed, there was a crash, the alarm went off but then suddenly died. Willa notes that the details are pretty consistent - it's always the first week of August, the same week Mr. Buck died, hornets tend to show up, and burglary involving a branch saw is common. What the heck does all this mean?
Samantha and Blake visit Irene Hodges, Milt's sister, and have a better time of it. She lets them in and they talk about Milt, and she says that when they found his body he had his gun in his hand and one round had been fired. There was never any good explanation for that, so the gun was left out of the report. She also tells them, in confidence, that Milt confessed some years ago that he'd actually found Mr. Buck's head the day he died. He saw it in the brush, it had rolled under a hornet's nest, and he'd been so freaked out that he froze up and didn't say anything. That, Irene guesses, is why he was back there in 2011. His daughter was about to start school at Pioneer, and Milt was trying to find the skull to report it.
Samantha realizes that, unless someone picked up the skull, it's probably still there. The envoys meet up for dinner and share their info, and decide to go skull-hunting. They head to a Home Depot and buy some beekeeping outfits and look around the woods. It takes some time, but as the sun sets, they find a bracelet with some beads and charms on it. Samantha uses Postcognition and sees a teenage girl, dressed in black and with dyed black hair, looking around in the brush. She finds a human skulls, and whispers "holy shit, this is awesome" before putting it in her backpack and walking away into the park. She drops the bracelet, but doesn't notice.
Samantha reports this to the others, but then they notice some hornets buzzing around and hear twigs cracking in the nearby underbrush. They back up towards the path and watch, and see a humanoid figure moving in the trees. They film it on cell phones, but can't get a good look until it breaks the treeline and steps under the light near the school. It's wearing jeans, work boots, a torn-up t-shirt, work gloves...and it has a hornet's nest for a head.
Samantha calls Detective Jackson and reports this, but makes the mistake of actually saying "a man with a hornet's nest for a head," and he hangs up. They send him some pictures, but don't get a response back.
It doesn't seem to notice them, and they follow it across the parking lot. It steps into the trees again, and Blake calls after it. The lights go out, and their cell phones die as well. They hear the local citizens yelling to each other from back doors ("here we go again!" "damn chemtrails!"), but then Jennifer hears a crash and a scream.
Following the sounds, they find a house with the back door smashed into. They investigate carefully, and eventually come to the garage, where they see the beehive-man standing over another man...with a wood ax buried in his chest. It yanks the ax out, and Blake activates Hidden Hand and tries to pull the ax out of his hand. He keeps his grip on it, though, and releases a swarm of hornets from his, erm, head. Fortunately, though, the envoys are wearing beekeeper outfits, so this doesn't bother them as much as it might.
Willa activates Astral Attack on a trowel and hurls it at the hive, but misses. Jennifer runs in and uses Heal on the unfortunate fellow on the floor, saving his life. Samantha fishes around for her lighter and mace, and Blake telekinetically opens the garage door. The envoys are prepared for a fight...but the creature runs out the door and disappears into the neighborhood.
The envoys hear sirens, and the cops finally arrive. They take the man (Stanley Friedbach, the owner of the house) to the hospital, and very politely invite the envoys down to the station for a friendly chat.
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