Chapter Five

The Race for Humanity

All i could think of is whether we would ever be ourselves again. I was feeling that our chances of becoming humans again would be not looking so bright. This particular transformation was strong and i could feel it slowly overtaking my mind, turning it into a real bee's mind! We had to reverse the spell quickly! "Pick up speed everyone, work those little wings" Ms Frizzle shouted over the sound of buzzing that we were all making. Thank god that we now had the bus bee following us, after all we need it to change us all back.

"Ms Frizzle, Tim, are we flying in the right direction?" Phoebe asked, Ms Frizzle who was flying on her left smiled "Don't worry Phoebe, our bee senses will lead us back" she buzzed as she flew slightly ahead. "Do you remember kids the first time you were bees? What led you back to the hive in the tree? What sense did you use?" Ms Frizzle questioned. Phoebe and i looked at each other and thought for a moment until i got it! "Bee's use there senses to find nectar, we can use our senses to find our way back to the classroom" i excitedly answered "and if there is still honey back there, we may have some luck in leading the bus bee back there and be able to change back into oursleves" Ms Frizzle yelled out. We all cheered happily, in hope! "Ok, lets stop for a moment" i buzzed "Lets close our eyes and try and see if we can smell that honey". We stayed in the air but continued to hover. We all closed our eyes and took a moment to connect to our bee minds. It wasnt long until i could sense a particularlly sweet smell coming from the direction on my right. Then in no short time Phoebe spoke "You smell that?" she asked "Its sooooo sweet, its smells like...honey...OH NO THE BUS!" Ms Frizzle and I had both opened our eyes in a flash as we heard Phoebe scream, the bee bus had continued to fly ahead of us. "Don't worry kids, i have a feeling that the bus knows what to do, come on!" Ms Frizzle said with a smile and wink as she started to follow the bus. Phoebe and I looked at each other in hope that the bus we going to lead us back to the school. We rolled our eyes before we followed in a line behind the bus who was flying ever so quickly we didnt have much time!

As a bee, i was forgetting that a bee's flight path is not always clear being so small in all that. You really had to pay attention to where you were flying to. We were madly avoiding preditors, trees and even cars! "Phew" i buzzed "that was a close one!". Then Phoebe and i could hear Ms Frizzle saying "Don't stop or look away kids, Walkerville Elementry dead ahead!" avoiding these obscales was one thing but keeping focussed was another. I must have looked away any for a minute then the last thing i knew i had crashed into someones head! Luckily my wings keeped me from falling at they kept me aflight, "Oh my gosh are you ok?" Phoebe asked as she flew towards me to see if i was ok. My head was spinning! Ms Frizzle came to assist too as she landed on the persons head "Come and land here kids, while you catch your breaths" she said. Phoebe and I eventually landed on a soft grey surface "Gosh Tim, that was a doozie" Ms Frizzle buzzed "I oviously wasn't watching where i was going, ha ha!" i said in a small nervous giggle. After a few short seconds i was feeling back to normal well bee normal, i noticed our surroundings and everything still looked huge. I could feel the softness of the persons hair that we landed on, we had to be careful not to get tangled in it. We didn't want the person to knew that we are here. "Have we landed on a persons head?" asked Phoebe "This is not safe, does the person even realise that we are on there head!" suddenlty a very large hand swung towards us "In coming!" i shouted. The three of us leapped out of the grey coloured hair to avoid getting squished. Suddenlty still feeling disorientated i couldn't fly for very long. I found myself a perch to sit on for a few minutes it wasn't long until i could hear Phoebe shouting "Ah...Tim...your on her nose!". I froze and thought this is the end i couldn't use my wings i was too tired. Panicing i didnt know what to do i turned myself around to find a pair of large eyes staring at me. They were human eyes but kind with huge lashes. I had never been so terrified in my life until i heard a loud voice coming from below me. " Don't worry little bee, i will not hurt you, creep into my hand, you can rest there" the voice i heard sounded familar and could tell it was a female's voice. I crept on to the very large hand, it was warm and smooth "All that flying must have really tired you out" the voice said. I froze thinking, we will never achieve our mission now...i looked up to see that Phoebe and Ms Frizzle still hovering in the air. I could see that Phoebe had a worried look on her face where as Ms Frizzle had her signture happy smile. With a gulp i turned around slowly while still in the palm of this womens hand. I looked up and saw the face of the women beaming down on me with a kind and gentle smile. It was Mrs Oliver! My neighbour, who Phoebe and i saw earlier. Feeling slowly relaxed and calm in her hand, i knew that hopefully she wouldn't hurt me although i was a bee now and not human Tim anymore. She continued to smile and looked up towards at Ms Frizzle and Phoebe "I love bees, such wonderful insects" she commented. I thought immedilty good she doesn't recognize us "Tim are you ok?" i heard Phoebe shout. "Yeah...i'm ok" i answered back to her. Feeling back to normal, I started to rev up my wings again in order to fly away "Off you go little bee, your friends are waiting for you" Mrs Oliver told me as i pushed off her hand she then started to whisper to all 3 of us "You don't have much time left, if you want to keep your humanity, go back to where it all began, perform and sooth the virus". How, hooowww? i buzzed as i looked at Ms Frizzle and Phoebe who were hovering beside me "Its a mystery kids, but she's right we need to hurry back to the classroom" Ms Frizzle buzzed. We all started to quickly fly to the classroom as now the school was in our sights "Bye, bye little bees" we could hear Mrs Oliver shout. What did she just say? Does she know thats going on ? Is she the same dear neighbour we saw this morning? a million questions were spinning around in my head "What just happened? I hope that she did she recognize us? Phoebe asked. Before i could even answer back to her we noticed that Ms Frizzle was no longer flying with us, she had paused behind as was waving back to Mrs Oliver like she was saying goodbye. We done saw Mrs Oliver wink and with a thumbs up. It could of reminded Pheobe and i of what Ms Frizzle's sister use to do all those years ago when she taught us "Somethings fishy Tim, in my old school nothing like this ever happened" buzzed Pheobe. I turned my face to her and nodded with agreement (not the old school part but that something is fishy). Was Mrs Oliver who we think she is? "Maybe she is related to the Frizzle family, like another cousin or someone" i said to Phoebe. Just then we heard a very loud buzzing sound from behind, Phoebe and i turned around to see Ms Frizzle "hurry kids, there is no time to lose, no time for questions" she buzzed as she flew fearlessly ahead. Phoebe and i followed her with Walkerville Elementry in sight, thank god that the school hadn't changed! Hopefully it was only the classroom that had been affected with the magic "Classroom dead ahead" we heard Ms Frizzle shout.

The window was thank god still open, we were flying towards it hoping that the bus bee will be inside as we lost track of it when we bumped into Mrs Oliver. Phoebe and I were still madly catching up to Ms Frizzle who heard flown way ahead of us. As we got closer to the window, we noticed that Ms Frizzle had stopped! We finally caught up to her, she didn't say anything, it was like she was staring into space "Um Ms Frizzle...ah you ok?" i asked. Her eyes had changed to a dark shade of black Just done she changed direction and was starting to fly towards a flower that was underneath the window "no Ms Frizzle don't" Phoebe shouted to her. Pheobe and I had followed her towards the flower, she wasnt reacting, she was sitting on the flower collecting nectar like a real bee! "No...Ms Frizzle...remember you are not a real bee your a human! Don't change now" i quickly shouted, we had to think first on this one what do we do? The spell is taking over, any second now we will be bees forever! If we don't slove this puzzle we are doomed! Phoebe then flew beside Ms Frizzle "come on Ms Frizzle, do you remember your not a bee your a human infact a teacher who loves her job and everyone who she teaches, don't let this change your life forever" she buzzed to her. Ms Frizzle stop gathering nectar and paused, she looked up at Phoebe with a blank look. "Ms Frizzle please...we need you" Phoebe buzzed. I done flew beside Phoebe , Ms Frizzle then looked blankly at me "Come on Ms Frizzle" i said as i gave her a smile. Suddenly Ms Frizzle's eyes changed once again to how they were before (well the way they were when we first transformed), she then shook her head "Oh hey kids, what just happened?" she asked "You almost became a real bee" Phoebe buzzed to her. Then Ms Frizzle answered back"Oh no this is bad kids, we need to fix this fast where are we?" Phoebe and I told her that luckily we were outside the classroom window where we were heading in the first place. She smiled "perfect, follow me kids we need to find the bus bee and put on a show, the spell is almost complete by the sound of it" she buzzed as she made her made towards the window, acting like she knew what was to come next. We followed her, the day was just getting crazier and crazier. What Ms Frizzle just said was similar to what Mrs Oliver had said "Back to where it all started, perform or put on a show" i was madly trying to figure it all out "Tim hurry or you will lose your humanity forever!" i heard Ms Frizzle yell! Time was running out!