You find yourself on the second floor of St. Mungo's, the sign on the wall proclaims this to be the ward which deals with Magical Bugs and problems caused by them. You take a look around and notice that there are many glass aquarium type enclosures in which to hold various species of bugs which are being tested and worked on, these all have warning signs posted on them not to touch them or get too close. There only seems to be one employee visible on this floor, a nurse with long, stringy dirty blonde hair and a rather excited demeanor. Her name tag, which is crooked, bears the name Latrice Bernhard. You go to her and ask her a question.

Ask the question!

As she answers you wonder why she is acting so strangely, as if she were a patient herself. She is not speaking logically and sometimes is even laughing giddily and actually levitating a bit off the floor. She speaks with a high, rather nervous voice, punctuated with lots of giggling. You are not feeling very much at ease, can things get any worse?

Suddenly you turn around and realize with dismay that there is a rather large crack up one side of the right wall and that there are insects buzzing in and out of that area. Upon closer inspection you realize that the insects in question are billiwigs, explaining part of Nurse Bernhard's erratic behavior, though not all of it. Better watch out, you are about to get stung!

Lexi practically squealed as she and Paul made their way to the next level of the hospital. Thank Merlin they were away from that silly, silly lady and the troubled man/werewolf! Things were starting to get a bit scary back there. Psh! Just to think...she once that ground floor was chaotic! Even though she was squealing on the outside, Lexi's insides were a roller coaster of nerves. She didn't even want to think about what the second level of the hospital would be like.

Hmm...magical bugs. This sounds...creepy and crawly. "Well, here we are, Paulie!" Lexi exclaimed, stopping just a moment to mentally prepare herself for what may come. Lexi looked around and saw the many different enclosures housing who-knew-what. Eww...creepy. She always hated bugs.

Upon further inspection, Lexi noticed a woman, an odd woman indeed, who definitely appeared to be a tad on the mysterious side. Lexi cleared her throat nervously, wondering what kind of condition this lady would attempt to plague them with.

To distract herself, Lexi looked around and around the room, her eyes finally resting on a crack in the wall, a crack with large amounts of..."PAULIE!" Lexi skrieked. "Is that...oh, no! It is!"

Latrice giggled as she noticed a young woman enter her area. Visitors could be nice, was this one here to share in her delight over all her little "friends" here on the floor, or was she looking for some kind of cure to stamp them out? She glared, not sure now what to think. Better safe than sorry, that's what her mother had always told her.

It was nearly time to make her rounds and feed her friends, always a very special time of day for Latrice. She did a quick check of all the supplies and bug food she had hidden behind her desk area before giving in to euphoria once again as one of the billiwigs flew towards her and stung her. "Teehee", she giggled before drifting towards the ceiling.

Ew ew ew ew EWWWWWW!

Paul hated bugs. With a passion. He was arachniphobic and ran like a little girl whenever he saw anything that could sting, and this included billywigs. As he saw the woman floating in the air, giggling like a loony, he squeezed Lexi's hand and pulled her closer. She had to protect him, after all.

"Is that gonna happen to me if they sting me too?" he asked fearfully to his girlfriend, wishing he was about 10 inches shorter so he could hide behind her. Turning his attention away from the bugs and back to the floating woman, he decided to wave up to her and smiled. "Hello up there! How are you?" he asked. Maybe she was happy enough to answer him right now...

Lynne entered the second floor. Bugs! At least they were contained, except....

Billiwigs...lots of billiwigs. Well, it could be worse. Maybe they were just the ticket for her anxiiety over her hair falling out. The nurse had obviously been stung a few times.

Lynne walked carefully over to the nurse and asked, 'Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have seen a key lying around anywhere?'

As she stood there, she could feel her hair starting to change again, PURPLE, BLUE, GREEN, YELLOW, ORANGE, RED....POOF!!! It was gone. 11 minutes to regrowth...it was certainly getting tiresome.

Amon made his way onto the second floor. He now had two keys in his pockets. He wasn't about to leave them anywhere. He would keep them locked in his mission cabinet. He looked around. Bugs? Oh no. He hated bugs, but he wasn't about to announce that. He was the fearless super spy. He could hide his fear. He was good at acting.

He spotted a weird floating woman. He frowned, and then saw the crack. Billywigs? They were only good in Fizzing Whizbees. He hadn't prepared for stinging insects. He had prepared for gases, and attacks, not bugs. He eyed them.

"Hi. So what goes on on this floor?" he asked the floating lady.

Latrice looked at the group as she collapsed to the ground with a thud, now there wasn't just one person staring at her but four of them! "Who are you?" she asked the group nervously, gazing with awe at her beautiful, lovely billiwigs. How she loved them, they brought her so much joy and pleasure! She heard one of the group asking for information about the key, the precious key that she guarded with her life. "Key? Did you say key or bee? I have some very nice bees here, and glumbumbles as well. They're a magical form of the bee, you know." She giggled as she pronounced the word glumbumble, letting it trip over her tongue.

Franco was so glad to get off that floor with the werewolf. It was creeping her out and making her nervous. "That was a smashing save Amon." she said as her eyes turned onto the other employee on the floor. She was floating! What was going on around here? Then she saw the reason. Billywigs!! "Please don't let them sting me." She hated bugs!!

Franca held onto Amon's arm. She hated bugs and he was a super spy he would protect her from them. Well she hoped he would. "Let's get through this floor very fast." She said to him.

She looked at the lady. "No dear we said key. Do you know if there is a key on this floor?" She asked. The woman almost looked like the receptionist downstairs.

"I am Amon Kendrick, Bug Enthusiast," Amon smiled. "Who might you?" Well it was worth a try. "I love your collection here. Do you have anything special? I love special things. Maybe like winged keys. Those are a pretty sight."

He nodded to Franca, "Yes lets please."

Latrice giggled again. "Well, there may be a key here but if it is I'm afraid I've lost track of it, my little dears may be taking care of it for me." She stopped for a moment. "Oh, my bees are quite lovely, dear, you really should have a look! These are singing bees, their song is so lovely to listen to." With that, she began to make a buzzing kind of sound, much like that a bumblebee would make.

"Wow singing bees. They are fascinating," Amon smiled. "How did you get them to do such things? I am trying to make my butterflies dance. Have you managed that yet?"

"Oooh, dancing butterflies, pretty,' Latrice cooed in excitement. "But no insect is more beautiful than my baby billiwigs." She giggled with delight as another small billiwig stung her and she drifted into the air yet again. "Isn't it wonderful? My darling billiwigs take such good care of me, they know where everything is around this place. Without them I wouldn't be able to get by, you know!" She managed to point at the billiwig which had just stung her and say, "This is Jerry. Isn't he a nice one?"

"Jerry is fantastic," Amon smiled. He tried to avoid being stung. He didn't want to float. "Does Jerry look after your things? And what do you feed them? I find looking for food for my butterflies rather hard. I like to keep them contained in my greenhouse." He had so many imaginary questions.

"Yes, little Jerry is the king of all the billiwigs, the keeper of all things precious!", Latrice sang out happily. "They love to eat meat the most of all, especially raw hamburger, they get so excited when I put it into their crack in the wall. My billiwigs are so special I just couldn't bear to keep them in one of the aquariums, I need to have them close with me all the time!"

"They sleep in a hole in the wall?" Amon asked, "I bet it is lovely in there. All decorated and everything. Like a little birds nest. Can I have a look at it? I want to see how to make one for my butterflies."

Latrice hesitated, only for a moment. "Look in my precious billiwigs' home?" This was the place she guarded above all else, but this nice man seemed to know what he was doing. "Well, I suppose it would be okay, but only if you are very careful. Please don't hurt little Jerry or any of his friends."

Franca was looking at the billywigs. If the woman loved them as much as she looked like she did. Would she strap a key to one of them. Franca squinted trying to see if any one of them looking like they had a key tapped to them. "Could the bees be keeping something precious for you?" She asked the woman.

Then she looked over at the crack in the wall. She would let Amon inspect that one.

"Don't worry I won't hurt Jerry. I don't want him to hurt me," Amon smiled. "Wow it is so beautiful. Thank you for letting me have a look." He peered into the beautiful space. It was filled with amazing things.

She walked behind him. Letting him go first in case one of the bugs didn't like to be bothered by humans.

Adrienne had practically run out of the room and up the stairs. Totally unladylike, but she hoped she'd made it look like she was only excited to get to the next floor, not that she had a fear of canines or similar. She slowed her pace as she reached the door though, wondering what might be in this room. It was labelled as the bugs floor. Ah, lovely creepy crawlies. It almost reminded her of potion brewing...well, except that they were not moving then, but it was only a small difference. Compared to dog wolf man, bugs were a breeze.

"It was an awesome job," Adrienne added to Franca's save comment, as she took in the room. She recognised the bright sapphire blue bodies immediately, and gave a wry grin. "Billywigs," she muttered to herself, wondering how best distract this many bugs from stinging them all. That what was causing the lady to be hovering...too many stings.

She couldn't help but smile at their conversation, noting how cleverly Amon was spinning his background story. She was pretty certain he didn't keep any butterflies, but there again you could never be certain with someone like him.

"Of course we won't hurt them," Adrienne finally spoke, giving the lady a warm comforting smile. "Would it be best to tempt them out with some food first? So that we don't risk hurting them in any way?"

"Well, I'm glad you like the way their home is decorated," she smiled. "Billiwigs are such intelligent creatures, you know, and they take such good care of me. My precious babies. No one must hurt my babies." With that she began to drift towards the ceiling once again, going even higher than she had the first time.

By the time Adrienne had finished asking about food, Amon had already examined the hole. Good stuff. She hadn't really wanted to go near their stingers. It wasn't like she was afraid, but it would absolutely wreck her complexion. Concealer was good, but it never looked totally natural.

Returning from her thoughts, Adrienne regrouped with her companions, and watched the lady float off again. Good job it had a relatively low ceiling in here, else they'd never have stood a chance in getting the woman's attention. Time to now though, to move on...

Lynne wandered over to the crack in the wall. The Billiwigs didn't bother her nearly as much as the bees...especially glumbumbles, which had a tendancy to mess up precious honey hives.

Peering inside the crack, she thought she saw something shiny. Very carefully, she reached in the crack to see what it was.....

"Careful, those are my babies," Latrice pleaded again. The billiwigs were more precious to her than she could ever tell anyone, they brought her so much happiness and joy! Few could understood this, but they had always held a special place in her heart, above any other insect.

Lexi smiled as the lady began giggling. What on Earth was so funny? No offense to anyone, but Lexi hardly saw anything about this hospital funny. If anything, it was down right...

Oh, wait. Lexi turned around and looked towards the bugs again, watching them fly in and out of that little crack in the wall. Lexi did a few quick reviews in her head, trying to remember just what it was that she'd learned Billywigs caused. When she remembered, she looked up in horror just in time to see the bug lady float to the ceiling, a typical side effect of Billywigs.

Lexi suddenly felt a tight squeeze on her hand, and she looked over to see Paul drawing her closer to him. Awww, her Paulie, always the protective type. Lexi wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer, as well. After that crazy lady on the last level tried to feed both Paul and Lexi to the werewolf, Lexi wasn't taking any more chances when it came to both herself and Paul.

"They're Billywigs," Lexi responded. "They cause giddiness and levitation, so yes, if you get stung, that's what they'll do." When Paul proceeded to attempt to question the woman, Lexi drew her attention up to the ceiling, hoping the woman would respond and give them a little bit of information.

Lexi blinked and jumped back a bit as the woman fell with a thud back to the ground. "Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" Lexi asked. The woman seemed to be just fine, though, as she was now questioning all four of them as to why they were here. "I'm Lexi Greingoth," Lexi replied, "and this is my boyfriend, Paul Kutcher. We'd like to ask you a few questions if you'll allow us to."

Lexi listened carefully as the bug lady mentioned a key, a key she so desperately needed. Too bad the lady seemed to have lost track of it. It had to be around here somewhere, though. The problem was locating it before the billywigs, or some other magical bug, decided to attack them and force them to float, float, float away.

Suddenly, an odd buzzing sound filled the room, and Lexi looked up toward the enclosures to try and determine which bugs were the cause of the noise. Lexi followed the source of the sound until, oddly, it led her to the bug lady. Now why was this lady making that odd buzzing sound? Oh, yeah...right. This was St. Mungo's.

Lexi looked towards the billywigs when they were once again mentioned. What was the deal with those billywigs anyway? There definitely seemed to be more to that situation than met the eye. Lexi glanced carefully at the crack in the wall, wondering if maybe, just maybe...

"Nice to meet you, Jerry," Lexi said, trying to make sure she stayed on the woman's good side. "Tell me, how do Jerry and the other billywigs help you?"

"What does Jerry keep for you?" Lexi asked, hoping the woman would answer some of her questions soon. "Raw hamburger you say?" Ewwww. "Do you have any of that raw hamburger handy? I'd like to assist you in feeding those billywigs." Honestly, Lexi just wanted to get over near that crack in the wall and see just what it was all about. Hopefully, she wouldn't get stung in the process.

"I'd like to see the home, as well," Lexi commented. "Like I said earlier, I'd like to feed them some of that raw hamburger meat. Where is that kept?" Lexi glanced towards Paul, hoping he would get her drift and help convince the bug lady to let the two of them go and scope out that crack in the wall.