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I balk at her tone. She takes in my reaction, my face, and sighs. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped. I don’t know what to believe. Just... leave us alone.”
She walks away with Max, leaving me to head to the House of Moonlight’s Tower solo. Her words leave me stunned. My trembling fingers flutter to my face and test the angles of the curse. They’ve been worse. And better.
I drop my hands and vow to stop touching my face. It shouldn’t matter if the curse is broken or not. She’s wrong. I’m not like the others.
I’m the fucking spider.
Chapter
Fifty-Three
WILLOW
Even spiders wait in the shadows for the right time to strike, so I keep to myself as I enter the House of Moonlight’s Tower. Just a few more hours and the day is over.
Taking a desk in the second-story classroom, I’m surprised to find a new copy of the Monster Codex on my desk. The ink smells fresh. Peablossom mentioned something about a new curriculum, but to have books printed on short notice is unusual.
I open the cover with a mix of curiosity and apprehension.
The first entry is the Sluagh—my heart races.
A hand-drawn picture depicts a standard male with horns, taloned wings draping like a mantle from his shoulders, and the impression of a bright skull beneath his skin. This is most definitelynotthe picture Fox showed me in his library. He said they evolved from a monstrous appearance after being enslaved to a long list of queens, so this handsome-faced rendition is new. In fact, Maebh killed all the other Sluagh in Elphyne.
Someone planted this for today’s lesson. Someone who wants to target the Six.
Known as the most ancient Nightmare, the Sluagh is listed as an unrepentant, ravenous, and heartless monster who will just as soon pillage your mind as feed on your soul. They have twoforms to frighten you—the physical and the invisible form. Both can be used simultaneously. After they are done toying with your emotions and body, they leave it a desiccated husk devoid of a heart.
No mention of the Wild Hunt.
Interesting.
Also, no mention of needing a queen to control their hive. As far as this entry is concerned, Sluagh are solitary creatures... who eat babies!
This is clearly fiction. I’m halfway down the entry when a gentle breeze caresses my neck. I glance over my shoulder. No one sits behind me. No windows are open. Frowning, I face the front and resume reading, but another tickling breeze brushes my skin, this time on the other side of my neck.
“Miss me, pet?”A ghostly touch trails down my jaw, heading down my top. My startle kicks the bottom of the desk.
When others look at me, I smile tightly. “Thought I saw a spider.”
“Fox?”I send, dropping my gaze and focusing inward.“Is that you?”
“In the flesh, well... the spirit flesh.”His self-amusement somehow translates through my thoughts.
The invisible pressure curls around my body, twirling until I feel him in the minuscule layer between my clothes and skin. A tingling shiver runs over my skin.
“What are you doing?”I send, trying not to let my arousal show, but after my day, his playful mood makes my heart sing.
“I’m terribly bored on this expedition, pet. Rescue me.”
“I’m in class. You can’t just feel me up.”
“Why not?”Hot breath tickles my ear like he’s standing behind me. He nips my earlobe.
I squirm.“People will notice.”
“I sense you’re upset, little wolf. Is something wrong?”
“When are you back?”
