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A sigh escaped me, relief flooding through me that he wasn’t upset.
I walked closer, hoping to fold my arms around his neck as I tried to reach his height. He laughed again, eyes squinting as he circled his strong arms around me before he lifted me up slightly so I could, finally, wrap my arms around his neck.
“I think I’ll leave before my friends,” I whispered against his skin. His satin hair tickled my flesh, tempting me to reach out, to feel it against my fingertips.
“Take care, Kenia.” He gave me a sweet smile after we pulled away. “I wish to see you again.”
I gave him an eager nod and a bigger grin before I skipped away from him, heading back to my portal.
Keia chirped as she eyed the portals before us. She sent me a pointed look.
I sighed, then muttered, “Right.”
I looked all around me for a long time, ensuring no eyes watched and no ears lingered before summoning the courage to step into the Spiders’ portal.
And as the light engulfed me and teleported me to another world, my ears twitched madly.
My bones stiffened beneath my skin. My pulse accelerated, and my breathing hitched, missing a step in its rhythm as the light faded and revealed a world more dangerous than my wildest nightmares.
Taking cautious steps forward, I looked around, trying to keep my breathing quiet to listen to this world.
“Be careful,”Keia warned before resting on my head.
Leaves rustled.
Keia and I froze. My pulse drummed a loud, frantic rhythm, and then it plunged when a giant Spider crawled out.
He was a Cyrva, but it wasn’t the Spider I knew. It wasn’tEon. I didn’t know how I recognised that or what drew me to that conclusion, but this Spider was not the one I came here to see.
“It’s not him.”
I know.I breathed quietly, sensing Keia’s stiffness as she moved on my head.
The Spider’s eyes flickered from me to Keia and back to me again. His mouth opened wide. I remained rooted to my spot, my eyes darting everywhere to locate a body of water.
None in sight.
My body shook, and my ears wouldn’t stop twitching beneath my hair. Trapped. Even though I was in an open space with nature breathing all around me, I felt trapped. Foolish for coming back to uphold some meaningless promise I gave to a predator who could destroy me like this one seemed ready to do.
My eyes widened when he began to crawl towards me. Panicking, I dropped to the ground, picked up a medium rock, and hurled it at him with all my strength, baring my teeth at him in warning. Horror flooded my senses when one of his limbs came up and flicked the rock away from him, like he was swatting a fly.
He crawled faster this time. I grabbed another rock and steadied my aim before I flung. When it hit him in one of his eyes, the Spider jerked and let out a loud, enraged hiss.
I screamed as my ears throbbed and rushed to cover them with my palms, feeling like my brain was being shredded.
“Kenia!”
I pressed my hands to my ears harder, faintly hearing Keia’s deadly shriek—an ability to help her protect herself and me—echo around me. It passed through the slender gaps between my fingers and pierced my brain. Sharp waves of pain pulsed beneath my skull, and a choked cry vibrated in my throat as tears burst down my face.
Through blurry eyes, I sought Keia’s little green body and found her darting around the monster. My hands fell from my ears, and I stood on shaky feet only to stagger back when he lifted a giant thin leg and smacked Keia with it.
My breath whooshed out of me. I flinched and hurried to hold my left side, crumbling forward with a wheeze when I heard her land.
“Keia!” I gasped, frantically looking for her as tears flooded my vision again.
Fire roared on my left side and stabbed into my belly. I hunched over even further, holding my stomach tightly, my knees threatening to send me to the ground again. My feet swayed, and no matter how firmly I planted them on the earth, I could not find my balance.
It wasn’t me.
