I scream.
“Vaelith!”
The thing is a foot away. Claws extended. Front arms raised over its upside-down head.
I scream again and throw an arm up to shield my face.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The ground slips beneath the creature and it misses a step.
It fumbles trying to right itself, and I take the moment to drag myself up over the ledge. The thing scurries to follow, head twitching on its thin neck. Its claws tear clumps of dirt and grass as it bounds after me.
I push to my feet and run. I throw myself through the trees. Behind me, the thing gives chase. It bounds nimbly, using all six arms to gain momentum. When an area gets too dense, it scuttles up the trees and leaps through the branches like an overgrown sugar glider.
The commotion stirs the other things living in the forest. Yellow eyes follow me. Loops that I thought were vines slither and coil around branches. In the distance, something howls.
It’s the wail of something I don’t want to come across. Whatever it is, it sounds enormous and it’s scary enough that the chittering stops. Other animals scurry for cover. But not for the thing with all the arms. It continues after me with a renewed sense of determination.
I crash through a heavy thicket of brush and tumble into a clearing. It’s wide enough that there is no way I will make it to the other side before I’m captured.
Panting, I turn to face the human spider. I watch it crawl down the side of a tree, every joint cracking. It smiles in triumph.
“Take my hand.” It snickers, lifting the front two towards me.
I edge back slowly, but keep my voice firm when I tell it, “Stay away from me.”
It’s dumb.
Under no circumstances would that ever work, but I hope I sound fearless enough that...
The trees to my left part and from the shadows, twin sets of golden eyes emerge. They gleam over a wide maw lined with serrated fangs. Each one glints with the slow curling of its lips.
“You are far from your home, little soul.” The low, guttural growl echoes through the trees. “Are you lost?”
The thing that emerges is a wolf, but twenty feet high with a pelt that gleams blue in the night and paws as wide as boats. Next to it, the human spider is no bigger than a wolf spider.
“It’s mine!” the spider hisses.
The wolf seems to notice it for the first time. Its massive, furry head cocks in its direction with mild surprise.
“Leave,” he tells it.
But the spider goes up on its back hands like it’s ready to fight.
The wolf eats it.
No hesitation. No remorse. One quick swoop and the spider is in the wolf’s mouth. It crunches beneath his teeth. All that remains is the single, bloody arm that flops out and hits the dirt between us.
“Disgusting.” The wolf mutters, sitting back on its haunches. He sighs and fixes me with the full weight of his attention once more. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I pant. “I got lost and I don’t know how to get back.”
“The humans have a story that begins this way,” he muses slowly. “Little girl gets lost in the woods and comes across a wolf. The little girl gets eaten.”
“Little Red Riding Hood,” I mumble, contemplating my chances of making it into the trees again. He’s definitely too big to fit. “The woodsman cuts the wolf open and the little girl lives.”
He makes a clicking sound that is much too strange for a dog. “Humans are so barbaric.”
