Watching us.
Waiting.
My stomach turns. For a second, I’m back in the house. The way they looked at us.Food.No. I force the thought away and look past the webs.
And I see it. Across the chamber, framed in stone and half-choked with silk, an open archway. Rain pours through it in silver sheets, wind driving it sideways. The sound of it fills the space, distant but real.
Outside.
“That’s it,” I whisper, my voice barely holding together. “That’s the way out.”
Hope sparks, sharp and fragile.
“We go through,” Oberon says, stepping forward. Fire curls into his palm, brightening fast. “I’ll clear a path.”
“Wait.” I grab his arm, my fingers tightening more than I mean to. “If we run, we’ll get stuck in the webs. They’ll trap us.”
Ashton’s eyes sweep the chamber, calculating. “We’ll distract them first. Fire will draw them. We move while they’re distracted.”
“They’re too many,” Cassius says, quiet but firm.
“We don’t have another option,” Sylvian replies.
His hand finds my arm again, strong and warm despite the damp.
“I’ve got you,” he murmurs.
I nod, even though my heart is pounding too hard to believe anything is safe.
Oberon steps forward. The flame in his hand swells, growing brighter, hotter, until it roars. Heat rolls off it, pushing back the damp for a brief moment. Then he throws it, and the fire slams into the far side of the chamber. Webs ignite instantly.
Flames race along the silk, spreading fast, devouring everything they touch. The chamber fills with the crackle of burning strands and the sharp, dusty smell of it.
The spiders react. They surge toward the fire, bodies dropping, legs skittering, drawn to it in a wave of movement that makes my skin crawl.
“Now!” Cassius snaps.
We run. The webs catch at me immediately. They cling to my arms, my face, my legs, sticky and resisting. I tear through them, panic spiking as they pull, as if they’re trying to hold me in place.
My ribs scream with every movement. My breath stutters.Don’t stop.
The rain is right there. I can see it…
A scream cuts through the chamber. I turn to see that Sylvian has been slammed to the ground as a spider crashes into him from above. Its legs pin him, its mandibles snapping inches from his face.
“No—!” I start toward him, but something yanks at my ankle.
A web. It tightens, jerking me off balance. I hit the ground hard, pain flaring through my side as I struggle to pull free. But it won’t let go.
The strand stretches, then snaps back, dragging me. The spider who pulls the thread drops in front of me. Up close, it’s worse. Too many eyes. Too many legs. The sound of it, clicking, scraping…
It lunges. I swing on instinct. The blade flashes blue. It cuts through the spider’s front leg cleanly. No resistance. No struggle. The limb falls away, twitching on the stone.
The spider recoils with a high, piercing screech. I stare for half a second.That should not have been that easy.
“Alette!” Cassius’s voice cuts through the noise.
I wrench my leg free and scramble up, ignoring the pain.
