I break off a chunk of ice and press it between my palms. When it’s mostly melted, I carefully coax the cool liquid past herchapped lips. She drinks slowly at first, then greedily, and for a moment, some of the fog clears from her eyes.
“Feel a little better?” I ask, my voice a hoarse whisper. “You scared us for a minute there.”
Willow’s lips tip in a loopy smile, and her tongue sticks out in a funny expression as she makes her eyes cross. I nearly laugh, but then her eyes roll back, white and empty, and her body goes rigid in Rhune’s arms.
“Willow?” His voice cracks on her name. “Willow!”
She begins seizing, her limbs jerking violently as words tumble from her open mouth. Only, they aren’t words I recognize. The language is guttural, with ancient syllables that scrape against something old and primal in the pit of my soul. Something older than me or any of my brothers. Something older than this world.
Rhune holds her tighter, his face twisting in desperation as he attempts to soothe her, to shake her out of the evil spell that is gripping her. I can only watch, useless, my claws digging bloody crescents into my palms as I wait for the episode to pass.
Then, as suddenly as it started, it stops.
Willow’s eyes flutter open, and she blinks up at us, confusion written plainly across her pretty face.
“What’s wrong?”
“You… you just… Do you not remember anything?” I ask.
She shrugs, wincing as she sits upright. “The last thing I remember is falling asleep on Rhune’s chest. Everything was fine.” She looks between us, the concern in her eyes growing. “Is it not fine?”
“Um…” Before Nyx can say anything else, a deep, thudding chitter echoes just outside the cave walls, causing the hair at the back of my neck to stand on end.
“Guys. What the literal fuck was that?” Willow asks, her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Shh.” I press my fingers to my lips, trying not to let my horror show on my face. “Arachnyx. Big and dangerous. We need to stay quiet.”
Willow’s throat bobs. “Do you think it knows we’re here?”
“If it does, we’re in serious trouble,” I murmur.
Right now, it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that an arachnyx could have traveled this far from the forests.It’s unheard of… it’s… impossible…
Yet the call was unmistakably arachnyx. Nothing else in this world can produce that eerie chittering. The kind that burrows into your bones and freezes you to the spot in terror.
Could it have something to do with Willow’s episode?
I push that thought to the back of my mind. If it did, I don’t have time to worry about what it means or why. If I don’t act soon, it will find its way inside and consume us all.
I look at Rhune, sending a message through our bond.If the worst case comes true, I want you to grab Willow and flee. I’ll distract it long enough for you to get her to safety.
He shakes his head.You can’t kill an arachnyx on your own, Nyx.
The point is not to kill it. The point is to make it so you and Willow can live.
But—
Don’t say anything,I snap.Don’t… just promise me you’ll take care of her.
His eyes crinkle with desperation.You know I will.
That’s all I needed to hear.I take a deep breath, slowly turning to face the mouth of the cave.Let’s show this ugly bug that he picked the wrong meal.
A thin, segmented leg creeps over the edge of the cave entrance, covered with thousands of spiked hairs that provide it camouflage against the frost-colored walls. Another leg joins thefirst, then a third, and the rounded head of the arachnyx peeks through the circular mouth of the cave.
Dozens of cunning black eyes sit deep in its fuzz-covered face, each one moving independent of the others, taking in the entirety of the room in a single moment.
The curved feelers at either side of its mouth twitch greedily, and a stomach-churning chittering sound echoes from deep within its throat as its eyes focus on Willow. It’s almost like it’shappyto see her.
