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This time I was just feet away from Arachne, and the closeness really impressed upon me the difference in our size. While her torso was indeed that of a human woman, her spider half was tremendous, each leg as thick and as long as a spear, each ending in a chitinous spike. One of those things through my body and I was a goner, guaranteed.
“For you, Arachne.” I held out the fortune cookies, lowering my head in reverence as I did. Hey, my momma taught me to be a good boy, but Carver taught me to commune right.
“How charming the nephilim is,” Arachne said, tittering as she reached out for the bag. “How sweet is the princeling.”
My skin crawled when she said the word. Arachne really did know everything. She smiled again as she took the bag from me, all eight of her eyes just visible through the gauze of her delicate veils. And up close, I understood why the spiders in the canopy, and the one on her hand, were sparkling. Each had a little gemstone embedded in its back, each a different color of the rainbow.
“Arachne thanks you.”
I bowed my head again, backing up, then promptly bumping into the front of Florian’s body. I looked over my shoulder at him, glaring pointedly. “Dude. Come on.”
“I was curious,” he whispered hurriedly. “Sorry.”
Arachne laughed. “Approach, Florian. There is nothing to be afraid of. Curiosity never killed anyone.”
Except the cat, I thought. She really did have this way of leaving out the choicest parts of idioms and proverbs and quotes. Come into my parlor, indeed.
“Sorry,” Florian said, stepping up to the queen. Again, I’d say something about how he really should be more worried about his ass, but we were way past that now. “Only these little spiders are so pretty. How did you get those jewels into their stomachs?”
The veils over Arachne’s face rustled as she laughed. “What a wonderful question. It took much experimentation, of course, but these secret-spiders are among the most valuable of my children. Each jewel records pertinent information for me. My offspring, as much as I love them, do still have imperfect memories and limited capacities for communication. This way, the delivery of knowledge is
convenient. Instantaneous.”
The sapphire in the secret-spider’s back glimmered and shone as it skittered its way up Arachne’s arm, then her neck, finally settling on her earlobe, where it clung with all eight legs like an elegant and truly very odd earring. Arachne lowered her head, as if she was listening.
“Ah,” she said, smiling. “For example, this little one has just informed me that you desire assistance. You wish to locate the presence of a special sword. A very special sword indeed.”
I locked eyes with Florian, though the two of us were wearing very different expressions. Mine was filled with alarm and concern. He was just dumbstruck, eyes huge, a dopey smile on his face as he slowly grasped the extent and reach of Arachne’s power.
“This I won’t deny, Arachne,” I said. “We definitely need your help finding Mistleteinn.”
Her fingers worked quickly to unwrap, then crack open one of the fortune cookies. “And find it you shall. Allow me to consult the web.” She laughed at her own joke, then reached up to the canopy again, tugging on a nearly invisible strand of silk like she was ringing a dinner bell, though nothing sounded. Then she inspected the slip of paper inside her cookie. “Look at the pointless wisdom contained in these treats. ‘You are capable of great acts of kindness.’ Oh, how simply terrible and untrue!”
Arachne cackled delightedly before she crammed the broken cookie pieces into her mouth, crunching noisily with her fangs. I wasn’t sure how to fill the silence, though I did notice another glimmering spider descend from the ceiling. This one bore a yellowish-orange jewel, maybe citrine, or amber, Carver’s favorite. The spider did the same as the sapphire one, clambering up to the opposite earlobe to deliver its secrets to its mother.
“How interesting,” Arachne said. “This one tells me that you will find the blade Mistleteinn in – ah. Yes. This might necessitate a brief journey away from Valero. You must go to Los Angeles.”
I started. “What? But LA’s massive. Where would we even start looking?”
Arachne reached into her bag of fortune cookies, retrieved one, apparently at random, then flung it at me. I caught it in one hand, the confusion plain on my face.
“Open it later,” she said. “You will find the address there.”
What? I glanced down at the fortune cookie, still entombed in its wrapper, and started to protest. “But – I – how did you even – ”
Florian’s hand gripped me firmly by the shoulder, reassuring. “I think we should just roll with it, buddy. Best not to question how any of this stuff works.”
“The alraune speaks the truth.” Arachne turned her back on us, continuing her circuit of the web, reaching out at intervals to collect and deposit secret-spiders in every color of the gemstone spectrum. “Now, if you’re quite satisfied, gentlemen, I must return to my work.”
I bowed my head briefly, hissing for Florian to do the same. “Thank you for your time and your help, Arachne. You’ve been most gracious.”
We hadn’t taken three steps towards the gossamer exit from the chamber when Arachne spoke again. “Oh, nephilim, before you go. What have you heard of my sweetling? My beloved Dustin Graves?”
Ah. I should have expected her to ask about him. Dustin was her favorite, so much that Arachne would infiltrate the dimensional walls of the Boneyard just to talk to him, whether for important matters or just to chitchat.
“I thought you would know better than I do. I’ve heard nothing. I left the Boneyard after he did what he had to do to save us. He’s gone.”
She stared at me in silence for some seconds, then nodded. “What a pity. He truly must have thought it necessary to sacrifice himself, then. I do so miss my little sweetling.” Arachne shook her head sadly and smiled, her veils dancing with the rush of her breath. “Do visit when you can. It can be quite lonesome in this place.”
