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“Why?” Maddy shakes her head and grabs one of the legs, so Kenna cuts it off at the knee.
Spider shrieks in pain.
“They’re Fae. They can use it.” Caleb tries for another leg, but he still isn’t strong enough to hold onto it. “Don’t let them get it.”
“I know,” Cora barks. “Keep him out of here.”
“Enough! Give me that book!” Spider bellows. He raises his front two legs, his mouth working over and over. When he brings his legs down, a concussive pulse bursts out from beneath him, throwing them all back into the walls of the reading room. Webs shoot out over the whole room.
The wall impact knocks all the wind from Caleb’s body, and he slides down. His brain isn’t working, and he can’t hear anything around him. His ears ring. White strings crisscross the reading room. He blinks rapidly, rolling to his side and pushing himself upright. The room spins, and he blinks, trying to focus.
But there are two Spiders, two Maddys on the ground, two Coras on the ground, and… He can’t be sure. Spider rushes toward Cora and rips the book from her arms. He holds it close against his body, laughing wildly.
“Maddy,” Caleb rasps. “Maddy.”
But she isn’t moving, she doesn’t answer. Had she been closer to the explosion than he was? There’s no way she should have sustained more damage than he did. She’s a vampire and he’s…nothing. His heart twists and hesitates to beat. When it finally does, it thumps against his ribcage.No, Maddy, no.
They’ve come all this way; they’ve made it this far together. She can’t be gone now.
Sierra is on the ground between them, and Cora’s still down at the rear of the room.
Caleb throws himself to his belly, and he army crawls, elbow over elbow, toward Maddy, but beneath the webs. The room spins around him dangerously, making him nauseous. They won’t survive against Orion if she isn’t okay. Why isn’t his magic ripping the Spider into eight pieces. “Maddy, are you okay?”
When he reaches her, she reaches for him. “I’m fine.”
“You didn’t answer me.”
“I did, but you couldn’t hear me.”
Caleb turns toward the door where Spider still stands. Why is he still there?
“The book is ours,” Spider gloats. “Ours. You won’t stop Orion now.” Then he marches out the door of the reading room.
Caleb grasps his pendant, and he tries to draw on the magic which shouldn’t be so hard to use right now. Spider nearly murdered Maddy, so why weren’t his powers working how they had before? It had to be something to do with the concussion burst. Maybe it had a magic block in it, too.
“I can’t do anything,” Maddy says, reaching above her. She grasps a web strand and gasps as though it hurts. “Not anything.”
Sierra suddenly coughs and drags a deep breath in before she rolls to her side, dry-heaving and completely incapacitated.
Cora’s face points toward the ceiling. She’s not blinking, but it’s probably the web magic.
Caleb grits his teeth and climbs to his feet the moment he’s in the doorway. He fights to break through the spell, and his whole body clenches as he wrestles his powers through the block.
Spider is still in Veritas. He’s grown arrogant, and he’s rummaging through shelves for artifacts, or Caleb doesn’t know what. Spider’s ego will be his downfall. A burst ripples out from Caleb, burning through the webs, and the sieve on his powers loosens. He swipes the dagger from Kenna’s prone body.
Then he sprints after Spider. Before the Fae knows he’s there, Caleb slams into his leg, slicing it in two with a roar. “Give me the book!”
A leg slams into Caleb and bats him into the upholstered chair. He tries to stand but slips, sprawling on the ground instead. Spider bares his fangs and runs at him. A yellowish saliva drips from the creature’s mouth, bubbling against the floor.
Caleb scrambles to get up, but Spider’s on him before he can.Oof.Caleb locks his hands on either side of the mouth, ducking each time Spider lunges. He hooks his knee over one of the spider legs and tries to spin around, but he loses his grip on Spider’s mouth.
The drooling, gnashing opening spears straight for Caleb’s neck.
“Aah!” Maddy’s hellish scream cuts through the air, and she lands on Spider’s back with another dagger in her hand. She plunges it into Spider’s back.
Spider shrieks and squats, spraying something caustic on the ground beside him, then he shoves the end of one of his legs into the puddle. With a lightning-fast movement, he flings the sharp tip back at Maddy.
It lodges in her chest. Maddy’s back arches as her eyes fly open.
