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“Oh. Yeah.”
If I couldn’t get good reception when I went too far into my Dad’s second biggest mansion, there was no way he could’ve gotten any through a few thousand feet of stone.
He gave it to me, and pointed strongly down the tunnel we were in. I took it and frowned. “I still don’t understand.”
It didn’t matter. Because the next moment he was picking me up again and holding me close.
Not like he was about to put me into a sack—and not like we were going to get it on.
I wrapped unsteady arms around his strong neck, feeling the phone thump against his backplates.
He kept calling me the name he used for me that wasn’t Sloane—and it felt uncomfortably like a goodbye. When Istruggled to fight him, I felt him put his teeth on my neck—not to hurt me, just to still me.
“Whatever is happening now, Nia’n’an,” I whispered as he held me away from him again. “I don’t like it. So please don’t. Okay?”
But then he spun a little and knelt down, placing me and the bag behind a boulder.
“Just tell me what’s going on?”
He said the same word over and over again—and then reached back and snapped off half of one of his back spider legs to give to me.
I didn’t have time to scream or throw up before he’d covered the crevice he’d put me in with webbing. “Nia’n’an!” I shouted, beating against the silk, but it was too late.
Thirty-One
NIA’N’AN
I knewa group of humans had been following us for the last day, and that they’d been gaining. I’d hoped that they’d been reinforcements from Monster Security, but none of their scents were familiar.
I’d had to make the choice between taking Sloane deeper or risking exposure to them. With the way my strength was waning, there was really only one option. But now, they were gaining, and I thought I needed to make a stand while I could. We were about a mile from this particular cavern’s exit, if my sense of the local atmospheric changes were right—close enough for Sloane to manage getting there on her own, if she had to. It was better to make my stand here. The caverns favored my style of fighting better than out in the open of the jungle—a wise orc would be leery of shooting in sheer rock surroundings, and here I could make use of the ceiling.
All that was left was to protect Sloane as best I could. I wished I’d been able to tell her all the things I held for her in my heart, to somehow make the depth of the love that I had for her known.
It was why I snapped off one of my legs to give to her, at the end. I had seven others. If things went well, when she emerged, she could use it as a crutch.
If not, I hoped that if she shoved it into an enemy’s eye, it would land true.
She shrieked again, as my webbing enveloped the hiding spot I’d put her in, and it was good—it would summon the fighters quickly. Hopefully their eagerness would make their training fall apart.
I climbed up to the ceiling and began to set as many other traps for the oncoming battle as I could.
Thirty-Two
SLOANE
“Goddammit, Nia’n’an!”I shouted, but I didn’t hear anything in return, and that frightened me.
I knew he hadn’t left me—he wouldneverleave me—but I got the increasing sense that we were in danger.
I should’ve known the outside world would eventually intrude.
Was he trying to keep me here forever? Because if he was—I was down for that.
Then I heard the sounds of shuffling feet bouncing off of the cavern walls.
“Oh no,” I whispered, then threw my hand across my mouth and huddled down.
“The itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the waterspout,” said an unfamiliar voice, slightly garbled, like the mouth that was saying it had too many teeth. “We crossed your tracklines miles ago, Nine. We know you’re here—and you know we’re here. Where’s the girl?”
