Halfway to the stairs, Amanda stopped and placed her hands upon the railing. “Hey, mind if I ask something?”
“I’ve never minded before, have I?”
“What happened with Will today?”
The question struck Spinneretta as uncharacteristic. “Nothing, really. I told him what I had to say. Thanks, and sorry, and whatnot. Then we got some coffee and talked.”
Amanda frowned. “That’s it?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I was just pretty worried when you told me you were going to go see him. Worried about him turning out to be another Helixweaver or something.” She was quiet for a moment. “And to be honest, I was kinda hoping you’d punched him in the face for me.”
Spinneretta laughed. “Sorry. If that’s your aim, you’ll have to get your own hands dirty.” She navigated the staircase with a practiced agility, spider legs grappling the banister for support. Amanda followed, taking careful steps so as not to upset her wounds. When she got to the kitchen, Spinneretta quickly located, and then trashed, the moldy coupons. Probably expired anyway. The pizza world didn’t stop spinning on account of their plights, after all.
The voices of the rest of her family came to her through the dim halls. Her parents were mumbling, bickering over something trivial in the garage. She heard Kara laughing, and beneath that sound was a subtle clicking. Somewhere, Cinnamon was acclimating to her new home. It was all so familiar now. Replace Cinnamon with a calisoga, clean up the kitchen, and it could’ve been any evening before Mark’s arrival, before the cults hurled them into calamity’s maw. It was easy to forget the shadow Kyle’s modest funeral had cast over their spirits these last couple weeks. But time and attention healed all wounds, as Amanda’s survival proved.
With a sigh, Amanda flopped down upon one of the stools at the counter. The legs were rusted from environmental exposure, and the seat creaked as she sat. “What do you figure’s going to happen now?”
Spinneretta snatched the cordless phone from its cradle with a pair of appendages. “I was kinda hoping you’d be able to tell me that.” She settled into the stool next to her friend. “Dad says a few dozen people have already contacted him. Doctors, scientists, the History Channel. He told them all off, colorfully. But I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of them. It’s only a matter of time before everything changes, forever.”
“And when it does?”
“I think we’ll just have to wait and see.” Spinneretta smiled to herself. “I’m not too worried, though. After all this, I think we can take care of ourselves. Besides, we’ve got you and Chelsea in our corner.”
Amanda laughed and gave her head a shake. “Sorry. I love you like a sister, Spins, but I’m not joining another cult for you. You only get one.” The orange light of sunset made her hair gleam fire red. Though the color of her eyes sent tremors of loathsome memory through Spinneretta’s legs, she’d never felt closer to her.
For a short while, she just held the cordless phone in her hand, studying the stains in the hard plastic casing and rubber keys. “What toppings do you want?”
“I’m not too picky right now.”
“In that case, I’ll be right back.” She stood up and started for the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“Going to ask Mark if he has any topping preference.”
“Oh? Is that what they call it in Minnesota?”
Spinneretta started, her cheeks growing warm at the lurking accusation. “Excuse me?”
Amanda shrugged, a sly smile strung between her cheeks. “You could at least wait until Chels and I are asleep.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m just asking about pizza.” She turned and headed down the hall, willing the heat in her face to dissipate. Though Amanda’s laughter softened the blow of embarrassment, she still wished she’d never admitted that she and Mark were a thing. Can’t wait until stupid Amanda gets a boyfriend again, she thought. Then I can make flippant remarks at her expense. Sweet, sweet revenge.
When she made it to the study, she found the door ajar. It no longer closed properly, and repairs had lagged behind the essentials, such as fixing the broken windows and de-raccooning the couch. Spinneretta craned her head to get a look inside, hoping she wasn’t disturbing anything. Inside, through a thin curtain of dust stirred by the warm lighting, Mark sat. He was examining a colorful map laid across his knees.
“Evening,” she said.
He looked up, a welcoming smile on his lips. “Good evening. Are you enjoying your sleepover?”
“So far.” She leaned against the doorframe, and her spider legs unfurled and stretched. “You know, you’re free to join us if you want. You don’t have to just sequester yourself in here.”
“That is quite alright. I would not want to interfere, especially since you have been so long without your friends.”
“Well, fine then.” She was about to ask about the pizza when her eyes fell upon the packed duffel bag on the floor at his feet. Her heart sank. “Oh my God. You’re leaving, aren’t you?”
Mark studied the bookcase for a moment and then nodded weakly in her direction. His fingers wrapped about the cane leaning against the wall, and he hobbled to his feet. “Step outside with me for a moment, Spinny.”
Without a word, she followed him to the front door. When she looked over her shoulder to the kitchen counter, she found Amanda’s knowing smile waiting. Spinneretta shrugged, wishing the gesture could properly convey how ruffled her spider-feathers were.
Once they’d stepped into the chilly October evening, Mark’s shoulders sagged. “Listen, Spinny,” he said. “Though I would love to stay here with you, it is not my place. Even if your parents were to welcome me indefinitely, I mustn’t tarry long here. You remember what Ozmahesh said before he vanished, do you not?”
She bit her lip, and a weight began forming in her stomach. Unwilling to look him in his eyes, she instead set her gaze on the ground before the once-majestic glass window, where powdered glass still glazed the weeds. “Of course. About Lily. That he knew where she was.”
Mark nodded. “I have selfishly waited too long to take my leave. But you understand that I must find her. Should the Key to Manilius fall into the wrong hands . . . I simply cannot risk it. I must go to Balsam to find her before anything else happens, so I may at last lay to rest the curse of the Lunar Vigil. I’m afraid this will be my last night here. Tomorrow morning, we must part ways, Spinny. For now.”
His words crawled along her skin and triggered a hot indignation in her chest. It wasn’t fair. After all they’d suffered through, at last she had him. Instinct or not, they loved and had one another. The weeks since the Cheshire Man’s defeat had been among the happiest of her life. How dare he try to take that from her now? But then, a thought occurred to her. It was a thought that defied all reasonable logic in favor of reckless abandon. “Wait a minute,” she said. “You don’t have the Sight anymore.”
His expression softened. “Yes. That is correct.”
She looked up at him, connecting the dots in her mind. “That means even if you get close to Lily, you may never actually succeed in finding her, especially if these bureaucratic dead ends are as common as you make them out to be. ” Spinneretta began to nod, a zealous certainty welling in her chest. “But I can find her.”
He raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Twelve point five percent.” She spread her spider legs out around her and began to taste the air. The scent of dirt and mulching leaves flowed through her. “She’s your full cousin, right? Cousins share twelve point five percent of their blood. And that means as long as I can smell you, I could track her by the amount of blood you share.”
Mark chuckled. “Though I appreciate the sentiment, I’m afraid I cannot allow you come with me.” His face hardened once more, and his pale eyes became serious. “Let’s not forget the facts: you are still a minor. You haven’t even graduated high school. You cannot simply drop that and—”
“Drop it? I haven�
��t been to school since the Yellow Dawn announcement. At this rate, I’m going to have to get a GED anyway, so let’s not pretend that factors into this decision. I’m going with you.”
Although he shook his head stoically, she smelled a tremor of doubt and confusion in the gesture.
She smiled warmly up at him. “You know I can find her. I found you, didn’t I? We found Dad. I can do it. If you just give me a chance. You can think of it as me saying thanks for all you’ve done for us.”
“I . . . I do not doubt that you could. But after going to such great lengths to ensure your family moved back here, how could you throw it away? You have a chance at a normal life again. Do not squander it.”
“I don’t want to. But I also don’t want to waste a chance to get you your own closure.” She slipped in close to him and wrapped him in a tight hug. “I’m coming with you. And that’s final. Now obey your princess and take me along like a good Chosen.”
He chuckled and put an arm about her waist, filling her chest with a tingling warmth. She leaned up and kissed him on the lips, and he moved into it with great vigor. For a long moment, they shared a kiss that lit the fire in Spinneretta’s core and invited the adrenal Instinct into her legs.
When Mark broke away, he let out a low, contemplative breath. “I shall make you a deal. If you can get your parents’ permission—from both of them—then I will take you with me. But should they refuse, then you must accept your second chance and wait for me to return.”
She scoffed. “I think I can agree to that. After everything that’s happened, they’d understand the importance. That, just like what happened here and in Manix, there are things that need to be dealt with.”
“And you believe they will simply allow their daughter to go gallivanting off on another adventure after earning their hard-won freedom?”
“I believe I can convince them.”
“And I believe you greatly overestimate your powers of persuasion. So, have we a bet, then?”
A confident smile beamed across her lips. “Yeah. You’ve got it.”
They sealed the wager with a deep kiss, and Spinneretta had to pry herself off him before the Instinct grew too compelling. And for a long while, they just stood there, wrapped in one another’s embrace, basking in the beating heat of life. Very briefly, Spinneretta didn’t care whether her parents let her go with him or not, because this one moment was so perfect.
But despite the peace and calm that flooded her, she knew it was not for this moment alone that she lived. It was for the future, whichever form that took, that they all had to carry on. They’d paid the ransom in blood. With her guilt rapidly fading from memory, there was nowhere to look but forward. Even now, the golden light of day was vanishing beyond the trees, and its waning warmth took with it the ghosts of the dead.
The sun was setting. The world had changed around them. And the helices of man and spider wove ever onward.
About the Author
Born in 1989, Bartholomew Lander is a programmer, writer, and spider enthusiast. He currently works as a game client developer in Gothenburg. Inspired by such greats as Robert W. Chambers, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, he began writing The Warren Brood in early 2012, shortly before the world ended. Bartholomew is enthralled by technology, coffee, languages, and all manner of folklore and Forteana. With a style described as both dark and absurd, he seeks to share his unique vision of weird fiction with the world.
Visit Bartholomew Lander’s website at: BartholomewLander.com
Or, follow him on Twitter at: @BartLander
Tatters of the King (The Warren Brood Book 3) Page 76
