The Human Hunter

Chapter 23

Once Emma joined them outside, Widow had her climb onto his back. They left the car at the hotel, as the kin could easily maneuver over the different rooftops in the darkness. After a few short minutes they came to a stop next to Widow's shop and dropped down near the front door since no humans were walking around at that moment. Widow let Emma slip from his back as Legs and Goliath hurried inside. Once she was steady on her feet, she and Widow followed.

It wasn't much of a surprise to see that the shop had been partially destroyed. Books and old knick knacks lay scattered about among broken glass and dead spiders. Judging from the slight patches of shifting black and red on the walls, there were still a good amount of widows left, but someone had definitely gotten mad and tried to kill a portion of them while at the same time destroying the place.

"It was probably Madam. Come here, Emma," Legs said as he stood over by the splintered door carved into the floor that they'd used to escape.

Emma carefully walked over to where he stood, and when he pointed to a back corner at the only untouched bookcase in the shop, she hurried to duck behind it.

"Stay there, no matter what. Understood?"

"Yes. Got it," she replied and nodded. As she waited, kneeling on the dusty, dirty floor, she watched the three kin converse.

"I can already smell the water in the air from here. The burrowers have likely started much earlier than they said they would. I don't think that the water will kill Madam unless she's not paying attention, though," Legs said.

Widow scoffed, a sarcastic sneer to his voice as he replied. "She's always paying attention. It won't get her."

There was a grunt from Goliath, before Legs spoke up again.

"Exactly," Legs said, then added, "I think she needs to be our target. Once the queen bee is dead, the hive will be in chaos normally, but with the flood that's sure to happen at any moment, I doubt that many kin will survive. Since the young and most humans are kept in higher areas, we won't have to worry about too many of them drowning. The Congregation's kin will have likely already blocked that area off, so at least they will be safe."

"Let's go," Goliath replied, seemingly eager to get the show on the road as he moved closer to the trap door, but then paused.

"Catch, you stay here with Emma."

Emma's eyes widened as she saw the giant spider climb down from Goliath's large shoulder and skitter over to her. She still wasn't too comfortable with it, but when it just stopped near her foot and turned back to face the others, she figured that it knew not to get too close. Widow and Legs glanced at each other, then knelt down.

"Go ahead, Fuzz. I know you like her better than me, anyway," Widow said with a chuckle as his spider hurried down his arm and over to her.

"You too, Stilts. Make yourself useful for once, hm?" Legs said to the gangly arachnid that hurried down his arm to drop from his hand. The two smaller spiders took a little longer to walk over, and by the time Emma looked up from them, all three of the kin were gone.

"Okay," she said quietly and nodded to herself, ducking back around the side of the bookcase. After a few steadying breaths she glanced up at the ceiling, smiling at the gathering widows there.

"Hey, guys. I could use your help for something important, if you're up for it?"

The mass of spiders shifted oddly as it slowly descended in front of her, but hesitated a few feet off the ground. With a small smile, Emma sat back on her heels and looked at the group.

"I need you guys to help me save Widow. He's in trouble down below, and you guys can really help him if you do as I ask."

That appeared to get them more interested as they dropped to the ground and hurried to swarm around her, seemingly eager to help their friend.

"Alright. That's more like it. I need you guys to go down below and swarm the glow worms until their light is smothered. If you need to, pry them from the ceiling. Get as many spiders as you can along the way down. Widow is relying on you guys. All of you. To help him with this."

The mass of spiders, which had nearly doubled in size while she'd spoken, paused for only a moment before it scattered. Emma thought that they'd drop through the trap door, but when the group vanished into little cracks in the wall, ceiling, and floor, she didn't comment. They seemed like they were willing to help, so she could only hope that that's what they were going to do.

When the last spider was gone, besides the four she had been entrusted with, she let her body sag back against the side of the bookcase. Now to wait. Her heart was thrumming hard in her chest, though, because she knew that Legs, Goliath, and Widow were in trouble somewhere down below her.

All you can do is send the spiders. You have to trust them.

Her mind wandered for a moment before she felt a light tap against her open palm. Looking down to where it rested facing upward on her left leg, she noticed Fuzz dancing about a bit frantically.

"What's wrong, Fuzz?" she asked before looking around and noticing that Catch and Stilts were suddenly gone.

Did they follow my request, too? But then why didn't Fuzz or Faux?

She still felt the weight of her father's spider in her hair.

"Good evening, Emma."

No.

She didn't want to look, but knew that she had to do much more than that. Clenching her jaw, Emma slowly turned and got to her feet. Jake stood at the other end of the dilapidated bookshelf, about five feet from her at most. His left arm hung limply at his side, dark purple and yellow coloring the skin near a bandage that hid where Widow had bitten him.

"It will be," Emma said calmly, meeting his hostile eyes as she tried to decipher the emotions swirling within them. Anger and surprised pleasure were clearly visible, but the slight twitch to his left eye and eyebrow told her that insanity could also be prominent.

Feeling Faux shifting in her hair, Emma realized that it was climbing downward. She felt its feet moving along her back and tried to keep from fidgeting. Jake began to walk toward her, forcing her to focus and counter his movements with opposite ones of her own.

"I was wondering when you'd come back to me, babe," he purred as he suddenly hopped up and over the bookshelf with surprising grace, using his good arm to help with his weight.

Emma caught her breath and darted toward the front door, just to put some space between them. Unsurprisingly, it was visibly locked now, and she didn't doubt that the webbing had been reapplied to trap anyone who tried to open it from the inside. Widow might have cut away his, but that didn't mean that Madam hadn't added a few new strands.

Whirling back around, she narrowed her eyes on Jake as he approached. His right hand slipped into his pocket, only to remove a small knife a moment later. The blade caught just enough light from the dirty windows to glint in the darkness.

"Time to play, baby."