Nalu: The Siren's Song

Chapter 12

   "Wendy! Lucy! It's time to go." I yell as I gently shake the girls until their tired eyes finally peel open.
   "What's going on?" Wendy worriedly squeaks as she springs to her feet.
   "It's morning so we should find a way out of this forest before the sirens catch up." I explain.
   Letting out exasperated sighs, both girls collapse back onto the ground and roll over with their backs facing me. "Five more... hours." Lucy mumbles in her sleep.
   With an annoyed sigh and sly smirk, I grab Lucy's ankle and extend my arm straight up, lifting her up into the air upside down with ease. Her eyes grow wide with shock as her hands immediately grip her skirt, holding it in place.
   "Natsu! Put me down now!" She screams at me causing Wendy wake up from all the ruckus and jump to her feet, clutching her own skirt in fear.
   "Nah, I kinda like the view from here." I say as Lucy grows bright red.
   "Natsu you pervert! Let me go!" Lucy yells as she swings her fists in every direction, trying and failing to land a single hit on me.
  "Alright, fine." I finally let her down and she immediately stands up with her arms crossed.
   "Now let's go!" I say as I begin to travel deeper into the forest with the girls running after me screaming.
   "I don't think this is the right way, Natsu." Wendy warns as she carefully looks around at the thickening tree branches and shrubbery.
Not stopping , I continue walking in the direction I am heading in, turning my head slightly to peek at Wendy. "Of course this is the right way, right Lucy?" I say, turning to her.
   She looks around frightened before shaking her head. "Yeah, I don't think we're going the right way." She says, siding with Wendy.
"Come on, don't doubt my sense of direction. You trust me, right Happy?" I ask but receive no meow in reply. "Happy?" I try again, turning fully around only to find two worried girls and no sign of the blue cat.
Panic starts to take over me as I frantically retrace our steps. "Happy!"
   "Happy!" We call as we search for the missing cat.
   "There! I hear him!" Lucy suddenly shouts as she runs through a few bushes to her left. Though neither Wendy or I can hear any noise, we still quickly proceed after Lucy, she being our only lead.
As we sprint deeper through the thick undergrowth, I can hear a faint meow grow closer and closer until it finally stops as we come face to face with a giant spider web holding a tightly wrapped cocoon in the middle.
"Don't tell me a giant spider lives here." I say nervously.
   "Oh, I've read about these, don't worry, they only house normal spiders." Lucy says and I let out a relieved sigh.
Backing up, the girls watch from a distance as I slowly climb up the web. The sticky string clings to my hands and feet and I have to harshly jerk my foot back before every advance I make.
After three long minutes, I finally make it to the middle and pull on the cocoon. Strange, goopy saliva-type stuff coats it, making it an extremely difficult task to pry it loose.
With each tug, the sticky string pulls and the entire web vibrates. After six heavy yanks, the cocoon looks like it is about to fall off, but suddenly six spiders about two feet tall with spiky brown hair scurry onto the web out of nowhere. "Those are normal spiders!?" I yell as I hurry up.
Tugging on the cocoon one last time, it finally gives way and I quickly toss it over to Lucy who is just as grossed out as Wendy to see it up close.
   "Natsu!" Lucy shouts as the spiders surround me.
   "Save Happy and run!" I urgently yell as I kick away a spider that is about to bite my leg.
   "What about-"
   "Just run! I'll be right behind you!" I cut her off.
   With a sharp stick, Wendy slices the cocoon open and Lucy pulls out Happy but they both are reluctant to leave as they fearfully watch me fight past the eight-legged creatures.
   The sound of heavy legs suddenly shuffling through the forest catches our attention as a giant spider, like the others except seven feet tall, emerges from the shrubbery. "What the-" I yell. "Go get out of here now!"
   Finally the girls turn and run away as I free one hand from the sticky web. Careful not to get bitten by the apparently "normal sized" spiders, I free my other hand and grab onto one spider, using it as leverage to release my legs and spring from the web.
   Looking over my shoulder as I run I steel a few glances at the giant and gianter spiders chasing me. "This isn't good, how am I supposed to get rid of them?" I mumble to myself as I look around for anything that can propose an idea.
   Without my sword or dagger I won't be able to fight them off, my only hope is to find something around me that I can use. But how do you defeat seven giant spiders? I can try to find a weapon to fight them off with, but that seems unlikely. I can trap them, but I don't have anytime to set one up and even if I could find a good place, it surly won't hold them for long.
Suddenly my eyes catch sight of something on a couple trees. More show up on every tree that I pass and I am able to identify what they are: claw marks.
   Three feet long, six inches wide and twelve inches deep, whatever made these marks must be huge, probably even bigger than the spiders. At first I figure that it will be best to stay away from it, but then a clever idea pops into my mind. Maybe instead it is the exact opposite, maybe we should get closer.