Percy Jackson and the Heir of Slytherin [Book 2]

45) The Spiders in the Forest

Hogwarts flashed a signal for me, and I gently pressed my hand against the wall she opened up for me, and I started walking through the tunnels.

I wore black jeans, and a black jacket over a black shirt. My clothes were completely black, and I hoped that if I lost the others, I would still be able to remain unseen in the dark of the forest.

My friends stared at me curiously, and I was annoyed to see they hadn't done the same. Ron was wearing white. White.

We managed to get out of the castle without too much trouble, and as we walked across the grass, Ron said, "Course, we might get to the Forest and find there's nothing to follow. Those spiders might not've been going there at all. I know it looked like they were moving in that sort of general direction, but..."

We opened the door to Hagrid's hut, and Fang immediately started barking happily. Harry quickly fed him some fudge.

I watched Harry put the cloak on the table, and nearly quit right then. That seemed stupid to me. When Harry saw me staring, he said, "It's too dark in there to see us. There's no need for the cloak."

"Ron is wearing white, Harry."

"You can't see white when there is not light, Percy."

I just huffed, and shook my head.

Harry turned to the dog and patted his leg, "C'mon, Fang, we're going for a walk."

Fang followed us to the edge of the Forest.

I was tight-lipped as Harry raised his wand and muttered, "Lumos!" There was the light Harry had said wouldn't be there.

I blinked, and shook my head. Ron said something about why he wouldn't light his wand, but I was busy uncapping my sword.

As the dim light of my sword lit the ground where my shadow had been, I saw two spiders scurrying away. I signaled to Harry and Ron.

"Ok," Ron sighed, "I'm ready. Let's go."

We walked through the Forest silently. Fang warned me when a Greek baddie was coming. The spiders continued to scamper around a path. Eventually, when it was so dark that we couldn't even see the stars above, the spiders veered off of the path.

Harry jumped suddenly, and Ron hissed was he landed on his foot. I stared at Harry, confused. He blushed slightly and looked at us, "What d'you reckon?"

"We've come this far," Ron and I said in unison. We grinned at each other.

We continued through the dark of the forest. The small Greek monsters became slightly larger and more frequent. I shuddered as a snake jumped out at me, and I killed it. As we walked, I realized that the ground was sloping downwards.

Fang barked suddenly, very loud and very penetrating in the quiet of the Forest.

"What?" Ron said, gripping our elbows

"There's something moving over there," Harry breathed.

"Something big," I added. I could hear the snapping of branches as it moved.

"Oh no," Ron said. "Oh no, oh no, oh —"

"Shut up," Harry hissed. "It'll hear you."

"Hear me?" Ron's voice was high pitched. "It's already heard Fang!"

In the darkness I heard a strange rumbling noise.

"What do you think it's doing?" Harry asked.

"Probably getting ready to pounce," Ron said.

We waited in the silence, shaking. I held my sword in front of me, and made prayers to every god and goddess I could think of.

"D'you think it's gone?" Whispered Harry.

"Dunno—"

There was a light so bright and sudden in the darkness. I forced my eyes to stay open, yet the pain and gray spots nearly blinded me. I heard Fang yelp, but I was too surprised at what I saw.

"Guys!" Ron shouted, voice cracking with relief. "Guys, it's our car!"

"What?"

"Come on!"

I watched the two boys stumble over to the car, and went to go untangle Fang from a thornbush. He whimpered, and I tried to calm him down.

As I heard Ron shouting with happiness, something snake around my waist. It was long and hairy.

I made eye-contact with Ron as this happened, and he gaped up at me. I had dropped my sword as it had picked me up, and struggled to reach towards the blade. It was just out of reach.

"Harry!" I shouted. He nearly began to turn, but then a long and hairy limb wrapped around him, too. This one seemed to come from a different beast

Then Ron. The limbs I was entrapped in seemed to hesitate for a moment, then lowered towards Ron. I tried to escape, but the thing quickly pressed Ron and I together, then lifted us up. My face was pressed painfully against Ron's shoulder, and I didn't doubt that I would have a bruise by the time this whole ordeal was over. I heard Fang whimpering, and tried to look around to see him. I figured he was probably with a different one of the beasts.

I struggled to look up, and just managed to catch a glimpse of large, black pincers.

Eventually, the black faded and I could see the leaf-covered ground again. I could see stars above us, and spiders all around us. These weren't small, normal sized spiders. These were all spiders the size of me.

One of said spiders was carrying me and my friends down a large slope and towards a dome made of spider-webs.

The spiders dropped us suddenly. Ron fell on top of me, and my breath was knocked away. He pulled away slightly, still above me. One of his hand gripped my upper arm tightly, the other pressed against the ground, lifting him.

Gasping for breath, I looked over at Harry, and saw that he looked terrified.

"Aragog!" The spider that had carried Harry seemed to yell. "Aragog!"

I watched a much larger spider climb out of the dome. It had gray in its hair, and it's eyes were milky white. The spider was blind.

"What is it?" The big spider clicked.

"Men," clucked Harry's spider.

"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog inched closer.

"Kill them," Aragog clicked. "I was sleeping..."

Oh dear.

I hate spiders. They've terrified me for a long time now. When I was younger, Emblem was bitten by a spider, and they told me she'd have to get a shot or her skin would fall off. Only years later did they tell me that she never got a shot, just put some cream on the bite. Also, I look up when people take pictures of me. I only just realized this. I'm really short, and people hold the camera above my head generally, and so I guess I just look up. It's really annoying. I went to eat grilled cheese with my mom yesterday, but never actually ate grilled cheese. I did come home with a whole bag of Twizzlers though.

I hope you all have an awesome Saturday, and I'll see you on Monday. I love you!