Hexed

back like glossy black silk.

Twenty minutes. Didn’t take her long at all.

“You can drop the disguise,” I said. “I know what you are.”

“And what would that be?” she asked. Her voice was like a silver bell. Even if she didn’t attack Jim, I’d hate her out of pure jealousy.

“You are a jorōgumo. The whore spider.”

The woman’s kimono split at the bottom and ripped apart. Thick chitin legs spilled forth, bristling with stiff dark hairs. A demonic creature rose before me: her bottom half, spider, and her top half, a human torso sheathed in overlapping bands of black exoskeleton. Her spider body was as long as my Prowler and twice as wide. This was bad.

Ice clamped my spine. My throat threatened to close up. I bet Kate never got scared like that. I unclenched my teeth. “I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.”

“The man is mine.” Hiromi pointed her slender arm at Jim.

“No, this man is mine.”

Hiromi moved forward, one spider leg after another, probing the ground. I watched her come toward me, a dark monster in the glowing garden. In life she had so little, and the only thing she treasured, her daughter, was ripped away from her. If I were Hiromi, I’d see becoming a demon as a great honor. It was my chance to use my powers to punish those who wronged me, to be strong and feared. But the longer she stretched out her revenge, the more selfish she became. Punishing the wicked was no longer enough, I could see it in her eyes. She had given in to greed.

She was almost to the line I’d scratched earlier in the dirt. Step, another step . . .

If the magic fell, both Jim and I would be in serious trouble.

The ugly spider leg touched the line. A gold glow sparked and dashed across the grass and rocks, outlining an octagon with Jim in the center. The demon yowled and recoiled.

“A very complicated ward. Took me an hour to make,” I told her. I had made it while still in tiger form, after I had learned at the grocery store what I would be facing.

“I am Hiromi Jorōgumo, the Binding Maiden, the Bloody Mother. You will give him to me!”

Wow, now she was bestowing titles on herself. I crossed my arms on my chest. “And I am Dali, the White Tiger, the Guardian of Bunut Bolog. My magic is as strong as yours. You will not pass.”

I’d guessed right—Hiromi was hung up on being a jorōgumo . She viewed it as an honor and she was arrogant and vain, which meant I had a chance. It was a tiny, tiny chance, but it was better than nothing. I just had to play the game by her rules.

A grimace jerked her face. “I’ve heard of you, Dali Harimau, White Tiger. You can’t guard him all the time. He has to sleep eventually and when he does, I will devour him.”

“I’m not arguing with you. That’s why I want to offer you a bargain.” I held up the piece of paper.

Hiromi leaned forward. “What bargain?”

“A contract. You ask me a riddle. If I answer correctly, you will leave him and me alone.”

Riddles were the traditional way to resolve issues. If she truly thought like a demon, it would appeal to her.

Hiromi’s eyes narrowed. “And if you don’t?”

“Then you get to eat Jim and me.”

“You? The magical White Tiger?”

“Yes.”

Hiromi’s mouth gaped open, releasing a row of sharp fangs. Saliva stretched down from her teeth in thin strands. She was imagining eating me and drooling. Eww.

“Three riddles,” she said. “You answer every one.”

“Fine.”

I corrected the contract.

“What guarantee do I have that you will submit?” she asked.

“The contract is magically binding.” I put the paper on the ground and pushed it across the ward with a stick. “It’s signed in my blood. If you sign it in your ichor, we will have a deal.”

Hiromi lowered her big spider body to the ground and swiped the piece of paper with her human hand.

Come on, Hiromi. Be as greedy as I hope you to be.

Hiromi struck at her side. Pale translucent liquid spilled out, carrying with it small knots of yellow slime. Ew, ew, ew!

The jorōgumo dipped her finger into the liquid and drew it across the contract. Magic snapped, clutching at the paper.

I took a deep breath and touched the ward. It melted into nothing.

“First riddle.” Hiromi bared her teeth. “It rises to the heavens but never reaches them; it flies like a bird but has no wings; it makes you weep without a cause; those who see it stop and stare; it served as my black funeral shroud and it was the only one I had. What is it?”

Funeral shroud. What did she see as she lay dying? People walking and the city on fire, because of the phoenix birthed by the flare. And where there was fire, there was . . . “Smoke,” I said. “When you died, Atlanta was burning. Next.”

Hiromi clamped her mouth shut. Her spider legs kneaded the ground. “Men make it, but gods crave it; its loss weakens, its appearance threatens; fear chills it, war heats it; it binds family together, and I watched mine leave me.”

“Blood. You watched yourself bleed out onto the street.”

Hiromi rocked back and forth. She had powerful magic, but it didn’t make her smart. The blood riddle was almost painfully obvious. What else could fear chill except for your blood?

“Last one.”

Hiromi shifted back and forth, left and right, thinking. On the bench Jim opened his eyes. He blinked and saw the jorōgumo. His lips drew back, revealing his teeth. Hiromi saw him and hissed, her legs churning the ground.

I pointed at Jim. “Stay where you are! Hiromi, we had a deal. The last riddle.”

Hiromi bit the air with her fangs and hissed at me. “It has eyes but cannot see; it has ears but doesn’t listen; it has fangs, but it doesn’t hunt; it has a womb, but it’s shriveled and dry; it has knowledge but can’t save itself; it will die alone, regretting everything. What is it?”

Ha! “It’s me. Do you think I don’t know myself, Hiromi?”

She snarled. Spit flew from her mouth.

That’s right, rage away. You know you want a piece of me. I’m so tasty. Come get me.

Hiromi wailed in helpless fury.

She was almost there. I just had to piss her off enough. “You are stupid, Hiromi. Baka, baka Hiromi. You are dumb like a worm.”

White substance burst from behind her in wet clumps and flew to the trees and the house, unfurling into webs.

Behind me Jim tried to rise.

“Jim, stay down!” I barked. “Look at him, you had him and I took him away from you. Even if you weren’t a freak, he would never be with you. There is nothing you can do about it, Hiromi. Nothing! We will go free. You are weak! Helpless and we—”

Hiromi let out a screech and charged at me. The huge spider body swept me off my feet. Hiromi’s chitin arms grasped me and dragged me up to her mouth.

Jim pushed himself off the bench and stumbled forward, like a drunk man on wet cotton legs.

A sweet, slightly woodsy aroma drifted through the air.

Hiromi’s mouth gaped at me, the fangs dripping drool and venom.

A swarm of long yellow petals swirled around us. Wet mist slicked my skin and Hiromi’s chitin.

Jim conquered the last two feet and clamped onto Hiromi’s spider leg, trying to rip it apart.

Hiromi’s arms shook. “What is this?”