The tears in Gramps’s eyes spilled down his cheek. “I’m so lucky,” he said. “So lucky to have all of you in my life. Thank you. I needed this.”
Maria hugged him.
Claire and Tabby moved over and joined in on the hug. Even Sherlock barked and sniffed around their ankles. For a split second, Maria thought he was going to lift his leg. Thankfully, he didn’t; talk about ruining the moment. Instead, he weaseled his way into the middle of the group hug and barked until everyone reached down to pet him.
“Little attention whore,” Maria rolled her eyes.
I learned from the best, Sherlock answered with a wink.
They parted, and Gramps took a deep breath. “I think I’ve seen enough for now—”
The Bloodhound started to growl—a low rumbling that carried far in the great hall.
“What is it?” Maria asked.
“Oh, shit,” Tabby groaned. “I knew it. I knew I should’ve stayed home.”
“Quiet,” Claire hissed and nudged her. Gramps looked around the hall. The darkness was near complete in the corners; the only light coming from the window above them through which one of the moons shone.
Maria thought of the glowing red eyes of Malakai and the other Arachnids she had seen in Duke’s memory. She saw none of those eyes now, but that didn’t mean other creatures weren’t lurking in the shadows, waiting for them.
She gripped the hilt of her sword and pulled it free. She found that it was much easier to wield on Oriceran than it was on Earth. She also found that the strange buzzing coming from the music box was now thrumming through her entire body.
Magic, she thought. This is a magical world, and I’m a magical being.
It gave her confidence. She was ready to take on whatever Sherlock was sensing. His growling hadn’t stopped.
“I think it’s best we leave. I fear we have overstayed our welcome,” Gramps whispered.
Sherlock stopped growling long enough to say, You don’t say, old man.
“What is it?” Maria asked the Bloodhound. “What did you hear?”
But he didn’t have to answer, because suddenly, Maria heard it, too—the sound of many legs, clicking across the stone floor.
The sound of Arachnids.
Maria had never been one to run from confrontation, but with Tabby and Claire tagging along, it was the best option. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt because of her. They’d already come pretty close to it back at Salem’s Ice Cream, when they had run Malakai over with Claire’s car.
What if that hadn’t worked? What if Malakai had bounced right off of the Kia, and wound up killing Claire and Tabby? Maria wouldn’t have been able to live with herself.
She was beginning to regret bringing them along.
“Go,” she whispered, ushering Claire and Tabby out of the hall first. She held her sword and looked back toward the throne.
The Arachnids hadn’t appeared yet.
“Back the way we came,” Gramps ordered.
When they got outside, the light from the two moons seemed nonexistent, and the world was dark…too dark.
“Are they near?” Maria asked Sherlock, once they were safely between two ruined buildings. The shadows will hide us. We can wait the Arachnids out.
Sherlock stopped and sniffed the air. No, but that damn Raffin is. His droopy, red-rimmed eyes opened wider. He let out a soft growl and begged, Let me at ‘im.
“Not now, Sherlock,” Gramps hissed. He pulled a wand out of his long cloak. Maria looked at it, confused.
“What—where did you get that?” she asked him.
“Questions for another time,” he answered.
Claire and Tabby were huddled close to each other, leaning up against the ruined brick of the building on their left. Tabby gasped, the noise sharp enough to make Maria tense up and hold her sword tighter. Then her friend brought up a shaky finger and pointed out to the main road.
The Arachnids were coming straight for them.
Maria held up a hand, telling her comrades to stand their ground. No need for confrontation…yet.
“Man meat,” one of the Arachnids observed; he wore a robe. The creatures walked on their two legs, and as this one talked, he moved his remaining six arms, which extended from his torso in what resembled a windmill. “I smell man meat,” he said again. He tilted his head to the sky and inhaled deeply, much like Sherlock had done earlier.
Maria lunged forward, but Gramps caught her and held her back.
“You don’t smell nothing,” the other Arachnid argued. “No one would dare set foot in this place; they know it belongs to us.”
The second Arachnid was shorter and more stout. He reminded Maria of the bodybuilders she frequently saw at the gym when she went kickboxing.
“I know what I smell,” the robed one countered. “I smell man, and they are scared.”
Maria took a quick look at Tabby and Claire, confirming this. They were practically holding each other.
The end of Gramps’s wand lit up with a faint blue light, and Maria brought her sword up.
They won’t know about the music box, she reminded herself. They’re just grunts; they’ve probably never even met the Widow.
The Arachnids were now walking past the alley where Maria and her friends were hiding.
Gramps flattened himself against the brick, and the rest followed suit.
The two Arachnids passed, their footsteps fading.
“That was close,” Tabby breathed. “Thought I’d never have to see one of those freaks again. Geesh.”
“Least they didn’t look as bad as our old friend Malakai,” Claire shrugged. She brought a hand up to her chin, deep in thought. “You know what? I wonder if it’s too late to chase those bastards down and make them pay for my car.”
Tabby rolled her eyes.
Gramps brought a finger to his lips. The glowing light at the end of his wand dimmed.
They were in the clear.
“C’mon,” Gramps prodded. “We have a Gnome to find.”
Sherlock’s ears perked up at that; Maria couldn’t help but smile as she looked at them.
Her
