“This way,” he said in his gruff wolf voice.

“Are you out of your ever lovin’ mind?” I asked. “You think we’re going to go into one of those things home?”

“They have survived somehow,” he replied, turning his huge snout back my way.

“He’s right, they’ve had to go find food somewhere and that might lead outside,” Derek explained with excitement.

“What about the coming dawn?” Tanda whispered, still watching for the spiders.

“Come here,” Derek said, holding out his hand to her. “Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.” Then he took her into a one armed embrace, while pointing his gun in the air.

She was right about the dawn, and we didn’t have time to argue about it. The sounds of clicking and an even stranger sound of hissing began as Derek got up on Fala’s shoulders to look inside the round hole that was nothing more than a manmade round tunnel. Derek pulled himself up into the opening that was four feet in height and width, and saw nothing in the way of eight legs coming at him, so, he yelled down for the rest of us to hurry.

“Tanda first,” I insisted, helping her up Fala’s back. “Grab her, Derek!”

“Come on Tammy, your next,” I said, holding my hand out.

“How are we gonna get me up there?”

“Quickly,” I replied, pulling her over.

Two of the damn things dropped to the floor with a line of black web behind them, as Tammy was on Fala’s shoulders and reaching for Derek’s hand, “Move!” I screamed, backing up into Fala’s hind legs. Both spiders moved forward and then stopped, pulsating up and down, my heart beat to match the rhythm, and then some. I dared glancing back to see Tammy’s legs being pulled through the opening, and the spiders took advantage of my stupidity and charged. I screamed and took off around Fala’s legs, getting his attention to our dilemma. He bent forward at the waist and let out a guttural beast of a yell, so loud that I grabbed my ears. The spiders hesitated, but I think they were more hungry than they were fearful of the big, furry monster in front of them. Derek yelled out for me to watch out, the blast of his gun went off again, and a third spider dropped down right on my back, knocking me to the ground with its weight, pinning me in place.

I felt the thing move on my back as I scrambled on my stomach to get free. I screamed in fear that it was about to stab me with what had to be a two foot stinger, and my adrenaline went into over drive. I rolled over closing my eyes, pushing at the sticky, hair covered legs, until I worked my way out from under it, taking the curved blade that Derek had given me and slamming it into the spider’s body until it didn’t flinch at the feel of my blade anymore. I turned in time to see Fala wading into the other two, slinging his open claws at them viciously, until nothing was left except a nasty pile of legs and gore. He looked back at me on my knees by the one that had had me trapped and in two big steps, came and lifted me off the ground and straight up into the hole with the others. Fala threw back his head and gave one more bone chilling howl, then jumped up, grabbing the rim and pulled himself free of the room of many unanswered questions.

Chapter Thirteen

Jacob and the others made it back over the gate to Martin’s estate; going back through the city without any problems, and without passing by the alley of what they now knew was the wrong side unless you were looking for the sort of woman they’d run into when they first left.  They dropped in the chairs on the front porch where the light was good and opened the silk cloth, not only finding a note, but a key with a red ribbon tied to the end.

The Gala has been changed to the night of the new moon. The mistress will be celebrating the fall of the one who comes to bring London down. As if that could ever happen. Sorry to hear about Martin, but you will have the freedom that all fleshers dream of now. The key fits the secret gate that leads to the tunnels under our castle. Look for the entrance at the base of the mountain past the marshland, left of the main road. We will meet you there; just follow the tunnel.

Alex, your Felicia forever!

“What does it mean, ‘sorry about Martin’?” Sydney asked.

“Foul play is at hand,” Jacob replied, folding the note. “I ask you all to keep this bit of information from the others until we know more about what it means. I do not want Renee rushing over and getting herself killed.”

“I thought she said he left a note saying he would be back,” Garvin said, getting to his feet.

“They must have taken him in the tunnels,” Cates added, getting to his feet as well. “Let’s go see if the others found anything while we were gone.”

“Things just turned bad didn’t they?” Sydney asked, following the others inside.

“I’m afraid it has,” Garvin replied, closing the door after Cates had opened it from the secret latch at the very top, since he was the only one tall enough to reach it.

The boy’s looked in the study, then the family room, thinking that we would all be sitting around waiting, but saw nothing and found the same when they searched in our rooms. Next they went upstairs, calling out our names getting no reply. It was then that they made their way into the beginning of lower levels, shocked beyond words that no one was around.

“Did they take them also?” Sydney asked with panic in his voice.

“I don’t know. Look around,” Jacob said, looking at the lit torches in the wall sconces. “Someone’s been down here.”

“If you concentrate can you tell if normals have been through here, Sydney?” Garvin asked. “Or see them in any way?”

“I didn’t feel a thing once we left the city, and no matter how hard I try…” he froze in thought. “Fala…” Then he grabbed his head.

“What about Fala, Sydney?” Jacob asked, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Tell me what you see.”

“Spiders! I see spiders,” he claimed, clenching his eyes closed tight. “He’s below us.”

“Then the rest are with him.” Cates rushed to the stairwell that led down.

“No,” Sydney called out. “They didn’t go that way.”

“What are you talking about?” Garvin stepped up beside Jacob.

“He’s below us, I’m sure of it. I just know they didn’t go down those steps.”

“You’re wrong. Look, it’s a button, a female’s button,” Cates said, picking it up and then rushed back in grabbing a torch before heading back down.

Sydney in a trance-like state, walked right up to the wall that opened and began touching it. “Here, they went in here. I can feel Fala in my head, telling the others he found a door,” he explained, confusing himself as he touched the solid stone. Jacob looked over at Garvin, who nodded, showing he trusted the words of Sydney, and both began searching the wall for anything that might open a passageway. Cates came back up the stairs to let them know that there were no other torches lit below and stopped to watch them run their hands over the stones.

“They made the latches up high in the days of old.” Then he, too, began helping by searching above where they couldn’t reach.

A soft clank and the wall slid in, with Cates turning to look back at Sydney. “They went down,” Sydney replied, then gave a sharp nod. They followed the same path, soon finding the room with all the tiny spiders, the same way the others had. From the smears on the desk and their tracks on the floor it was easy to figure out how to open the wall in the room that looked like a study, with all stepping in with the wall lifting and closing behind them.

“Trickery,” Cates growled.

“Black web, Cates,” Jacob said, pulling his hand away from the wall. “These are the spider’s younglings.”

“Hurry,” Cates replied, moving quickly down the slanted passage. ***

Derek and Tanda were a few feet ahead of the rest of us, crawling around the second bend with no end in sight. The air kept blowing the torch but now it was blowing the flames back in the other direction. Derek stopped and waited for us to catch up. “Thank goodness, my knees are killing me,” Tammy said, scooting around to where she was sitting on her backside.