“I knew the only way the Black Widow would leave Esmerelda alone was if she thought she was dead. And I knew the only way Esmerelda would let me go was if she thought I was dead. So I gave her a passport and an address in a small American city I hoped would remind her of Cahul, and I told her I’d meet her after a short detour.”

“And that was the last time you saw her?”

“No,” Arturo said. “But until last week, that was the last time she saw me.”

It was strange how so many things could finally make sense at the exact same moment that suddenly nothing made sense. It was like Maria had spent hours putting a puzzle together based on the picture on the box, only to get to the end and realize that the box didn’t match the puzzle at all.

She continued to question Arturo. “Mom always said that Grandpa Lopez passed away before Dad was even born. I’m starting to think there was no Grandpa Lopez. Is that right?”

“You’re a smart girl, Maria. Just like your grandmother.”

“She knew Luellen was after her. She told me a week ago, ‘The other spiders are back.’ I thought she meant real spiders, the kind she collected. I had no idea she meant other people with rings.”

“I came to her as soon as I knew Luellen was on her trail. I tried to get her to leave with me, to run. But she wouldn’t.”

“You tried to get Grandma Esme to leave us?” Maria asked, horrified.

“If she had come with me, she’d still be alive.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t sound like much of a life to me. You can’t just keep leaving your family behind whenever things get scary. That’s not how it works.”

As soon as she said it, she felt a stab of guilt. It was one thing to say this, and another to believe it. Her shoes were still caked with mud from her own late-night escape.

“Oh my gosh,” she said, connecting the last of the puzzle pieces. “Luellen knows about the rest of my family, too. She even met them at the funeral.”

Maria thought of how cruel she’d been to Rafi earlier, not to mention the way she’d yelled at her mom. They’d only been looking out for her, when here she was, putting both of their lives in danger.

“Why hasn’t the Black Widow tried to kill me yet?” Maria asked.

“I’m sure she is hoping to catch us both at once. I’ve eluded her for over seventy years, and she’s growing impatient. If we are lucky, her impatience will make her careless.”

“What do you mean, ‘if we’re lucky’? What do you plan for us to do?”

“Run away, of course! Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? The Black Widow is here, and you are fortunate to be alive. Especially after your extravagant choice of mourning clothes and your little temper tantrum at the birthday party. Honestly, Maria, I’ll grant you your grandmother didn’t fully explain the nature of the rings, but the way you’ve been broadcasting your powers this week —”

“Has been no worse than what you and Grandma Esme did back in the day,” Maria said, cutting him off. She stood to her full height and brushed off her dress. She crossed her arms so that the Brown Recluse ring glittered against her skin. “Now, thank you for all your help, but I am not running away. My best friend says that if something makes you nervous, it just means that you’re thinking about it too much. And he is one of many people whose lives are in danger if we don’t stay and fight the Black Widow.”

“You mean Derek? I hate to tell you this, Maria, but I fear Derek has already become one of his aunt’s followers.”

Maria couldn’t help laughing. “A follower? Derek? If there’s one thing about Derek I can absolutely guarantee, it’s that he does his own thing.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Arturo bellowed. “I don’t mean followers in the grammar-school playground sense of the word. More powerful men than Derek have been drawn into the Black Widow’s web. And with six rings now in her possession, the Black Widow will surely have powers even beyond my imagining.”

“Well,” Maria said, her voice staying strong even as her eyes misted over, “that’s all the more reason why he needs my help.”

“Don’t be foolish, Maria. I won’t let you throw your life away like your grandmother did.”

“Grandma Esme didn’t throw her life away!” Maria roared. “She made a wonderful life here, and she fought to protect it. You ran away, but she stayed with what was important to her. She warned me that I’d face the same decision. To do what is easy and run away, or do what is right and stay. You can make your choice however you want to, but my mind is made up.”

“I won’t allow it. I’m sorry, Maria, but this is for your own good.”

Arturo moved like smoke, twisting his body in a fluid arc that shouldn’t have been possible at his age. In a blink, he had taken off his suit coat and thrown it at her, as if it was a net he could catch her in. Maria darted away without thinking, fleeing the cave with Arturo’s footsteps thundering behind her.

Her spiders were screaming, Hurry, hurry, but it was nearly impossible for her to run — the mirror spiders were everywhere, their round silver bodies glittering in the dull light of the cave.

Maria darted and dodged, narrowly avoiding them with every step. She knew it too well — a spider never forgets. She could hear Arturo locked in the same struggle behind her, cursing the brown recluse spiders that had come to her defense.

Maria could see the mirror spiders scrambling to build a web in the mouth of the cave. Even if she pushed through, there was no way she could avoid them on the slippery staircase.

Yelling a warning to the spiders to get out of the way, Maria threw her arms in an arc and leaped.

In less than a second, the icy-dark water came up to meet her.

Maria surfaced for air as fast as she could. The pool of deep water at the bottom of the fall was no bigger than her mom’s jeep. Five feet to the right and Maria would have landed headfirst on the sharp rocks at the bottom.

Maria kicked her legs until she reached the edge of the sinkhole. She’d always hated swimming, and swimming in a dress was even worse. The wet silk of the skirt clung to her legs as she climbed out of the water and pulled herself up the slippery rocks to even ground. As soon as she was on her feet, she ran. She didn’t look back. The image in her mind of a swooping black coat and a sea of pale light was enough to keep her running.

She reached the boardwalk, and then the short grass, and then the line of her backyard. She was almost home free. But one look through the sliding glass door and Maria could tell something was wrong.

The lights were all on, and the chairs around the kitchen table were overturned. The refrigerator door stood open. Maria crept up to her house as quickly as she dared. She didn’t hear anything from inside the house, which supported her suspicion that whoever had done this was already gone.

Not that she had any doubt who had done this.

Maria slid the glass door open. She stepped over the oranges, trash, forks, and knives that had been scattered across the floor, trying not to imagine the struggle that must have taken place while she was in the cave.

“Mom? Rafi?” she called. She wasn’t surprised when they didn’t answer.

She had sworn she wouldn’t get trapped in Arturo’s story, but that’s exactly what had happened. It didn’t matter that he probably thought he was on her side — he and the Black Widow, and now Maria, too, were all part of the same vicious web. A poisonous circle that ensnared innocent people, just like the one around her finger.