Page 58 of Pandora: Alien Games

Three cocoons hung from the ceiling. They matched the size of my guys. Eray lay on the dirty ground, blood gushing from an open wound in his chest.

“Is he dead?”

Nephthys made a short analysis. “He’s not dead, just badly wounded.”

I wasn’t sure what I could do to help. That spider was so damn huge.

When the spider lunged at Hassym, and I reacted. I jumped using all the energy my legs gave me and with my wings open. They beat the air around me as I launched myself against the horrible monster.

“Hey, space rat!” I called out to the spider

I’m not sure if spiders can hear. Not that it mattered. It felt my dagger slice deep into one of its eight eyes.

Hassym glanced up, surprised yet happy to see me. He was scratched and bleeding, but still managed to remain erect on his legs.

I moved in front of the spider, waving to catch its attention. “Come and get me.”

Now that I had its attention, I played fly and spider with it. I looked up to the ceiling of the cave and, summoning all my courage, baited it to follow me. My Anubis tried to draw the spider’s attention back to him.

“Hassym, get them out. I’ll do what I can to lure old eight legs away.”

Thankfully, for once he listened to me.

Switching my attention back to the spider, I hovered over a rock, trying to give the spider the impression I used the rock as support. The spider shot a web toward me, but I ducked and it missed. It kept its focus on me, following me, climbing the steep path towards the exit.

I reached the lip of the exit. Jagged rocks surrounded us, making it difficult to move. More jagged rocks projected up from the floor of the cave hundreds of feet below.

In a last attempt to beat the spider, I allowed myself to get close to its disgusting mouth. The rancid breath washed over me, causing me to gag. Trying to stifle the reflex, I covered my mouth.

Nephthys was silent.

“I could use your help.”

“I’m here.”

I showed Nephthys in my mind what I planned and she agreed.

Just as the spider got close enough to grab me, I threw myself back toward the edge of the cliff, already imagining the jagged rocks that stuck into my back. The spider threw itself at me. I would have died if I did not have Nephthys and wings. As soon as I started falling, my wings opened and I flew back up. The spider screeched and tried to grab on to something, but the rocks were not stable enough. It slipped along their surface and, with one final cry, toppled off the cliff and plummeted to the cave floor below. Its final cry of agony accompanied the sound of splattering against the floor.

That was close.

“I officially have arachnophobia,” I told Nephthys, who giggled.

I flew back into the mountain. Hassym ran toward me. His lips crushed mine. I tasted him. He tasted like himself, like campfire and sweetness, like blood and sweat. I pushed back his brown hair back and lost myself in his onyx eyes.

“Need a hand?” I pointed toward Eray.

“Yes, some plasma spiders would be great.”

“Don’t use the word spider ever again, please.” I grimaced jokingly, then became serious again. “I have plasma, I can help Eray.”

Eray lay on the floor, pressing a piece of cloth against the wound on his chest. He shook and looked as if he was in pain.

“Let me see.” I touched Eray’s hand. He was always sweet to me, even when we didn’t understand one word of what I said. He noticed that I enjoyed sweets and packed my plate with sweet delights each time he cooked.

“Pandora, you’re so pretty,” he whispered.

“Let me have a look.”

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