Page 179 of Mud

A couple of inches above it began the network of webs. Thick, white, sticky threads straight out of an eight-legged spider with blue eyes.

Part of me was sure that I’d manifested this whole scene because I was scared shitless of Aragog for years. The nightmares I’d had starring that spider—and Hagrid in the background telling me not to be afraid, of course. Now here we were. An actual gigantic spider, and we were on its web.

Taland was slowly moving toward me, having gottenhis body under control, and I could see other shapes moving about in the distance as well. Other players.

The spider kept on spinning around, watching, blue eyes wide and glossy, veryrealand very unlike Aragog—but I had no idea if that was a good thing or bad.

What I knew was that I needed to stay as far away from it as I could, so I began to move, too, toward the nearest tree with the lights, hoping to have a moment to talk to Taland.

It took a while—those threads were sticky as hell, and they liked the leather of my pants and jacket very much—but I made it to the tree, held onto the branch that could have been dipped into gasoline that strangely smelled like lemon. Not throwing up took effort, and I got myself onto its thicker roots where there was enough space to fit both me and Taland.

He was right behind me.

“Scared yet, sweetness?”

It sounded like he was already back to his usual, playful self.

“You remember how Ineverwanted to watch the second Harry Potter movie, right? Like,never.” I was shaking a little bit, my eyes going back to the spider.

“Mhm. I also remember how you made me promise to kill every spider in the house no matter how small, until I die.”

I nodded. “Yes, yes, and you said,I don’t have to kill them; I can just take them outside.”

He grinned. “And you said,but what about the army of baby spiders they could build out there and come back for revenge when we’re asleep?! No, no, no—it has to die!”

I groaned. “And I meantthe smallspiders, Taland. House spiders. I meant normal, usual, tiny spiders. What.The. Fuck,am I supposed to do againstthat?!”

Both my fingers were pointed at the spider as I looked at him, whispering, shaking still, and the asshole laughed.

Iris, I needed to scream my guts out so badly right now.

“We’ll see in a minute, won’t we?” he said, and sat down on the root with me. “Some clues would be nice right about now.”

The moment he said that word—clue—the floating head of the guy made of white light popped into existence barely two feet to my side.

“Greetings, players!” the hologram said, and I almost told him to tone it the fuck down.

Can’t you see what’s behind you?!

He couldn’t, though, and the spider didn’t react to the sound of his voice at all.

“Congratulations! You have made it to Madame Weaver’s nest. She—and Bluefire coven—welcome you!”

She, it’s a she, it’s a she, it’s a she…

But wait, because even though I thoughtthatwas the tragedy, it got worse quickly.

“You’ve asked for your clue for this challenge, and I am happy to deliver it to you,” the hologram continued. “The way to complete this challenge and find your key is to find your way through chaos and to the heart of these elegant weavings of our dearest Madame, who has been raised for this purpose alone and is perfectly immune to your magics. Scary? Yes, indeed! But only when we face our fears have we truly won.”

Please let this be a dream, please let this be a dream, please, please, please…

“Find the nest and find your key—the brightest colors in the world await the worthy victor,” the man said. “We wish you the best of luck, players. Iris is with you.”

And he was gone.

I was going to be sick.

“Breathe, Rosabel,” Taland said, and I tried.

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