Page 181 of Mud

“Which means we’ll need to get close and personal—tohernestto find the key,” Taland whispered, squatting down behind me as he analyzed the network of threads surrounding us. I did, too, and now that I was calmer, I could actually see the nestas the spider moved. It was shaped like a big mess of white threads, and if I had to guess from this distance, it was the size of two basketballs. The spider spun around it constantly, all eight eyes wide open, but she couldn’t see the two players coming closer to her from below. I could hardly see them myself—it was dark and the shadows of the webs made it impossible to tell what color their clothes were.

But they were approaching her, fast, as if they couldn’t see her moving right over their fucking heads.

No, no, no, no…

I hadn’t realized it, but I’d squatted down, too. I reached behind me for Taland’s arm because my heart was about to beat right out of my chest again.

The Whitefire woman who’d drenched herself in the lemon water, and other players about the threads in the distance, all watched—and it happened so fucking fast.

Madame Weaver noticed when the man on the right approached underneath her, and she moved. With those freakishly long legs that had ends like blades, she cut through the threads and tried to get to the player, who had already started to move on the threads like they were branches or ropes on a tree, spinning and jumping from one end to the other, while the other guy on the opposite side was almost—almostat the nest, his hand reaching up for it.

Fuck, I was sweating.

Madame Weaver noticed at the last second. She turned so fast and moved like she had lightning in her veins, and she chased the other player down the network of threads for only a moment.

Then he screamed.

The sound echoed so loudly that I felt the pain that had caused that scream as if it were mine. We couldn’t see the guy because the spider’s body blocked our view of him, but the first player who’d approached her was already at the nest, and he stuck his hand right inside the ball of threads.

Right. Inside. The nest.

Bile up my throat, but the guy pulled his hand back, and I could have sworn metal shone between his fingers for just a split second.

The key. He found the key.

Then he turned around and he let go.

The player simply let go and the threads were no longer sticky for him. They didn’t stop him—heslidagainst them like they were suddenly made out of silk, in-between them, lower and lower, and he fell right into the water at the bottom.

He never came out on the surface again.

Done.He had completed the challenge.

Meanwhile his friend was now food for the fucking spider, wrapped up in threads from head to toe, stuck to the web, perfectly motionless. He looked like a damn mummy.

I was seriously going to throw up.

“Good strategy,” said Taland all of a sudden.

I turned to him. “He’s been mummified.” In case he had missed the guy who wasn’t moving anymore.

“Yes, well, they chose to work together knowing the risks.” His eyes looked blue because of the lights falling on the side of his face.Magicaldidn’t even begin to describe the sight of him—but I digress.

“Are you assuming that they knew they were going to be food for a giant spider when they decided to justgo for it?”

Taland shrugged. “You were willing to become food for a dragon—or to be incinerated by one just to complete the last challenge, were you not?” My mouth opened and closed… “Who knows what we’ll be tempted to do if we spend a lot of time in Madame Weaver’s loop.”

Oh, goddess, I was going to be sickfor real.

But no—no,I wouldn’t. Because what he said might have made perfect sense, but I would rather be incinerated or eaten by a dragon with teeth the size of my head any day over dying at the legs of a giant spider, and then being wrapped up in her fucking web until she was hungry enough to eat me.

Fuck, no.

No way in any hell.

I was getting the fuck out of here right now.

“The water,” I said, my mind racing to put together a plan. “We have to take her down to the water—it’s the same water that’s in these blisters. It should take her a little while to come out.” Andthatmade perfect sense to me, too.

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