Page 34 of To Quench Her Thirst

But on another note, did this mean that Sheelash was real? Addie had been operating on the assumption that the Spider Goddess was a mythical deity. But what if she wasn’t? Did the Vargans actually have a giant spider that they worshiped somewhere in this palace? Maybe even in the Room of Sighs where she had been last night?

The memory of Teeza, one of her other ladies-in-waiting, being swept up into the darkness suddenly resurfaced in her mind and Addie felt faint. Dear God—did that mean that Teeza had been taken by the spider? Had she been stung and wrapped in silk, the same way the hapless squeaker in Addie's room had been taken by the cat-sized silky spider?

The thought was too much—she couldn’t digest it right now. Doing her best to push it out of her head, Addie went back to the book.

The next page showed the circle of young women again but this time all of them were lying down with their legs spread. The illustrator had been careful not to show anything R-rated but it was clear that the women all had bare legs and nothing on under their dresses. Several of them also had large, cat-sized spiders crawling on them, which made Addie shudder.

“After you drink from the Bounty of Sheelash, the Aged One will tell you to lie down so that you may be bitten by one of the Agents of Sheelash,”the book read.“This activates the venom already in your body and shows which young woman is meant to be the Queen of Night.”

“Oh my God!” Addie whispered to herself. So the spider bite she’d gotten the night before had beenon purpose!How awful!

She turned the page again with a hand that trembled ever so slightly. It didn’t seem like the Choosing Ceremony could get worse, but she was afraid that it could.

The next page confirmed her suspicions. The picture showed the same girls, standing in a row again, but there seemed to be fewer of them this time. Also, most of them looked extremely ill. Their faces were pale and sickly and their skin had turned a greenish color. Their eyes were sunken into their sockets in a way that reminded her of poor old Mr. Dumphry. In fact, only one of them looked healthy and well. She was smiling broadly—wide enough for Addie to see that she now had long, curving fangs in her mouth.

Addie was filled with horror all over again. She ran the tip of her tongue over her new fangs, being careful not to touch their razor-sharp tips. Sothatwas why she had grown them—it was the spider venom she had drunk working with the spider bite she’d gotten! It must be!

The picture’s caption confirmed her suspicions.

“Only one girl can be named the Queen of Night, of course,”it read."She will be the one who grows fangs, just like Sheelash herself! Also, she may manifest a holy picture on her back."

Addie reached back to touch the spider web that had appeared on her back overnight. Oh God, this was it—shewas supposed to be the Queen of Night! But what did that mean?

This time her hands trembled quite a lot as she turned the page. The next illustration showed the girl with fangs standing in front of a row of five strong Vargan males.

“If you are the Chosen girl who will be crowned the Queen of Night, you can expect to get very thirsty,”the caption read.“Don’t worry though—the Council of Aged Ones will choose several young men for you to help quench your thirst.”

“Quench my thirst?How?”Addie demanded out loud. “What in the hell am I supposed to drink?”

She had a bad feeling she already knew. Again she caressed her new fangs with the tip of her tongue. Her first thought whenshe'd seen them was that they were vampire fangs. Could that be true? Was she supposed to drink…blood?

The thought turned her stomach but her throat burned with thirst and she was afraid to look at the next page in the book. Who knew what fresh horrors she might find?

I’ll just get a glass of water to settle my nerves before I finish it,she told herself.I can’t look yet—I’m too thirsty to concentrate.

Yes, but thirsty forwhat?

Addie didn’t want to know.

Getting up, she left the book open on the chair and went to search for a glass of water…but she never got it.

“There you are! I thought I might find you here.”

It was Sparki’s voice. Addie’s head jerked up and she saw her lady-in-waiting standing in the doorway.

“Oh, uh, hi,” she said weakly. “I woke up early and thought I’d come look at some of your books. I love libraries.”

“Well, you can explore the library later. Right now it’s time for The Revelation.”

“The what?” Addie asked, but Sparki was already coming to get her.

“Come on, let’s go—they’re waiting for us!” she said, taking Addie by the elbow.

Addie didn’t really want to go with her, but she couldn’t think of a good excuse to stay in the library and read instead of participating in whatever “The Revelation” was. However, as Sparki tugged her down the corridor, she couldn’t help noticing that the lady-in-waiting looked pale and drawn, as though she’d been sick the night before.

“Hey, are you all right?” she asked. “You look like you had a rough night.”

“Oh, I did,” Sparki said matter-of-factly. “But I made it through, which means I’m going to be okay and I’ll never haveto go through it again. You can only be picked for the Choosing Ceremony once, you know.Youlook really good, though,” she added, giving Addie a once-over. “How did you sleep?”

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