Page 27 of Cheshire's Smile
I sagged. Despair at being so close and yet so far away from completing my goals clawed at me. There was very little doubt that Tick would make it to the reception on his own.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t let myself worry about him. I had to keep my wits about me. The creatures in the Between prayed on desperation. They would be waiting for me to get impatient and take off without a clear direction.
“Do we even know if we’re going the right direction?” I pointed out with a huff. “How do we aren’t going in circles?”
“We’re not.” Cheshire shook his head, his free hand stroking his tail over his shoulder. “I’ve been keeping track of our scent, making sure it stayed behind us in a straight line. If we veer too far off course, I’ll know.”
“Well, that’s comforting at least.”
I kept my eyes on our surroundings, waiting for any flicker of darkness in the white beyond. My free hand flipped back and forth, changing the color of my gloves with each turn. I didn’t have many nervous ticks but, since I’d gotten my fae abilities, I’d found using them to be a calming effect, even if it was for something so trivial as changing the color of my clothes.
If Cheshire noticed my nervous tick, he didn’t comment.
We proceeded through the Between slowly, each of us wary to our surroundings. Occasionally, Cheshire would redirect us any time we strayed from our path. Gratitude for his abilities soared through me. I had heightened senses just like any other fae, but they weren’t on a par with Cheshire’s feline instincts.
Something flickered in the corner of my eye.
“Did you see that?”
“Yes,” Cheshire murmured, his voice low while his eyes searched the Between. “Be on your guard. We don’t know if it is friend or foe.”
I snorted. “With the way my luck is going, I can guess.”
“Still,” Cheshire continued, his body tensing as if ready to pounce at a moment’s notice, “it could simply be Tick running back to us.”
If only we were so lucky. As a precaution, I drew on my powers, feeling the rush of magic running through my veins and coalescing in my hands.
The shadow flickered in my peripherals. I held my stance, afraid to give off that we had seen it coming towards us.
“We should keep moving,” Cheshire instructed, leading me forward. “If it knows we’ve seen it, they may become more aggressive. It would be better to catch it with the element of surprise.”
I agreed and quietly followed him on the path we had been taking. All the while, my eyes kept searching for that flicker in the void.
It didn’t take long before the dark figure bounded toward us, faster than ever before. It wasn’t playing hide and seek anymore. A malicious intent overpowered any thoughts that it might have been Tick trying to find us again. This creature was hunting us.
“Do we run or fight?” Cheshire asked, his grip on me tightening.
With a nervous laugh, I glanced around the void. “Do we really have a choice? Where are we going to go? If we run, how do we keep from getting lost? For all we know, it wants us to run so it can chase us into the maws of one of its friends.”
“Then we fight.”
Cheshire released me and took a step away. His hands tensed in a defensive pose, those claws of his even sharper than normal. His facial features grew sharper, too, as his fangs lengthened. His tail whipped around behind him, magic pouring off him in waves. His vicious appearance was enough to make me glad that Cheshire was on my side.
My own power swelled up inside of me, my eyesight growing sharper as the creature came into view.
Long spindly legs with razor sharp points dug into the ground, making white fractures with each step it took. Black and green hair thinly covered its eight legs before they came up to a rounded body.
It would be easy to classify this fae as a lower fae, if not for the upper half of it. A dark green skinned female body sat on top of the arachnid body. Black hair covered her breasts to create the illusion of decency.
Two humanoid arms protruded from her body ending in pointed fingers that clacked together as it skittered toward us. Black hair hung from her head in greasy strips down her angularface. The large green almond shaped orbs that were her eyes zeroed in on us. Her blood-red lips pulled back in a fang filled grin.
“What... is that?” I gaped at the creature.
I’d seen a lot of different kinds of fae in my life. This one completely eluded me. I’d never seen a spider-like fae before.
I honestly shouldn’t be surprised. There were a lot of different kinds of fae, and the worst of them tended to keep hidden until it was time to come out for a snack.
“It’s an arachoi,” Cheshire shot out, his voice coming out even gravely than before. “But they’re extinct.”
