I had taken it for granted that Felix Thatch hated me, and he would never forgive me. But there had been that moment with him during the snowball fight. Maybe he only wanted to hate me. When I thought about how close he’d been, the warmth of his breath brushing warm clouds against my face, it made my heart speed up. His face had relaxed when he’d gazed into my eyes, some of that sternness in him gone.
For months, I’d built walls around myself, trying to deny any emotions for him to leak out. But in that one unguarded moment, the fortress I’d built had melted away as effortlessly as the snow melting under an Elementia’s hot hands. I could have attributed that to touch magic. It was simply my affinity ruling me and breaking down my resolve. It was what he’d done before. It was what Elric had done.
Yet with Elric, I had only thought I was in love with him when he touched me. It was when he was away that I had my doubts. With Thatch, I found myself dwelling on that brief moment when he’d tried to shield me from Vega’s icicle doom. I kept thinking of that concern in his eyes and the restrained desire as his gaze had flickered to my lips. Instinctually I had wanted him. My affinity had wanted to use him to power my magic.
Away from him and his touch, I desired him more than when he’d been touching me. This felt different from magic. It felt like chemistry.
Like love.
My heart ached, knowing I’d blown it with him. I was still thinking about him that night as Josie and I got ready for bed.
“What’s up, buttercup?” Josie asked.
“Nothing,” I said, tearing myself from the black hole of my thoughts.
“You can’t fool me. Is it Elric?” She sat on my bed.
“No, it’s. . . .” I sighed. It was humiliating to admit. “I was thinking about Thatch.”
She laughed. “What did that son of a succubus do now?”
“Don’t call him that,” I said. I hated how Witchkin condemned others for their forbidden magic. I was more likely to be the daughter of a succubus than he was to be related to one.
Josie placed an arm around me. “Did he make you uncomfortable today?”
“No. He was nice to me.”
“Well, that’s enough to make anyone suspicious. With a grumpy Felix Thatch, at least you know where you stand. When he’s nice, it’s either because aliens abducted him and replaced him with a pod person—or because he wants something.” Josie crossed to the dresser and grabbed my hairbrush.
“I don’t think it’s either.”
“I think you’re too nice to see when someone’s up to something.” She sat on my bed again and brushed my hair.
It was a familiar gesture, like what my fairy godmother had once done. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the comfort of the strokes. She started at the ends and worked her way up, unweaving the snarls with the skill of someone used to working with knots.
“I’m glad you’re my roommate,” I said. “It’s nice to sleep in the same room with someone who doesn’t try to kill me on a daily basis.” That hadn’t stopped Vega from trying to kill me today, but at least Thatch had been there.
“I hated sharing a room with Vega,” Josie said. “We argued all the time. She didn’t try to kill me, though, so I guess I was lucky.”
I leaned against her, completely relaxed. The bristles raked through my hair and down my back, massaging me through my pajamas.
Josie nudged me. “Sit up. You’re falling asleep on me.”
“Sorry.” I forced myself to sit up.
Josie told me stories about the pranks Vega used to play on her and all the ways she tried to get back at Vega—often unsuccessfully. I found myself leaning against her and trying not to fall asleep again. It was probably past our bedtime, but I didn’t want Josie to stop talking.
“I think this is one of the hazards of having a friend as a roommate.” I yawned. “With Vega, we always went to bed on time. Probably because we didn’t have anything in common to talk about.”
“Really? I thought you and Vega were close—when she wasn’t being psycho.”
I laughed at the idea of that. “Sure. When she wasn’t being psycho, spying on me, tattling, or coercing me into doing her bidding.”
“There was that one time,” Josie cleared her throat. “Well, I thought—I don’t know what I thought. I walked in, and the two of you were asleep in the same bed. She was . . . cuddled up next to you.”
“Oh, that? She collapsed on me after I zapped her with some magic. And I was pretty exhausted too. I guess we fell asleep.” I’d worried about who might have walked in on us that day, but I’d forgotten about it. Now that I knew it was Josie, I didn’t worry so much.
Josie was silent a long moment. I realized what I’d just said. I’d admitted to using magic. If she asked how I could regain my powers, I would have to tell her.
Josie braided my hair. “So it isn’t like she’s your friend or something, and you aren’t telling me.”
“God, no!” The idea was so absurd and unexpected I laughed. “Maybe a frenemy at best.”
Josie’s laugh sounded forced. I wondered if she had been jealous.
A tickle on my arm drew my attention. A spider crawled across my wrist.
“Agh!” I said, pointing. I didn’t want to kill the spider in front of her, but I didn’t want it on me either.
Josie laughed. Gently, she removed the spider and dropped it onto my nightstand. There was a collection of spiders gathered on my nightstand that hadn’t been there earlier.
“Josie, can you get your little friends to leave?” I asked.
She put up a hand and made a gesture like she was pushing. The spiders scuttled back and out of sight. I didn’t sense any magic from her like when she performed a spell.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem. Anything for my BFF.” She swept my hair aside and placed her chin on my shoulder as she hugged me.
Another tickle drew my attention. I jolted as I realized a giant hairy spider crawled across the bed. It had to be the size of a tarantula, but it was lavender, like the streaks in Josie’s hair.
“It’s okay. He doesn’t bite,” Josie said.
I shrank away from it, crawling over Josie to get away. “Get it off my bed.”
She shooed it away.
I’d been so relaxed as we’d talked that I hadn’t noticed the spiderwebs in the corners of the room. A black spider scuttled against the white ceiling. Another giant lavender one darted behind my wardrobe.
“Josie, please say you didn’t bring all your pets with you from upstairs.”
“I didn’t. They just sort of followed. They can be hard to control—but don’t worry—they aren’t dangerous. I’ve . . . um. . . .” She cleared her throat, her brow crinkling in worry. “I’ve attracted spiders my entire life. They’ve never bitten me. They didn’t do anything to Jackie, and they were right under her room, right?”
In the candlelight, Josie’s eyes looked more black than brown. Something about her hair looked different. There was more purple and lavender in it than black.
“Something is happening to you,” I said. “Some kind of magic.” I knew I drew out other people’s magic. I had suspected I was drawing out Josie’s affinity previously.
Josie twisted a handful of blankets in one fist, the gesture belying her nervousness, as if the crinkles in her forehead already didn’t. As I gazed at her, I realized those creases in her forehead weren’t wrinkles but three horizontal lines.
“Sometimes I have a hard time controlling my glamour when I’m around you. It takes a lot of energy, and it doesn’t leave much magic for other spells.” Her voice sounded metallic and deeper, not the high sweet voice I was used to hearing.
“What do you mean?” I asked uneasily.
“I’ve been keeping a secret from you.” Tears filled her black eyes. “I’m so sorry. I know best friends shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. Pinky said I should tell you. He figured it out a long time ago. How coul
dn’t he? He’s a master of glamour, better than Miss Periwinkle, I’d bet.”
I tore my gaze away from Josie and eyed the spiders. They ran every which way, some coming and some going. At first their movements seemed random. Then I saw they were weaving webs. If Josie didn’t get rid of them soon, I was going to be spending an hour clearing tomorrow.
After seeing Josie use her spiders to swarm around Elric in the theater, I didn’t doubt she was more than capable of using spiders to attack Vega on the roof. The true question was whether she could control them.
I refocused on what Josie was saying. “Okay, so Pinky figured it out. That’s why he’s been secretly meeting with you? He’s been helping you with your glamour.”
“Yes. It’s been getting harder and harder to control, and I don’t know why. I haven’t felt the same since the incident on the roof, and Pinky said he can’t help me conceal my powers. He thought it was a bad idea for me to share a room with anyone. He didn’t want you to get hurt. But you know I wouldn’t ever hurt you, right?” She took my hands in hers.
There was such anguish in her eyes, I wanted to hug her, but even holding hands like this seemed like a dangerous idea if she was having trouble getting a grip on spider magic.
I squeezed her hand and left the bed, attempting to disguise my reason for drawing away by picking up the candle on the nightstand and using it to light more candles on the dresser. I ducked under a spiderweb and edged around clusters of spiders along the way.
“This is why you left your old school? Something relating to your affinity?” I asked. “You had some kind of accident?”
“No one got hurt,” she said quickly.
Those wrinkles above her eyes looked more like slits in her skin, gaping shadows opening and closing unnaturally as she spoke. Her hair turned completely purple, shimmering like tinsel at Christmas.
“What happened at your old school?” I asked.
“It wasn’t my fault. Those students were being really mean. I wasn’t actually going to eat them.”
“That’s right. Good teachers don’t eat their students,” I said calmly, trying to be a compassionate friend and good listener. “I’m sure you would never harm anyone.”
Like me. Josie would never hurt me. I squashed the doubt rising in me.
Within those gaping slits in her forehead, shining eyes stared at me. It was super creepy to behold my dearest friend with eight eyes.
“Why do you have so many eyes?” I dreaded the answer that I knew was coming.
“The better to see you with, my dear.” She laughed, nervously, self-consciousness leaking through the hollow metallic quality of her voice.
I didn’t laugh at the joke. She was evading.
“You’re changing.”
“I’m so sorry. I should have told you this before.” Josie wrung her hands in front of her, the gesture anxious—matching the nervous gesture of another set of hands that were raking her hair out of her face.
Josie had two sets of hands. I inched back, horror creeping over me. This grew more surreal by the moment. She slouched, or perhaps it was more that she hunched, her posture changing.
“Josie, I know I’m not supposed to ask—it’s one of those rude questions like, ‘What’s your natural hair color?’ or ‘How much do you weigh?’ but you have to tell me. What are you?”
“I’m an Amni Plandai. You know that.” Her gaze flitted to her second set of hands. A look of surprise and then resignation crossed her expression.
“Yes, but what kind of animal or plant affinity do you have? One with spider powers?”
“I’m just surprised you didn’t guess it sooner. The spiders, my weaving skills, and the glamour give me away.” She gestured at her knitting bag in the corner, covered in white strands of webs, which almost completely obscured it from view. “And then there was that time you painted me with six arms. I thought you must have known.”
Perhaps I had subconsciously. Even now I didn’t want to admit it.
Her Japanese ancestry should have given it away. Instead it had camouflaged any suspicions I might have had. Chills shivered over me. “Kimura isn’t really your last name?”
She was an Amni Plandai, no doubt about it. A name that meant “tree” would surely throw people off.
“It is my family name. My father’s side possessed plant affinities. My mother’s side, not so much. My mother said she loved my father, even if she did end up eating him.”
Sweat trickled down my neck. Josie’s pajamas stretched and tore, more arms pushing the fabric away to reveal an iridescent purple thorax and abdomen.
I started to hyperventilate. This was worse than the snakes in fear therapy or Thatch’s chair in general. I hadn’t known I’d had arachnophobia until this moment.
“It’s okay. I would never eat you.” Josie smiled, revealing sharp fangs. “We’re friends.”
“You’re a jorogumo,” I said, unable to deny it any longer. I had only read about them in books. They tended to eat their enemies—and sometimes their friends. They couldn’t control their appetites.
She licked her lips. All eight of her black eyes watched me, unblinking.
She rose from the bed. Normally we were about the same size, Josie perhaps an inch or two taller than me. But her arms stretched, resembling tapered legs covered in hair. They lifted her body higher than mine so that she loomed over me.
I held up my hands. “Stop where you are.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” She stretched and moaned, looking as though she luxuriated in the motion of freeing herself from her Witchkin form.
“Okay. Good. Stay there. It’s time for you to go back to being a human.”
She didn’t change back. If anything, her body kept growing.
I had to reassess my roommate situation and wonder who was more dangerous: Vega or Josie. Vega tried to kill me to test me and torment me. She acted knowingly. Josie was an accidental monster, as far as I could tell.
Later I could ask Vega to take me back. First, I had to get out of this mess. I tried to edge away, but I couldn’t.
I was stuck to a web—or more accurately, my clothes were stuck. The door was blocked by spiderwebs, but I was certain I could slide under them and reach the exit.
I wiggled out of my pajama top and fell to the floor. My sports bra was free of spiderwebs, but my pants weren’t, and they tore as I dropped onto my knees. Pain blossomed in my legs, but I funneled it away, turning it into energy in my core. I crawled under a thick web separating me from salvation.
“No, we can’t have that.” She held out an arm, the end resembling a claw more than a hand. A streak of thread shot out and attached to my wrist. She yanked me back toward her, dragging me along the floor. I kicked at the thread, but it was of no use.
She yanked me to my feet and up into her arms. She smiled. A set of fangs poked out of her mouth.
Craptacular.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Along Came a Spider
She chuckled. “You’re quite the catch.”
“Heh. Punny,” I said. “Khaba would love that. I’m also certain he would love for you to put me down.”
Josie stuck me back onto the web as though I were a tender morsel for later. “Pinky said it’s safer for everyone when I use glamour to hide myself, but he doesn’t understand how constricting it feels. He treats me like I’m a freak with a medical condition, but there’s nothing wrong with me. This is how nature made me. It’s how I’m meant to be.”
Even through my panic and fear, I could identify with that desire to be accepted. I hated the way Fae had oppressed Witchkin who were different and made us feel inferior, like we had to hide. On the other hand, I also understood Pinky’s concern and why he’d been trying to help her suppress something so dangerous.
“Josie, I love you for who you are, no matter what. There’s nothing wrong with being a spider woman.” Except when I drew out the monster in her, and she wan
ted to eat me. “But you don’t know how to control those powers. You’ve suppressed them and never used them. You can’t just let go of yourself now and be able to expect not to get hurt or not to hurt anyone else.” Maddy hadn’t known how to control herself until Miss Periwinkle showed her how to channel her magic constructively. If only Josie had a magical mentor.
Tears filled her eyes. “I knew you’d understand.”
I nodded. “Yep, I’m your totally understanding friend. That’s me.” I eyed the drool dripping from her fangs. “Now turn yourself back.”
“I love you, Clarissa. I knew you wouldn’t judge me like everyone else.” She worked her arms, gathering thread from under her abdomen.
I yanked myself to the left and the right but couldn’t free myself. “I love you too, Josie. Now use your powers to make your fangs go away.”
“I always knew you loved me more than you loved Vega.”
“Um,” I said, trying to think of something placating. I was all out of words. Panic robbed me of clear thought. I tried to crawl up the web to raise myself away from her, but I only tangled myself in the web.
Josie knitted the webbing between her appendages. “When I’m around you, I feel like I can be myself. You bring my true nature out of me. Something primal and wild and animal. My Amni Plandai magic is strong around you. My mother always told me to look for that in a mate.”
I shook my head. “No. We are friends, best friends. That is all. There will be no mating.”
She giggled. “The whole time we were friends, I never thought of you as anything more, but ever since I moved in with you, I started to have these feelings . . . I couldn’t stop thinking about mating with you.”
I knew what jorogumo venom did. I did not want to become a blithering idiot like Thatch had been in the Silver Court’s dungeon. There was a reason why spider venom paralyzed a meal. They stopped resisting. With a jorogumo, I wouldn’t just be weak and unmoving, but I would mate with her. Afterward she would most likely devour me.
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