CHAPTER 106

Of Leeds, there was no trace. She wondered if he hid underground with the Nirumbi, or if he used his magic to hide in plain sight. Each shadow was a potential threat, and it made her jumpy.

She made it to the edge of the barrier and was disgruntled to discover that it was still in place. It wasn't worth investigating further, she would leave that to Yuki. On her way back to the cabin, the sun was already beginning its descent. Would the Nirumbi return with nightfall? Or had they bought themselves some time?

She landed next to the barn instead of on it, then folded her wings around her body and walked toward the cabin. It sounded like Bigfoot was inside, she could hear him talking to Quetzalli. There was a constant rattling sound, which she guessed was Dana.

She was almost at the door when she heard a different sound coming from the barn. It was the sound of someone crying.

Curious, she walked over to the barn, her tail dragging behind her in the snow. The heat of the day had thinned the snow out, and the bloody spots in the yard were now a pale pink as a result. When she walked inside the barn, she saw Velvet standing over by her father's jeep, her face in her hands.

She hesitated. Did she really feel like playing amateur counselor with Velvet? At best, they were temporary allies, and she knew that she wouldn't feel like sharing her own problems with the Arachne.

"Abella?" Velvet turned around, her cheeks stained with tears. "I heard you coming. You have no idea how glad I am to see you!"

"Hmm." That wasn't the reaction she had expected!

"I need your help." Velvet wiped her tears away, then turned back to the car. "Something happened while you were gone."

"Mike?" A feeling of dread settled in her gut.

"No, not that. But...almost as bad." Her shoulders tightened up, and Abella realized that Velvet was holding her sword. "I need your help with something."

Wary, Abella moved toward the car but kept herself against the walls of the barn. The place was even more trashed than before, and dark streaks ran up the walls where fires had almost caught. "With what?" she asked.

"You hate my kind. That's okay, I get it. It's a good thing." Velvet turned to face the gargoyle and let out a heavy sigh. "I need you to do something for me that I can't do myself."

Abella frowned, but she was close enough now to see that something was sitting in the passenger seat of the car. She moved a bit closer and felt her entire body go numb when she realized what it was.

It was a clutch of eggs. Each one was like a giant, oblong pearl, and they were bundled together in a silken sack of webs.

"When?" Abella growled, her tail whipping behind her. With the others around, she couldn't believe that the Arachne had found a way to get him alone. And yet she now stared at the result in Velvet's hands.

"It doesn't matter." Velvet's features threatened to fracture, her eyes filled with anguish. "I need you to help me destroy them!"

Abella didn't have words for this, but her eyes flicked to the blade in Velvet's hand.

"Oh, sorry." Velvet put the sword away in her pocket. "I...this...about an hour ago, I felt them coming. So I snuck out here to lay them. Nobody else knows."

"They are dangerous!" Abella whispered angrily. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"Please understand. It was the urge to mate, it was overwhelming, but it's more than that." Velvet picked up one of the eggs. It was roughly the size of an eggplant. "When I'm around Mike, I can't help myself. It's like the world is ice-cold, and he's a warm blanket I can bury myself under. I feel complete when I'm around him, it was all I could do just to wander off and do this! Danger speeds up the quickening process, it's a survival mechanism!"

She held the egg out toward Abella, who took a step away from it. "When I hold them, I can see their strengths. It's like staring into the night sky, each one of them a star sparkling with possibilities. They are absolutely flawless, probably the most dangerous Arachne to walk the world in over a century."

"And you want me to destroy them? Why? If you know they are so dangerous, why don't you do it?"

Velvet's lower lip trembled. Her voice broke between words, as if there wasn't enough air to speak. "Because I can see what they look like," she whispered, then picked up one of the eggs. "This one has my father's eyes and Mike's nose. And this one over here has Mike's hair and my father's grin. I've only ever loved two humans in my entire life, and when I think about destroying them, I..." She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, a single bead of it running down her chin before her tongue licked it away. Her hands went to the dog tags around her neck and she squeezed them. "My father's legacy deserves better than this, but I can't help but feel like I'm losing him all over again. It's almost like a cruel prank played on me by Mother Nature."

"I think I understand." Abella moved closer, still wary of a trap. "I didn't think this would be a problem for an Arachne. Your kind has always seemed so...methodical."

"It shouldn't be, but..." Velvet shook her head. "I have too much of my father's humanity in me. It's what makes me so flawed."

Abella thought about this for a moment. The barn was silent, save for the sound of the wind blowing through the slats, giving her plenty of time to think. She approached the jeep and moved a hand toward the eggs, curious how Velvet would react.

For a moment, it looked like the Arachne would stop her, but Velvet held firm, her eyes welling up. Abella picked up an egg and was surprised at how warm it was. The future of the Arachne was in her hands, and the only reason Velvet couldn't do it herself was because she wasn't the monster that her kind needed her to be.