CHAPTER 45

When the Vieille Charité came into view, the Arachne slowed down and approached the building cautiously. She scaled the outer walls of the almshouse and then jumped down into the main courtyard.

As Abella and Pierre descended, the Arachne laid the prostitute on the ground by the chapel. With a nervous glance at the surrounding buildings, she backed away and vanished into the shadows.

Abella and Pieree circled overhead for several minutes, watching. It was too dark to see anything other than the huddled figure on the ground.

"Did she just leave her there?" Abella asked.

"I don't know. The Arachne are a strange breed."

"Maybe...maybe she had a change of heart."

Pierre scoffed. "I doubt it. Why would you even suggest such a thing?"

"Because...well, they are half-human, aren't they?" Abella was circling lower now. "Perhaps she decided against eating her and left her where someone would find her."

"You give humanity too much credit to—Abella!" Pierre cried out to her as she descended.

The shadows stretched away from Abella as she landed as quietly as possible next to the prostitute. The woman's eyes were open, and her pupils were dilated. She was drooling when Abella knelt down next to her.

"It is okay," she whispered. "I am here to—"

"Abella!" Pierre slammed into the ground behind her and grabbed her by the wingtips. "Look!"

Angry at her brother, she whipped around to face him. His eyes were scanning the pillars that surrounded the chapel, and she saw dark shapes moving among them. From the darkness they came, their legs silent on the walls and ground of Vieille Charité. Although the largest stood no more than four feet tall, there were dozens of them.

They were Arachne children. With a hunger in their eyes, they approached. Their pale skin and black legs made them look like ghosts floating through the darkness.

"We must flee!" Pierre's wings flared wide as Abella took to the sky. Being smaller than her brother, she was able to get airborne much faster than he could. As she climbed into the sky, she saw dark shapes leaping across the sky above them. Gossamer strands stronger than steel plucked at her wings as she passed through the trap that had been set by the adults, and she was able to make it to safety.

Down below, Pierre growled as he got caught up in their webs. He dodged from side to side, but not before an Arachne hurled herself from the roof and grabbed onto him. His wings flapped hard as a second then third Arachne scrambled on to him and he fell to the ground below.

"Abella!" Pierre screamed in rage. "Get to the clan!"

"Pierre, I—" She watched in horror as he battled the Arachne. Their fangs and poison were useless on him. He managed to kill an adult and a few of the children before they swarmed. The sheer number overwhelmed him as they tangled him up in their webs. They carried his struggling form up the wall of the chapel. Once at the top, the arachne threw him off.

The first time he fell, nothing happened. But the Arachne repeated the process over and over. Abella could only watch in horror as one of Pierre's wings snapped off at the shoulder, could only listen to his howls of pain. The Arachne were methodical, and when her brother eventually shattered on the cold hard ground of Vieille Charité, she let out a wail of desolation. His glowing red heart cooled in the night, filling the air with steam as it glowed like an ember until it slowly turned black.

The Arachne watched her from below, but she was almost a hundred feet in the air. Her brother's fragments were pushed to the side of the building like ordinary rubble, and the children carried away their human meal as the grownups cleaned the grounds. Within minutes, the courtyard was silent. Abella raced back to the clan to tell them what had happened.

The hurt of centuries past was still fresh in her mind as she remembered what happened next. The clan held her responsible for Pierre's death, and she became an outcast among her own family. The Arachne had been using the plague as cover for their hunts, and once the clan made the hard decision to yield ground and leave, Abella was not invited to follow.

The centuries had been lonely. She had a vague recollection of meeting the Architect. She had been invited to become part of a family once again. Even though the memories had been sealed away, there was an emotional warmth when she considered them.

What could she do about her current Arachne problem? For so many years, she had been the muscle, the silent guardian ready to lay down some hurt on whoever threatened the house. To be fair, Mike had gotten into far more trouble already than the other Caretakers combined—that, at least, was something she could remember. And right now, he was getting into the kind of trouble that she couldn't prevent.

"Hi Mom. Hi Dad." Velvet's voice carried over the breeze, causing Abella to cock her head. When she closed her eyes, she could picture exactly where Velvet was. Somewhere about fifteen feet down and fifty feet back from where she currently sat. Careful to rotate without making a sound, Abella tracked the voice to an otherwise unremarkable spot overlooking the valley floor. Tucked in between a pair of pines stood Velvet. She was kneeling on the ground, addressing a pair of unmarked stones.

She listened as Velvet recounted the last few days at the cabin, including Mike's arrival and invitation to the house. The Arachne's voice wavered more than once, and Abella was surprised to see her wipe away tears.

"Dad, I don't know what to do," Velvet confessed. "This has been our home all my life. I feel like if I leave, I'm letting you down. Even worse, I would be leaving you behind. I can still smell you here. Did you know that? It's like your breath clings to every tree. All those patrols, the hikes that we took. This forest is like a book of memories, and I get to open it every time I step outside.