CHAPTER 61

Sofia shook her head. "If you want somewhere specific, I'm sure they have a method. But it's something Reggie delegates."

"Well, we can't have them taking us just anywhere, can we?" It took her almost an hour, but by the time she was done, the rats were busy gnawing a hole on an open portion of the wall. It didn't take them long, because she only needed a hole big enough for her hand.

"Well?" Sofia had left and come back with food for everyone. "Any luck?"

"Let's find out." Eulalie pulled her phone out of her pocket and stuck it through the hole. On the other side of the hole, she could hear the distant bustle of humans talking to each other.

"That was pretty clever," Sofia said, looking over her shoulder. "Getting them to gnaw you a hole to a Starbucks."

"It doesn't even matter which one, they're on every corner." Eulalie connected to the wireless network, as her phone's reception wasn't great.

She tapped with purpose, using one of her government accounts to run a search for property records. It didn't take long to discover a man named Murray who lived right next to Mike.

"Do you suppose he lives alone?" Eulalie asked.

"I have no idea. Wouldn't someone have come looking if he didn't?"

"My thoughts exactly." She pulled up Murray's address and then searched for a street view. Once she had a picture, she pulled her hand back out and started weaving again. The delicious smell of roasted coffee beans reminded her of her father.

She smiled, caught up in the memory of how he would hold his mug first thing in the morning. He enjoyed how the heat seeped into his fingers, relaxing him.

Once finished with her web, she held up her phone for the rats to see. After they looked at Murray's house, she showed them a drawing of her and the rats standing inside of it.

As one unit, the rats nodded and found a different spot to chew. A pair of rats worked on closing the hole they had opened.

"We'll have them scout out Murray's house," she informed Sofia. "If it's empty, we can go through and re-establish contact with the house."

"And if not, we can observe from a safe distance." Sofia let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that you were able to come up with a solution so fast. I'll admit, I got caught up in the idea that the house had been destroyed. Usually, when a location disconnects from here, that's the case."

"There were other places connected here?" Eulalie rubbed her stomach and winced. She was retaining a ton of water as her new carapace expanded. The thin cracks along her legs were the Arachne version of a peeling sunburn, and the edges were beginning to lift away.

"Many. The house is the last one, to my knowledge. It got stuck in my head that something could have happened to everyone, and that I may be here all alone." Sofia frowned. "I've been alone before. It...was hard."

"You're not alone. You have me. And the rats." She smirked to show Sofia that she was kidding. "We'll get it figured out, don't you worry."

She watched the rats as they chewed. It was a fascinating process to observe, because their teeth did sink into the surface of the wall, but it didn't seem like the material was being consumed. Instead, a golden, glittery substance was left behind on the edges of the wall as it became a tiny hole and then expanded.

A living room appeared. The hole had appeared beneath an end table, and a few rats ran in to scope the place out. They came back and chittered excitedly at the others, and they continued widening the hole.

Once it was about two-feet across, Eulalie squeezed through. Now inside of Murray's home, she closed her eyes and listened to her body. The house had a certain stillness to it revealing that nobody had passed through in almost a day. She also could tell that the HVAC system was ancient, resulting in poor air circulation and a dead mouse in one of the vents.

Eulalie moved through the house, examining the furniture. It was old, and most likely inherited. A quick trip upstairs revealed a dusty guestroom and a master bedroom that looked immaculately kept. She tapped on her phone the whole time, accessing her online shopping account.

By the time the portal was big enough for Sofia to step through, Eulalie had scoped out the whole house.

"Place is empty. Murray lives alone, though there was a lot of women's lingerie in his closet." Eulalie double-checked the address on her phone and put in her order. "Lots of lace. Very little leather."

"Can we see the house from here?" Sofia moved to the front window and pushed the curtain back.

"No. The best shot is from the guest room upstairs, and you can only see part of the yard."

"Wait for night, then?"

"Nope." Eulalie held up her phone. "I've ordered some things from Prime Delivery. We're in a two-hour delivery window, can you believe it? We used to have to send dad into town to pick up stuff from a locker, four-hour trip after waiting several days just for a delivery!"

"I'm glad you have something to be excited abou—what are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Eulalie had picked up Murray's router. It was an older model, and she flipped it over. "I'm resetting this router, the password is written on the bottom. When my new laptop gets here, I can do some digital reconnaissance of my own, but I need internet access."