Chapter 14 Spider-Woven Surprises #2
She leads me toward a small room with a bed draped with quilts made of the most magnificent, cozy-looking fabrics. It’s nothing like my massive, pink-perfect room at Swancrest.
But it’s warm and perfect in its own way.
“Sleep for as long as you need,” she says. “And wear whatever suits you.” She motions toward a wardrobe.
“Thank you,” I tell the woman, wondering what I ever did to deserve such kindness. She just smiles and closes the door.
I study the wardrobe. This one doesn’t move.
It doesn’t shrug or open by itself to show me its contents.
I open the cabinet doors, only to find dozens and dozens of beautiful outfits, perfectly my size.
My heart gives another surprised thump. It’s almost as if these clothes were stitched for my exact measurements… Perhaps this wardrobe is enchanted.
For now, I replace my ruined ensemble with a blanket-soft nightgown and warm socks. Cozy and comfortable, I tuck myself into the bed, my bones and muscles all seeming to sigh in relief as I sink into the soft mattress.
Then I bury myself in the wool-lined quilt and sleep.
I wake up to dappled sunlight streaming through the timeworn window.
And something dangling right at my eye level.
A night-black spider, hanging by a string.
I gasp and startle, but the spider only looks at me curiously, tilting its head, before snapping back up to the ceiling.
The door clicks open. “Good, you’re awake!” Evalyn says, holding an empty plate. Her gaze travels upward. “Don’t mind Carissa; she’s a bit of a busybody.”
I look up at Carissa. I swear I can still feel her staring at me.
“Is… Carissa… one of the tailors?”
“No, no. She’s more of an assistant,” Evalyn says. “Now, hurry, or you’ll miss breakfast.”
Miss it? Evalyn leads me to the front window. I’m still in my nightgown. She opens the latch. Gestures hurriedly. When I don’t move, she says, “Stick the plate out, child!”
Okay. I do.
And jolt backward slightly when something lands on it.
A golden, fluffy waffle. Then another. Then a glob of butter.
I bring the plate back inside and Evalyn tops it with a healthy puddle of maple syrup from a leaf-shaped glass pitcher. “Got it fresh this morning,” she says. At my stunned look, she adds, “The baker makes breakfast, too.”
Right.
“Eat up. It’s going to be a long day.”
An hour later, once I’m stuffed with waffles and tea and wearing an outfit from that mysterious wardrobe, Evalyn leads me into the woods beyond the village, a patch of trees full of oaks with perfectly oval holes in their centers, curious creatures peering through them.
Birds chirp happily. Leaves rustle in a breeze that smells faintly of cinnamon.
I haven’t asked where we’re going, or why the spiders live so far from the village, and Evalyn hasn’t offered to tell me.
For a little while I’m content to just follow her silently, enjoying the storybook surroundings.
But the farther we go, the darker it gets.
Until we reach a clearing that feels like a gaping hole in these woods, a blotch of blight.
A hush settles across it as the forest goes silent. A lick of fear slides down my spine.
I have the urge to turn and run.
“Evalyn… what are we doing here?”
“We’re going to see the spiders, of course. They’ll get you sorted for Lord Evernight’s masquerade tonight.” She smiles, as though going to visit a spider community in the forest to ask them for a dress is a perfectly normal, everyday thing to do.
“But why—”
But Evalyn cuts me off and says, “There.”
She’s pointing toward the center of a cavernous shadow in the middle of the grove. Even though it’s only late morning, it’s so dark in this one part I can’t even see the grass blanketing the clearing. For all I know, it could be a hole.
I swallow. “Um. There?”
She nods.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Okay, then.
Slowly, I take a step forward. Then another. Until I’m right in the center. I turn around—but Evalyn is gone.
“Hey! Where—”
“I’m over here!” she says. I squint, and can barely place the shape of her, hiding in the trees. “You’re doing great!”
That isn’t concerning or anything.
Dread curls in my stomach as I remember what she said about the spiders being venomous.
I shift my weight between my feet, peering at the ground (that is, thankfully, there) and at the surrounding forest. Searching for spiders.
Minutes pass without anything happening at all.
Nothing but this strange chill sliding down my skin like a warning and this nature-defying darkness.
Finally, I can’t stay silent any longer. “What—”
Hello… a quiet voice says, whispered from the trees. It’s high like a wind chime and ripples beneath my skin, casting chills.
“H-hi,” I respond, my voice shaky as I look around, trying to identify the source. But other than me and Evalyn, the forest is empty.
She won’t do! a sharp voice says. I whirl around.
Still, no one is there.
Right. Okay, now I’m officially scared.
Also… a little offended? I probably don’t even want to qualify for whatever these ominous voices have already deemed me unsuited for… but still.
Then, Yes she will; look closer.
I stumble back, because that voice… it was right in my ear. I whip around—only to see a string of silvery silk whirl right by, a tiny shard of sunlight glimmering off it in prisms. She has a whisper of wonder in her.
Wonder? I think.
Yes, wonder, one of the voices says, as if it can hear my thoughts, and my breath catches in surprise. My entire body tenses. I try not to think about how I’m kind of afraid of spiders, in general, and I’m definitely afraid of spiders that can read my mind and are venomous, and—
Stop it, Barbie!