She withdrew her hand but sent me a mournful, pleading look. ‘Please help him,’ she whispered. ‘Please hurry.’
The giant spider chittered again. ‘Your sword will be best. I can guide you where to make the best cuts.’
I’d all but forgotten Glady was in my hand. She hummed quietly as if to indicate that she was aware of the need for delicate movements. I nodded and carefully twisted her blade while the spider raised one leg and gestured to a section of the intricate web. I licked my lips, raised Gladys and carefully sliced through several strands of silk.
Otis was trembling so much that the whole web was shaking; one slip and I could inadvertently hurt him – or worse. I held my breath and felt sweat break out on my forehead.
I glanced again at the spider. He moved his leg, pointed to another section and I directed Gladys to follow. In the end it took eight separate cuts in specific areas before Hugo could reach in and pull Otis free from the web, although the little brownie body was still bound up by several loose strands.
I reached into Hugo’s cupped hands where Otis now lay and gently brushed one of them, then drew back abruptly. No wonder he’d been so effectively bound up: the web silk was like super glue.
There was a flicker of movement in my peripheral vision. I turned and spotted several smaller spiders waiting by the side of the clearing, six of them, each with a small pile of newly harvested leaves beside them. I felt a brief chill as I wondered how many of these creatures were lurking inside the woods before reminding myself that they were friendly. I should have learned my lesson from Athair: appearances were often deceptive.
‘Nettle juice,’ the giant spider explained. ‘It will dissolve the silk.’
Hugo placed Otis gently on the ground and scooped up the piles of nettle leaves that the smaller spiders must have collected for this very purpose. With nothing more than a grimace as the plants stung him, he squeezed the leaves until dribbles of green juice slipped out and fell onto Otis’s body. ‘That must hurt,’ I said.
‘It does,’ Hugo replied through gritted teeth. ‘But I’m being a tough man so you’ll look kindly on me later.’
I considered a snarky response, then I leaned in and kissed his cheek. His grimace gave way to a brief smile. ‘You can kiss the rest better later,’ he said.
‘I will,’ I promised while Hester tutted with annoyance.
We waited for the nettle juice to do its work. The giant spider had told us the truth; although it took several minutes, the green liquid worked and Otis was eventually freed.
It took him a while to speak. First he flexed his wings to make sure each one was in working order before he attempted to flap them and rise up in the air. Next, he brushed himself down, his face blank as he wiped away the remaining droplets left by thenettles. His exposed skin now had a definite green tinge to it but I decided telling him that probably wouldn’t help his mood.
Eventually Otis straightened his shoulders and looked at Hester. His bottom lip trembled – and a second later he threw himself at her. ‘You were prepared to take on that monster for me. You’d never have won but you didn’t care. You are a true warrior, Hester.’
The spider watched them. I hoped he wasn’t upset at being called a monster. ‘The tiny two legs speaks the truth,’ he said.
Hester hugged Otis back, her emotions equally choked. ‘I thought you were going to die. The last things we said to each other were angry and I thought I’d never get the chance to say anything else. I’m so sorry I argued with you. I won’t do it again.’
Otis smiled. ‘You will, Hester,’ he said. ‘But that’s okay. I’d be disappointed if you didn’t. I love you, no matter what you do.’
‘I love you, too.’ She started to cry.
I looked away; it felt like we were intruding on their close sibling relationship by watching them. I bent down and carefully picked up a few more nettle leaves to clean Gladys’s blade.
As I did so, Hugo spoke to the spider. ‘I apologise sincerely for intruding into your habitat. We should have heeded your scent warning and left the area immediately.’
‘The fault is mine,’ the spider told him. ‘I know my appearance is frightening for your kind, and that my web holds particular dangers for certain creatures. I should have done more to ensure the safety of any two legs who ignored the warnings.’
‘This is on us, not you,’ I said firmly. ‘We made the mistake.’
The spider’s eight glittering eyes fixed on me. ‘I used to do more to keep your kind away, so I must take responsibility for my actions. To do otherwise is to be powerless.’
I suspected that the spider was trying to teach his assembled children a lesson, but I was adamant that we were the ones at fault, not him.
‘I have grown complacent in my old age,’ he continued. ‘In the past this did not happen to me. It has been many hundreds of years since I mistakenly caught a creature I did not want to trap, but I cannot forget the power I possess. Spider’s silk is wonderful. It is strong and it is beautiful.’ He sighed. ‘But it can be deadly if due care is not taken.’
I stiffened immediately. I knew that he did not mean drugs – it was doubtful he even knew that the drug spider’s silk existed – but suddenly it was all I could think about.
Only Hugo seemed to sense the direction my thoughts had taken. His hand reached for mine, his thumb brushing against my palm in an attempt to reassure me.
Blood roared through my ears and my heart rate ratcheted up. I could almost taste the spider’s silk on my tongue, the way it tingled and teased before I swallowed it down, the way the chemicals translated to my brain and my magic and the very core of my being.
Otis coughed. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ he said. ‘We’re engaged in a mortal battle with a fiend. This was a mere stumble by comparison.’
