“It’s honest.” He shrugged.
Stella’s lips curved slightly. “He does have a point.”
“That doesn’t make me like it,” I muttered.
The path dipped slightly, the air growing a touch cooler, carrying with it a faint dampness that reminded me of the marshlands I’d seen in the vision.
Keegan’s grip on my hand tightened just a fraction.
“You feel that?” he asked quietly.
“I do.”
Nova glanced back at us. “The closer we get to the wetlands, the more the magic will shift. The ground there holds onto everything. It's as if the bogs soak it up or at least, that’s how it used to be.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Twobble said. “Another way is that it never forgets anything.”
“Interesting,” I said.
We walked quietly for a few moments after that as my mind became crowded with thoughts of my mom, Gideon, and the stone.
But then I saw it.
At first, it looked like part of the wall.
A shimmer.
A flicker of something that caught the light just enough to stand out if you were paying attention.
I slowed without meaning to, my gaze fixing on it.
“Twobble,” I said softly.
He stopped immediately and turned, following my line of sight.
“Oh,” he said.
That wasn’t reassuring.
Keegan stepped slightly in front of me, his body angling just enough to shield me without making it obvious.
“What is it?” he asked.
Twobble rubbed the back of his neck. “Technically? Nothing to worry about.”
“Technically?” I repeated.
“Well,” he said, squinting at it, “it’s a Goldspinner.”
Nova stepped closer, her expression tightening just slightly. “Those aren’t common this far in.”
The shimmer shifted, then moved just enough to become unmistakablyalive.
A spider… larger than I expected, but not something out of a nightmare, yet bigger than anything I wanted to deal with in a tunnel that suddenly felt a little too narrow.
Its body gleamed with that same golden glow as the veins in the wall. Its legs were delicate and precise, and it moved slowly across the stone. It was weaving something fine and nearly invisible behind it.
Twobble held up a hand. “Don’t startle it.”
