Free Spider's Lullaby by James R. Tuck Page B

along my power was reaching a fever pitch.
    The last strap slapped into place as the spiders finished their meal. They turned as one mass toward me, perched along the cleaned bones of the Kensai. Each ghost spider stared at me with eight unblinking blood-drop orbs. They began to crawl toward me.
    I stood ready, swaying on my feet, vest held out ready to swat.
    Ronnie kicked my knee from behind.
    The blow took me by surprise, knocking me to the floor. I went down hard. My elbow and hip slammed into the hard floor. Ronnie jumped over my legs, bare feet slapping the concrete as she charged the spiders. They stopped moving.
    Pushing off the floor, I scrambled to my feet. Her name ripped out of my throat as I moved to stop her. She was too far ahead. As I watched, she dropped to her knees. Spiders boiled away as she shoved her arm into their mass. They skittered over her, crawling across bare skin, swarming up her arms and chest.
    The spiders all froze.
    Slowly, Ronnie pulled her hand from the crowd of spiders blanketing the Kensai’s bones. Crimson light broke free, bathing her as she raised the sorcerous ruby over her head.
    My power flared, spilling out. The gemstone pulsed with scarlet light like a beating heart. Ronnie stood up, legs wobbling and shaky. Tiny pale spider bodies, lit like red Christmas lights, tumbled off her.
    â€œ... stop, stop, stop ...” The words tripped over each other trying to get out of her mouth. My power hit just as her mind split open.
    The first tiny filament whipped out, lashing across her mind. The end of the silk thread was barbed. It sank into the flesh of her mind and took root. It was followed by hundreds more. They fell like a metaphysical rain, weaving a network of connections between her mind and each tiny, venomous arachnid—a web of hair-thin connections binding Ronnie to the spiders. My power could feel them build like a mass of tangled hair, knotted and Gordian.
    There was no way to extricate Ronnie’s mind from the spiders now. Her eyes rolled back into her skull, lips jam-mering as she began to babble. I could feel her mind crack, fracturing at each connection point. It began to break into tiny pieces. I pushed with everything I had in me, throwing my power over her, trying to hold her mind together. Pieces of her kept slipping through, too small, too broken to hold together.
    Charlotte stepped into my line of sight.
    I hadn’t heard her and Tiff come up. Swaying, she walked to Ronnie. Slender fingers with too many joints cupped the tiny dancer’s face. Ronnie twitched, muscles dancing under her skin. I felt Charlotte’s lycanthropy spark a split second before the change washed away her humanity.
    â€œIt will be all right, little one. Do not fight. It is a gift.” Charlotte smoothed back Ronnie’s hair.
    My power was still connected. In my mind’s eye I saw Charlotte’s lycanthropy sweep through Ronnie’s mind, sealing all the fractures, mending the erosion of her sanity. Her spider wove furiously, knitting the web of connections between Ronnie and the spiders from a tangle into an intricate lace.
    Ronnie’s lips stopped moving as Charlotte held her face. The Were-spider made soft shushing noises, telling her it would be okay.
    Mascara-smeared eyelids closed, fluttering. My power was pushed away as Charlotte’s lycanthropy sealed the connections between Ronnie and the spiders. As the last fracture closed my connection with them shattered like an icicle under a sledgehammer. Ronnie’s eyes snapped open.
    Charlotte melted back into human. “Are you with us, child?”
    Ronnie nodded slowly. She opened her mouth, then closed it with a frown. Charlotte smoothed a hand across her brow.
    â€œIt’s okay, little one. It will take a bit for you to think like a human again. Your words will come.” She looked over at me and Tiff. Her long, thin arm slid over Ronnie’s shoulders and the dancer huddled into the