Christmas Eve Pt. 2

She took her time changing and chose wide-leg jeans to pair with her sweater. When she poked her head out of the closet, Illia was gone. She could hear her in the kitchen and the smell of fried eggs and cinnamon wafting through the condo urged Cress to hurry her morning ritual.

"That smells delicious," Cress called out to Illia from her room. She secured the ends of her loosely braided pigtails with short green ribbons and slipped her glasses on. "You know you don't have to cook me breakfast every morning. I know you hate the smell of oil."

"Think nothing of it. Consider it a gesture of gratitude for taking care of me."

"I hardly take care of you and you don't owe me anything. If anything I should be thanking you. You're always doing things for me and it makes me feel a little guilty."

Illia shrugged and carefully set the runny yolk egg on top of a small bowl of rice dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar. Cress had found the recipe scrolling through videos and it had become her favorite food for the last week.

"More importantly… You said you spoke with your psionicist yesterday, correct? What was their opinion on your nightmares?"

"Therapist," Cress corrected. "And she said I need to find the root of my dream and confront it. It's hard to get good advice when I have to pretend I don't know the people haunting me."

"I assure you there are no spirits haunting you," Illia said matter-of-factly. "Though I admit my part. Had I known what the future held…"

"I'll be fine." Cress leaned her head against Illia's exposed arm, hugging it as hard as she could. Like usual, Illia wore a sleeveless shirt, though this one had a deep v neck collar that exposed the woman's humble cleavage. Her light-grey joggers complimented her the white shirt giving the lithe spider princess an athletic aesthetic that made Cress's heart cartwheel in her chest. Athletic tsundere girls were one of Cress's favorites.

"Did you have any locations to scout today? It's been a few days since you mentioned any leads."

"Regretfully no. I went to inquire with the witch yesterday, but the location was abandoned."

"Abandoned? Maybe they went out of business. The location wasn't great and it's not like they sold anything interesting."

"Witches are a flighty lot. They are as unreliable as they are vague and it was foolish to believe the hag had any credibility. Matriarch knows what she did with the silk I traded with her."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, it's the only clue you've found in two months. I'm more worried about you. You've looked tired lately."

It was true. It had taken Cress longer than she wanted to admit, but Illia's face had steadily become gaunter with each passing day. Her green eyes had become duller and sunken, and Cress knew the woman scoured the city alone at night. It was like the woman never slept. She'd only seen Illia sleeping twice; once during a filler episode of Pretty Pretty Magi Girl (Illia had become fascinated by the magic in the show) and once with her head on the coffee table while cleaning her sword. Both had been momentary dozes that Cress had captured on her phone and hidden away within several layers of locked folders.

"That is why you agreed to tonight's gathering, is it not? It is clearly a ploy to force me to rest."

"No it's not!" Cress protested. "Christmas Eve is just a special night and we wanted to share it with you. This might be our only opportunity."

Illia's cheek twitched as it often did when Cress mentioned her leaving. Sometimes it seemed out of frustration. Other times it seemed like remorse. It was impossible to be certain.

"Then we should do our best to make the night as joyous as possible."

"And to do that, you need to rest." Cress tugged Illia in tow to the living room. She couldn't move Illia by force but most days Illia followed her lead. That was the only reason her light push against Illia's chest was able to knock the sturdy woman onto the couch. "I'll head out once I'm done eating and get the rest of the stuff for the party. Until then, you take a nap."

"But I'm… As you wish. But be careful. I feel unsettled when you go out alone."

"I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

***

"Me and my stupid mouth!"

Cress cursed her overconfidence and took a shaky step backward. Her heart pounded like the bass at a rave, threatening to explode if she dared to move too quickly. Every breath she tried to take was denied, as if her lungs refused to take the risk of accidentally inhaling the monster dangling in front of her.

"I just need to stay calm. It's barely the size of my pinky nail. This is nothing compared to Illia. It's just a little baby. That's right, it's a sling, just like me, right?"

A gust of air from the store door shattered Cress's confidence as it swung the tiny spider dangling in front of the shelf of sparkling wine like a pendulum in Cress's face. She stumbled backward, barely stopping herself from falling and pulled her medication from her purse as the room spun around her. She hadn't needed it lately thanks to Illia, but this time she was on her own.

"Maybe I can ask it to move," she thought, rubbing her thumb on the ridges of her medicine bottle cap. "Illia said she can communicate with them. Even if spiders have their own language, it's worth a shot. I refuse to lose to one this small!"

"H-Hey there l-little s-spider," Cress's trembling voice choked out. "D-Do you think you c-could move for me?"

Her blood pressure spiked as the spider spun on its lifeline to face her, its barely distinguishable glossy black eyes fixating on hers. It rubbed its front legs together as it stared, reminding Cress of the greedy old men in movies. It either didn't understand Cress or couldn't be bothered to listen.

"C-Come on. Quelurillian will get mad i-if you don't listen."

The spider's legs spread at Illia's name, doubling the spider's apparent size and forcing Cress to bite her tongue to stifle a rising scream. Then it was over. With a final twitch of its front leg, the spider curled up and slowly climbed back up its thread, disappearing from sight once it reached the ceiling. With the threat of accidentally swallowing the spider finally gone, Cress dry swallowed one of her pills, then snatched the closest bottles of wine she could reach from the shelf.

"I did it!" Cress squealed in her head, grinning from ear to ear. "I still have a long way to go but I didn't have a panic attack or cause a scene! I can't wait to tell Illia! Or maybe I shouldn't… She might get mad if she knows I used her name. It was kind of cheating."

"No. I shouldn't doubt myself."

"Was there something you were looking for?" The short curly haired girl checking Cress out asked. She stared at Cress like she was insane. "If your unsure of what to get-"

"No! Thank you! I'm fine!" Cress blurted. Her face flushed red and she snatched the paper bags of wine from the counter.

"I can't believe I said the last part out loud! She probably thought I was already drunk or just insane, especially if she saw me taking my meds. Ugh, why'd I have to ruin my victory by being so dumb?!"

Cress's body was tense and she could feel the cashier's eyes following her as she left, but by the time she left the store, Cress's heart was swelling with pride again. It was no Cave Stalker, yet she didn't feel like it diminished her accomplishment. A few months ago she would have been balling, curled up on the ground or sprinting from the store screaming.

"Illia! You'll never guess what happened!" Cress yelled as she burst through the front door. She set the wine on the counter and rushed to the couch. "I saw a…"

The blood drained from Cress's face. Crusty black blood covered Illia's lips and stained her white shirt along with the couch. All eight of her eyes were scrunched shut and coated with sweat with watery black beads building in the corners. Every few seconds, soft clicks and hisses whispered from her, turning Cress's mind numb. The room spun around her as she tried to process what was happening while her emotions and instincts battled to decide what to do. With each breath she took, Illia's body tensed. Her fists were curled so tight her palms were bleeding and every few moments her body jerked. Illia's strength was the problem. She was strong, strong enough to accidentally kill Cress in her sleep if she accidentally hit her.

"I-Illia, wake up," Cress said, voice trembling. She reached to shake Illia's shoulder but snatched her hand back when Illia's arm shot over her chest. "Come on! I don't know what to do, so you need to tell me!"

Frustration and anxiety welled in Cress's chest at her helplessness. All she could do was watch, even as Illia arched her back and coughed up more blood. The fact that it was thick as motor oil made it worse; when Illia had cut herself with her sword, the blood had been the same viscosity as Cress's. What was the cause? Was it a cold? Poison? Not knowing drove Cress insane, but even if she knew, what could she do?