The Hunt Pt. 3

"Are we really following a spider to find your girlfriend, Cress? This is insane and I don't understand why is everyone just taking this in stride?"

"Stop complaining, Ian. I told you that you didn't need to come. I told you we'd tell you later."

"Or you could tell me—"

"Kyaa! I stepped in something slimy!"

"Babe, carry Kir for me."

The group trudged through the damp sewer tunnels. It was exactly as expected; everything was wet and it smelled like shit. They'd tried to avoid descending as much as possible, pretending that their little spider guide was leading them astray, but they could only avoid the inevitable so long.

"Do you think there are alligators?" Kirian asked. Ian carried her on her back while Vianna walked beside Cress with one of their two hand flashlights Vianna had made them buy on the way. They'd used their phone flashlights at first, but quickly learned how unreliable they were from overheating.

"Alligators? What's next, turtles?"

Cress sighed, checking that the spider was still pointing in the same direction. Everyone was stressed from being tired and surrounded by filth, so the bickering had been non-stop. Still, it livened up the eerie rank tunnels.

"It wants us to take the left at this junction."

"You're sure? I feel like this is the second left we've taken. Won't that just lead us back to where we came from?"

"How would I know? We're being guided by a spider in a coc— glass vial. It's not like I can understand what it's saying."

"You say that, but… Oh."

Rounding the corner, Cress and Vianna stopped in their tracks and Ian bumped into them, eliciting curses all around. Webbing covered the walls and ceiling of the sewer tunnel, with small white bridges crossing over the slow moving sewage water. The light of the flashlight reflected off the thinner strands making the area look almost like a crystal cave.

"I guess the spider knew where it was going after all."

"Don't you dare put me down, Ian, or I'll make Vi break up with you!"

At the sound of Kirian's shrill whining, thousands of tiny black specks emerged from the webs causing everyone, including Ian, to scream and retreat the way they came. They left it to Vianna to check if they were being followed and to their relief, the army of spiders had dispersed once they were out of sight.

"Did you see that?" Cress said, throwing her medication in her mouth and swallowing it dry. She'd brought a small pack that she'd strung across her chest to carry the essentials. It wasn't like she could rely on Illia's magic anymore.

"Yes we all fucking saw that," Ian retorted. "How the hell do we get past them?"

Everyone looked at one another at a loss.

"What if Cress talks to them?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? I thought you wanted to find Illia."

"I do but what the hell?! That's too much, way too much! Illia's the only reason I'm not screaming and sprinting to the surface! Look at my hands." Cress held up her trembling hand in the light just as it spasmed. She really did want to run screaming and crying. Her chest already felt tight and she could barely breathe. Not that she wanted to breathe the sewer air to begin with.

"What about you, little spider? Can you talk to them?"

The spider hopped in the glass tube in Cress's hand and she unscrewed the cap they'd stabbed holes in. As soon as she did, the spider leapt from the container, bungee jumping down a transparent strand of silk and disappeared around the corner.

"Guys, hear me out. What if they kill it for being a traitor or something?"

"Why would you say that, Vi? Are you trying to jinx us?"

"Jinxes aren't real, Crescent Roll."

"And neither are magical spider women."

"Wait, spider women? Like a superhero?"

The girls stared at Cress and looked down at the grime covered bricks at her feet.

"Jesus, Ian… Fine. You want to know why we're following a spider to find Illia?" He nodded, his brown eyes glaring. "Illia's not human, she's a spider princess."

"What does that even mean?" He slid Kirian off of him like a backpack and stepped closer to Cress. "What is she, like some kind of mutant who controls spiders?"

"Sort of?"

"C'mon, Cress, I was just joking. You can tell me the truth."

"Believe me or don't. The fact is, Illia is a spider princess from another world I was teleported to and she accidentally came back to Earth with me. We've been trying to find her a way home ever since."

"I told you to tell me the truth, not the plot of one of your dumb anime shows."

"She's telling the truth, babe."

Ian blinked blankly at Vianna, as if her words validated everything Cress had said. "Then what? Cress's girlfriend is spider-demon? I knew she was bad news! Do we really need to do all this?"

"Yes! We have to make sure Illy is alright so my Crescent Roll can apologize. They'll make up and then we can just go out for drinks to celebrate their reunion!"

"Nothing ever gets her down. Go out for drinks? The last thing I want to do after leaving this sewer is eat or drink anything. We probably smell like a three day full festival porta potty on a summer afternoon."

"She's right," Cress lied in an attempt to increase morale. "Don't get caught up on the details."

"You don't get caught up on the details," Ian grumbled under his breath. He let Kirian jump back on his back before holding Vianna's hand. She stroked his arm to comfort him, slapping Kirian's away when she tried to grab it.

"Should we be worried our guide hasn't come back?"

"I'll peek around the corner again. You guys wait here."

Poking her head around the corner, Cress saw the swarm of spiders ranging in size from a crumb to a soda can. Her skin crawled remembering the skittering legs on her skin and she dug her fingernails into her palms to ground herself. Standing in front of the swarm was their spider guide performing a strange dance Cress assumed was for communicating. Then again, it had been rather energetic from the get go.

"They don't seem to be hostile anymore."

Gathering the fragments of her courage, Cress approached the horde. She could hear the voices of the others protesting, but she ignored them and stood next to their Illia GPS.

"Sorry to bother you," she said meekly, her knees rattling against one another. "I'm looking for Illia."

The spiders bustled about for a moment before settling down and turning their thousands of eyes to her.

"Jesus I'm going to be sick. Why do they have to look like that?! This is literally what's been haunting me my entire life. Maybe I'm clairvoyant? Oh, maybe they're being weird because I said Illia."

"Quelurillian."

Like a magical password opening the gates of an ancient treasure trove, the spiders parted, scurrying back into the mass of webbing coating the tunnel. Only the guide remained and Cress knelt down to let it crawl back on her hand. Never in a million years would she have guessed she'd be letting a spider crawl on her while walking into a nest of God knew how many others. Then again, she also never would have guessed dating Illia.

"How'd you do that?" Ian asked. "Do you get special powers if you sleep with a spider demon?"

"First off, we haven't slept… Well technically we did, but not how you're saying it. Second, no. They just seem to respond to Illia's name. She's probably like their queen or something."

"And you're my queen," Kirian purred from her perch. Cress ignored her (though the comment did bring a smile to her lips) and took her spot next to Vianna at the head of the group.